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2003 1.8 Corolla Tsport- What To Look Out For When Viewing?


cameroon95
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Hi guys.,

I've just sold my DC5 and looking for something to keep me going while I save for a house, I have been interested in Tsports for a while now.

I am going to look at a 5door 1.8 2003 Tsport on wednesday and just would like to know what i should look for with the car?

I can get it for around £2k which i think is reasonable but just want to be cautious.

Am I right to think it's a timing chain on these engines?

I did a quick google search and squeaky clutch pedal( master cylinder fault) and to watch the changeover to the vvti for jolts is common problems?

Any help is much appreciated,

many thanks

Cam

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Hi cam,

Well the engines are pretty much bullet proof as long as it has had regular services/oil changes.

Check for pink/coloured staining from the belt side of engine, water pumps can leak.

Check bottom left hand corner of radiator for leaking too.

The rear brake pads are prone to sticking in, so check pads aren't wearing too much on one side.

Front and rear brake discs can corrode and cause juddering when you press the brake pedal.

While on road test, check for humming noise as that could be a wheel bearing.

And importantly, if the customer let's you (once warmed up), on road test make sure the vvtl-i works as if they don't get used enough, the 'lift' cam can get stuck into normal mode and you get the wonderful punch from this fantastic engine. Just get up to 6200 rpm all the way to 8200rpm to check it.

Otherwise I hope it's a nice clean well kept car and you should be on to a winner.

Hope this helps

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Helps very much,

I take it these engines dont have a timing chain they have a belt? The milage I am lookign at is 80000 miles, in fact here is the car here

http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/toyota-corolla-tsport-192bhp-reduced/1052420537#photo-content

Thanks again Leeroy

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Hi cam,

No these engines are timing chain driven. Car looks pretty good from here, just check the things from before and good luck.

Hope this helps

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Hi guys.,

I've just sold my DC5 and looking for something to keep me going while I save for a house, I have been interested in Tsports for a while now.

I am going to look at a 5door 1.8 2003 Tsport on wednesday and just would like to know what i should look for with the car?

I can get it for around £2k which i think is reasonable but just want to be cautious.

Am I right to think it's a timing chain on these engines?

I did a quick google search and squeaky clutch pedal( master cylinder fault) and to watch the changeover to the vvti for jolts is common problems?

Any help is much appreciated,

many thanks

Cam

Some things to check......

Rear and front brake pads and discs are in good nick

Lift at 6200rpm does actually work. Change lift bolts in engine.

Check service record is good and regular oil changes.

Check all lights internally on fascia and centre console work.

Check for damp in passenger foot well.

This is a pre-facelift model so roadholding is not as good as facelift (strengthening done after 2004); engine is same, no body mods.

It's a good car through...sheep in wolfs clothing.

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Thanks guys,

I ended up buying a 2003 red tsport with 59k miles for 2500 from a dealer, it needs new rear brake pads however . Can anyone tell me the best place to get them as I can only find the fensport ones?

Also what type of oil, gearbox oil and coolant is recommended for these cars? I like to do a clean replacement of all fluids when I get a new car :)

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First time use a local motor factor as I found there are usually two different types of T sport for each year ...a European version and a Japanese version and only Toyota call tell which version you have. Pretty sure however that pads are the same it's just the disks that are different. Call Toyota and armed with VIN etc get the details you need. I would still use a local factor so if they are the wrong type easy to change. Also consider changing disks and caliper sliders (my disks were badly corroded and bolt heads of the bolts holding calipers onto brake bracket were rounded and impossible to move).

Brakeparts, europarts, micksgarage etc all good online places but call them with car details rather than trying to guess online.

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Hi camaroon95,

You can tell where your Toyota was made by its chassis/VIN number.

If it starts with a J it's Japanese, SB is made in Great Britain etc.

Hope this helps

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Hi camaroon95,

You can tell where your Toyota was made by its chassis/VIN number.

If it starts with a J it's Japanese, SB is made in Great Britain etc.

Hope this helps

Mine starts with SB but the brake disks it uses are from the Japanese side of the fence........go figure.

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Gearbox Oil is 75w90 , most of us have changed it on here at some point. There is a sticky on changing it if you look at the top. Gearbox is a noisy one anyway, especially decelerating so anything you can do to shut it up is a plus so buy the good stuff.

Timing Chain needs to be checked at 100k for wear and tension.

Brake pads are the same size as the 2.0D Corolla, but as mentioned above any decent site has a registration check you can do to bring up the correct parts. I've had all sorts on mine, EBC, Mintex etc, but to be honest a decent standard set of cheap pads on the rear is fine as it doesn't do that much braking. Worth doing it yourself as it only takes 30 mins per wheel (inc pushing the caliper piston back in), but its worth spending an hour and regreasing the sliders with red rubber grease as they tend to seize leading to annoying rubbing noises over time.

Check the colour of the coolant, if its pink it should be long life and last 100k and might not need changing. If its green and its not in the log book then perhaps consider changing it, but don't mix them. Any coolant will do.

Probably also worth changing the spark plugs for a fresh set of iridium's if they are the originals, they are also supposed to last 100k but I think 60k is probably a better bet.

Have fun!

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Thanks again guys, oil and filter ordered.

Had a look at my brakes this weekend, what do you think of the condition of the disks-worth replacing??!

IMG_20140406_160046.jpg

IMG_20140406_160038.jpg

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So long as the thickness is ok and is not below the minimum which is I believe 8mm and the discs aren't heavily scored or show any signs of cracking or strange vibration under braking when at speed then they should be fine.

Don't look noticeably bad from the front, taking them off is the best way to check but you can probably get away with running your fingers down the back while rotating to check for anything deep grooves that might cause failure.

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