We purchased a 1988 Toyota Corolla wagon w/103k miles on it for $1850. It had one previous owner, a lady librarian in NJ. I thought ‘score, this car will probably give us another 200k miles.’ We put a new battery in ourselves and had my mom’s trusted mechanic look at it (post-purchase). He replaced …

With rust that extensive it’s time to junk it.

First time car owner, it was hard to give up. Thanks for talking me down.

I think you’ve been good advice (except for mine). With that much rust causing the incident, you are far better off with another car. No amount of chemo will fix it. Considering how brutal some of the AL-Can highway is, you don’t want to start out in another rust bucket that may well do the same…

Even if you repair all the rust you can reasonably find there can still be serious rust undetected. And that weak spot will fail right when you need the integrity the most, just like with the hairpin turn.

Give it up and take it to a junkyard. It is hard to retire an otherwise decent vehicle but it has to be done for safety reasons. I retired an old '89 Accord with almost 600,000 miles on it due to safety issues caused by rust, and it was hard to retire a decent running vehicle after 25 years of no …

I’ve driven my 1979 Celica (20R engine) several times for distances of 1000 miles. It is in absolutely pristine condition, and EVERYTHING in the maintenance manual gets checked on schedule, (over 50 items) from the TVTV valve for the distributor advance, A/I/ system etc to lubricating the front upp…

tom418-did you even read this thread ?

You could buy 3 old Corollas for what it will cost to repair that rear suspension or one 2000-2003 Corolla. http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/5216085525.html

Agree with what most of the others here say, the rust issue is the problem. If little to no rust, fixing the rear hubs and associated suspension components wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But it would be a big deal if there’s enough rust that the structural integrity is in question where the sus…

1988 Toyota Corolla Wagon w/100k miles, back tire snapped off, bent in half, 3k fix?

Maintenance/Repairs

Docnick September 16, 2015, 11:02pm 23

Like cancer, rust is virtually terminal in most cases. As others advise, take it to the recycler and move on.

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1988 Toyota Corolla Wagon w/100k miles, back tire snapped off, bent in half, 3k fix?

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