#operation shitbox

[zackaran]

Shitbox test drive results

Did a couple loops around the neighborhood and everything went great. Runs smoothly, handles nicely, great acceleration, very responsive. Brakes were okay, definitely rust on the rotors. Then drove to the top of a pretty good hill aaaaaand that was enough of a load to finally give us Symptoms. The water in the coolant reservoir was actively boiling and pissing everywhere when I opened the hood. So uh. I gotta figure out why that happened lol. Interestingly the temp gauge on the dash was still at like halfway so I'm replacing the thermostat for sure.

[zackaran]

New battery is in. I sat down and tested all the lights, all the windows, the electronic mirror adjust, all buttons switches etc everything works :D

[zackaran]

Gonna put air in the tires an take her for a test drive as soon as I'm done eating

[zackaran]

Test drive -> see if coolant leak pops up, assess brakes, see how power steering feels(reservoir is full at least). Then I'll change her oil and look into getting her smogged + moved off of non op. Once she's registered properly I'll start trying to troubleshoot what's wrong with the A/C and start tackling cosmetic issues like the fucked up bumper and lack of a grill. Getting ahead of myself but I AM really excited to go to a junk yard and start ripping shit off of other cars :D

[zackaran]

Anyway camry is pretty much ready to test drive I literally just have to put air in the tires. Idling hasn't recreated the coolant/water leak so I'm hoping driving some circles around the neighborhood will so I know what I need to fix next. It's possible my dad had the fluid overfilled and that plus air in the lines just really made it spray everywhere but idk that's too optimistic I still have a feeling I'm gonna have to replace the water pump or something

[zackaran]

Car rambling below

documenting stuff for myself mostly since this is my silly little diary website

Charging the battery rn to see if she'll even start (I'm pretty sure she will though).

Some corrosion on the valve cover but it cleaned up nicely. She either has or had at one point a small oil leak from the valve cover gasket. But it's very easy to access on this car and should be nbd.

Some corrosion on the alternator and I don't know if it's still good.

Air filter looks great! Fuse box looks great! So those clearly stayed sealed well and protected

So the main thing I know about this car is that it pisses water/coolant. I don't see anything obvious so I have to get it running and have the system under pressure to see where that's coming from and if I need a radiator or water pump or just hoses or what.

The interior is clean and in nice shape except the headliner sagging in one small part in the back. It's been sitting in california sun for years so clear coat is flaking everywhere.

It's a 2000 Toyota Camry with 158k miles and her issues seem minor enough to me so far that I'm willing to go ahead with this. If I get it actually driveable I'll look into what's wrong with the A/C and get a new front bumper and grill from a scrapyard.

[zackaran]

I'm dealing with this by just throwing myself into working on the Camry, which I wanted to do anyways but it might be my only option for a car now.