Noob on the block

[elraido]

Wife bought a 99 Solara Auto SLE a couple of weeks ago with 99K miles. It had its little bit of problems with it but seemed like a decent car. Needed new pads, rotors, tires, 02 sensor and a good waxing. Went with a Bosch universal 02 sensor (didn't have any problem with them before) and that fixed the CEL. Brakes were a mess. Had to get new rotors because the old ones couldn't be turned....waaaay to much gooving. Was able to change out one of the rear rotors, but not the other....just couldn't get the dumb thing off. Who thought it would be a good idea to have internal drum parking brakes...seriously. But it brakes smooth and straight now. Also, the airbag light was flashing. Was told that the system worked fine but there was something just causing the light to flash and that it could be fixed but the end result would just turn off the light for a lot of money. So, I pulled the bulb since the tack bulbs needed to be changed out.

Car runs great, very very smooth. Infact when we first test drove it, the wife asked if the car was even on. I had to double check....it was

Couple questions though. I have the ever awesome California emmsions "package"...how cool is that? How much HP is that robbing from me and what does it consist of?

And I am sure you have heard this 103400290342 times, but what are the performance numbers for this car? Wife is getting cocky that she thinks it will be better than my SVT Contour (getting my new one this friday with a 3.0l Swap, built up tranny with LSD and great aftermarket suspention setup).

Thanks guys and gals!

[Donnie]

Welcome to SG.

[Dawgz]

Wife bought a 99 Solara Auto SLE a couple of weeks ago with 99K miles. It had its little bit of problems with it but seemed like a decent car. Needed new pads, rotors, tires, 02 sensor and a good waxing. Went with a Bosch universal 02 sensor (didn't have any problem with them before) and that fixed the CEL. Brakes were a mess. Had to get new rotors because the old ones couldn't be turned....waaaay to much gooving. Was able to change out one of the rear rotors, but not the other....just couldn't get the dumb thing off. Who thought it would be a good idea to have internal drum parking brakes...seriously. But it brakes smooth and straight now. Also, the airbag light was flashing. Was told that the system worked fine but there was something just causing the light to flash and that it could be fixed but the end result would just turn off the light for a lot of money. So, I pulled the bulb since the tack bulbs needed to be changed out.

Car runs great, very very smooth. Infact when we first test drove it, the wife asked if the car was even on. I had to double check....it was

Couple questions though. I have the ever awesome California emmsions "package"...how cool is that? How much HP is that robbing from me and what does it consist of?

And I am sure you have heard this 103400290342 times, but what are the performance numbers for this car? Wife is getting cocky that she thinks it will be better than my SVT Contour (getting my new one this friday with a 3.0l Swap, built up tranny with LSD and great aftermarket suspention setup).

Thanks guys and gals!

Wait, u said u have a v6...but u have drums in the rear?

[elraido]

From what I can tell they are rotors with an internal parking brake (I think). I might be wrong.

[Akfahad]

welcome

[lilm]

Wife bought a 99 Solara Auto SLE a couple of weeks ago with 99K miles. It had its little bit of problems with it but seemed like a decent car. Needed new pads, rotors, tires, 02 sensor and a good waxing. Went with a Bosch universal 02 sensor (didn't have any problem with them before) and that fixed the CEL. Brakes were a mess. Had to get new rotors because the old ones couldn't be turned....waaaay to much gooving. Was able to change out one of the rear rotors, but not the other....just couldn't get the dumb thing off. Who thought it would be a good idea to have internal drum parking brakes...seriously. But it brakes smooth and straight now. Also, the airbag light was flashing. Was told that the system worked fine but there was something just causing the light to flash and that it could be fixed but the end result would just turn off the light for a lot of money. So, I pulled the bulb since the tack bulbs needed to be changed out.

Car runs great, very very smooth. Infact when we first test drove it, the wife asked if the car was even on. I had to double check....it was

Couple questions though. I have the ever awesome California emmsions "package"...how cool is that? How much HP is that robbing from me and what does it consist of?

And I am sure you have heard this 103400290342 times, but what are the performance numbers for this car? Wife is getting cocky that she thinks it will be better than my SVT Contour (getting my new one this friday with a 3.0l Swap, built up tranny with LSD and great aftermarket suspention setup).

Thanks guys and gals!

Wait, u said u have a v6...but u have drums in the rear?

Parking brake is actuated just like a drum brake.



i cant understand people taking the airbag light out. It flashes because something is wrong....i mean i personally would not want it going off while driving down the free but that's just me.

[Somedude]

Welcome aboard!

[Midias]

Welcome you have a 200 hp car maybe a little less for cali it probably runs late 15's to low 16s.

[GreenSolara01]

Hello

[LostSoul]

w3lcom3!

[NeFaRiOuS_SLE]

Welcome to SolaraGuy!

...the airbag light was flashing. Was told that the system worked fine but there was something just causing the light to flash and that it could be fixed but the end result would just turn off the light for a lot of money. So, I pulled the bulb since the tack bulbs needed to be changed out.

99 times out of 100, a flashing airbag light means that the wiring going to your side airbag light keeps getting loose. The irony is that it's never loose enough to break contact completely, but just enough to maintain a choppy connection between the actual airbag itself and the brains of the thing.

The best thing to do is to disconnect the battery (you don't want to short-circuit it and turn it into an $$$ mistake and have a deflated airbag hanging out the side of your seat), disconnect clean the terminals with some non-residue-forming electronics cleaner, reconnect all terminals as tight as you can, and pray that nobody adjusts the seat too far or go to the rear of the car for any God-given reason.

If it's gone for a while but comes back (especially after allowing access to the car's rear), just randomly squeeze the terminals back together 10 seconds after you pull the key from the ignition...

...At least that's what solved my problem (although I wish that Toyota Motor Company didn't pussyfoot the issue and just issue a TSB ).

Oh and if that solves your problem, I suggest you put the airbag LED back in; otherwise if a problem happens to any other airbag you'd know.

[elraido]

Sounds like a simple enough plan to try. I have extra bulbs already, so I can throw one in and see if I can fix it

[elraido]

Oh yeah, another dumb question.

In the owners manual it stats to use only dual pronged spark plugs. Seriously? Any reason why?

[Midias]

Oh yeah, another dumb question.

In the owners manual it stats to use only dual pronged spark plugs. Seriously? Any reason why?

Just long life

Go NGK iridium IX and be happy forever and stay away from bosch.

[GreenSolara01]

X2