My 19 year old Toyota Tercel passed emissions and safety (insurance, gasket, tire)

[rlrl]

I'm the one who has a Joe Torre lookalike for a mechanic, my car had been failing the emissions tests for the past 6-7 years and only "Joe" knew how to pass it, you all may remember

Today all i needed was a new front tire, mounted, balanced, wheel fasteners, some kind of R&R R/F tire rod and set the toe-in to spec when i looked at the bill as well as the new reduced fee NY State inspection for the low enhanced emissions for 1995 model cars or older of only $21 (previously was $37, glad to get a break for a change)

since about 2004 or 2005 "Joe" had charged me at least an hour's worth of labor to get the car to pass

"Joe" was too busy to talk to me he was deep in conversation with 2 guys so he just handed me the receipt and key. I noticed on the receipt there were no charges for getting the car to pass the emissions test this time and nothing noted about it

3 weeks ago i replaced the muffler and catalytic converter at Midas, both parts under warranty, only paid for labor and connector parts. Could the car have passed emissions without the additional work because of the new catalytic converter?

[rlrl]

in my car's earlier days, it had gotten quite a number of workouts. When it was only a few mos old in 1992 I took it round trip from NYC to Savannah, Ga

In 1997 i took it round trip again from NYC to Savannah

In early 1998 the car needed a new O2 sensor to pass emissions(thought it was odd)

In 1998 I took it round trip from NYC to Birmingham Alab to Savannah and back to NYC. On the way back to NY around Richmond, Va the oil light came on and the the crankcase was bone dry. I simply filled it up and since then the same thing happens but i simply top off the oil

In 1999, round trip from NYC to Savannah, just kept an eye on the oil, down slightly but topped it off a bit and no problems

no more trips like that since then but then the car started failing the emissions tests around 2004 or 2005 and then Joe Torre stepped in

so, is it possible that the oil burning issue was caused by taking such a small car on big trips? the Birmingham to Savannah trip in '98 was a huge trip, and that was when it started burning oil

then the emissions stuff a few years after that

BTW, this car is a workhorse, and reminds me of our old khaki green '71 Plymouth Duster in terms of economy, reliability and just being a great all around car (too bad the Duster's torsion rod snapped otherwise that car would still be around today)

any ideas on why it started burning oil and do you think a Yaris would be prone to such quirks too?

[M3 Mitch]

Yeah, a new "cat" can help with emissions. A car that burns oil will be harder on the cat than one that does not.

Your oil burning is no doubt the result of running the car out of oil in 1998.

Something to think about, the oil burning may be mostly along the valve guides, if you keep driving this car eventually you will wear out the head gasket and need to replace it, at that time you can have a shop recondition the head, including installing the valve guide oil seals that will come with your "valve grind" gasket set.

Keep on fixing and driving this car. Joe Torre rocks!

[rlrl]

and i will either be getting her car (a new Toyota RAV 4) or perhaps one of my brother's cars or a new or used car

"Joe" did say it paid for me to keep the car as long as the repairs aren't any more than $1000 per year, and Midas expressed the same opinion. Costs for insurance for a new car in my area are high. The car doesn't have an "old car" feel except that it has no airbags and it has a cassette player which broke down around 2000 or so. the repairs he made today that i mentioned in my first post make it feel more solid on the road. this 1850 lb Tercel rides much more comfortably and quietly than the '71 Plymouth Duster I had (i still loved that car) which weighed 1100 lbs more

[M3 Mitch]

You might as well keep the Tercel as give it away if you have a place to park it though. Maybe sell the RAV-4 if its in good enough shape to bring a decent price.

[rlrl]

i don't quite understand what you mean(wordage is somewhat off sorry about that). I park the Tercel on the street as i have been since 1992

the Tercel is rusting in places and it has 138,000 ,miles on it. as of now it has a small hole under the driver's floor. "Joe" said he could install sheet metal to seal the hole tho.

[M3 Mitch]

I'm saying that the Tercel is probably worth more to you than to anyone else. If you tried to sell it, you would probably get only about $500. So, if I were in your position, I would consider selling the RAV-4 that you are about to inherit, since you should be able to get relatively good money for it, and keep on driving your NYC "beater" there in NYC.

Now if you have a place to keep both, that would be different, I'm assuming you have to park on the street, with all the joys of doing that...

[rlrl]

new front tire, mounted, balanced, wheel fasteners, some kind of R&R R/F tire rod and set the toe-in to spec

would the above repairs cause my car to ride better? my 19 year old Tercel rides better than it did before and does not feel like a 19 year old car at all.

[dbbd]

Originally Posted by rlrl

new front tire, mounted, balanced, wheel fasteners, some kind of R&R R/F tire rod and set the toe-in to spec

would the above repairs cause my car to ride better? my 19 year old Tercel rides better than it did before and does not feel like a 19 year old car at all.

definitely - depending on how bad they were, it may or may not be a dramatic improvement. But, you should definitely feel a difference.

Not sure what is meant by wheel fasteners....and if only one tire was replaced, well they are normally replaced in pairs so that makes me a little nervous.

The front tire wear was probably excessive due to a worn tie rod.

[las vegas drunk]

The 91-94 Toyota Tercel had defective valve stem seals. My 1988 Toyota Supra also had the same problem.