Corolla Ke70 Troubles

[kartman]

Clutch unit consists of the fiction material plate , the cover normally with finger springs , the thrust bearing that operates the finger springs pulling the cover off the plate and disengaging it from the engine flywheel . The gearbox has to be removed so just replacing one part is normally a false economy if you intend keeping the car . I would have thought replacing the whole unit and getting the flywheel refaced to make every thing as new would be about 3.5k ish depending on labour cost best ask your mechanic for a quote.

[Lickey]

Im beginning to smell a rat with this topic, I dont know what OP hopes to achieve, but please dont prey on those who try to help others..

[ClareQuilty]

Thanks Kartman, I'll look into it. If it is in that range it would be worth it.

Actually I drove the car all evening for at least an hour at a stretch, and it didn't act up much at all, so it is definitely variable. It has been pretty cool weather up here in Isaan.

Lickey there's no reason to 'smell a rat' - not sure why you would say so. Perhaps my situation seems a trifle pathetic or comical, but the combination of very old car/very small budget/mechanical ignorance surely isn't bizarre.

[Lickey]

CQ, It would have been better for us if you had stated all the problems in your 1st post, your problems seem to mutiply as you wrote, and some before you posted.

I will give my views for what they are worth.

The engine [althougth replaced ] is old, so its probaly breathing a lot, this means the pistons and bores are worn causing blowby, this eccesive blowby goes through the engine breather and then into the airfilter for re-cycling, if this is ecessive, it will play games with the pet/air mixture, and eventually choke the engine to a stop, the warmer the engine, the worse this is,

Diff noise, well, as others have said, you should have noticed a noise, on and off power, it whines both ways, it is strange that it went wrong when somchai drove your car,

Again, perhaps this noise has been with the car since you bought it, and you thought it was normal for an old car? Gearbox and rear axle oil levels should be check at least yearly unless there is signs of a bad leak.

And the Differential is a free agent, it will work normally even if the propshaft is 20degrees out of line, an easy way to explain this is imagine the deflection of the rear suspension, perhaps in your cars case, up to 8inches of rear suspension up and down movement,

Moving on to the judder on take-off, there are a few tests you can do yourself, [all these with handbrake firmly on] start engine, engage 1st, push clutch pedal till you feel a little pressure, is the pedal pumping, ie, you can feel it pushing and re-leasing your foot, if so, the presure cover plate has diaphagm problems, [warped spring disc].

Next to check the engine mounts, lift bonnet so you can see top of engine,put in 1st gear and let up clutch slowly, if the engine kicks over to the right more than 13mm 1/2 inch, then the mounts are worn and need replacing.. if they were broken, it would be apparant in every gear .

Next to check the rear mounts, this does need a bit of expertise, engage 1st, hold engine about 1000/1400 rpm, now you have to lift the clutch quickly and disengage it without stalling, as the clutch takes up under power, the whole drivetrain will jump under power, you might hear a serious knock when doing this, which will point to a worn gearbox mount or center propshaft bearing if it has one..

Theres a few things you can check yourself, if you want more checks, let us know..

[ClareQuilty]

Thanks Lickey, for the tips. I'll try those out soon.

It does seem that the replacement of the fuel pump (and filter) has taken care of the dying-30-minutes-down-the-highway problem. As for the differential, well it didn't really seem to make any noise that I can remember, but mechanics at various shops had told me for about a year that the differential wasn't good in this car, but they always recommended just driving it 'as is' till it broke. And the mechanic showed me the old differential's parts, which did in fact look quite worn - many of the teeth or gears were almost gone. So I don't really doubt his honesty or knowledge.

The reason I posted things the way I did is that's the way they happened - after 3 trouble free years a few repairs happened all at once. I was a bit skeptical as well, but now I've driven the old car on a 40 kilometer round trip and then another of 73 kilometers the next day, and no problems.