Hows your Gen 1's Holding Up?

by **Jabraltar** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 9:07 am

DSM_Lara wrote:Holy Sh!t... I think I got a hard on. Just what I wanted. Makes me want to get a convertible. Thanks for posting. Now all the noobies with convertible can see how a true gen1 vertible should look. BTW where you got that hood visor???

Hey if you're interested in a hood visor there's a guy selling them on kijiji right now for your gen... $40.00 brand new...http://ontario.kijiji.ca/c-ViewAd?AdId= ... Ss9YonYPA*

by **NeFaRiOuS_SLE** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 2:19 am

Mechanically, for 172,000 miles, minus the recent battery and alternator fix, it's been great. Everything else isn't really up to par though. In fact, this went from a car that I loved showing off to being something I have to be somewhat reserved about.

After finding a good job, getting laid off from it, getting screwed over by my own mom (long story), having a [now] ex-girlfriend that hates staying at home, and not even being hired by McDonald's for making ends meet, I'm starting up in business, so I've been only doing the cheapest/most mandatory repairs until things pick up.

The inside handle broke off a few months ago, and I haven't really had the time, or even up until recently, the budget to go get it fixed. If I have to get out of the car, I have to roll down the window, reach outside and open it, then roll the window back up.
That window occasionally makes a really loud noise.
An HID bulb burnt out. The kit was fairly cheap, but the replacement bulb sure isn't!
2 years ago, after having a VERY tiresome job working 11 hours for 3 days in a row, I wound up getting fired for something I wasn't even present for (I was on lunch break); in a combination of anger/ignorance, the street light just so happened to burn out the week before, and 3 nights of missed sleep thanks to some new neighbors that made me learn the hard way how thin the walls were in a previous house and how VERY noisy 5 kids can get at 6 in the morning, I clipped off my right mirror backing into the narrow parking slot of my last house. Now I have 1 black junkyard mirror and 1 OEM red (and that one has been fairly oxidized from the get go).
It just dawned on me yesterday that I missed a cycle in the oil change when a girl I'm dating mentioned she just had her car's oil changed. I'm 3,000 miles past due.

by **mig0s** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 8:59 am

NeFaRiOuS_SLE wrote:Mechanically, for 172,000 miles, minus the recent battery and alternator fix, it's been great. Everything else isn't really up to par though. In fact, this went from a car that I loved showing off to being something I have to be somewhat reserved about.

After finding a good job, getting laid off from it, getting screwed over by my own mom (long story), having a [now] ex-girlfriend that hates staying at home, and not even being hired by McDonald's for making ends meet, I'm starting up in business, so I've been only doing the cheapest/most mandatory repairs until things pick up.

The inside handle broke off a few months ago, and I haven't really had the time, or even up until recently, the budget to go get it fixed. If I have to get out of the car, I have to roll down the window, reach outside and open it, then roll the window back up.
That window occasionally makes a really loud noise.
An HID bulb burnt out. The kit was fairly cheap, but the replacement bulb sure isn't!
2 years ago, after having a VERY tiresome job working 11 hours for 3 days in a row, I wound up getting fired for something I wasn't even present for (I was on lunch break); in a combination of anger/ignorance, the street light just so happened to burn out the week before, and 3 nights of missed sleep thanks to some new neighbors that made me learn the hard way how thin the walls were in a previous house and how VERY noisy 5 kids can get at 6 in the morning, I clipped off my right mirror backing into the narrow parking slot of my last house. Now I have 1 black junkyard mirror and 1 OEM red (and that one has been fairly oxidized from the get go).
It just dawned on me yesterday that I missed a cycle in the oil change when a girl I'm dating mentioned she just had her car's oil changed. I'm 3,000 miles past due.

I have the EXACT same problem... I took off the door panel and couldn't see what was wrong. It's not a big deal but its annoying! You have an idea how to fix it?

by **ThurzNite** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 10:14 am

I guess along those lines, my key is so worn that it doesn't really turn the driver door lock w/o some intense fiddling. Works fine in the passenger door tho. But good thing there's the remote door locks.

Dr J

by **Texasolara86** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 4:28 pm

mig0s wrote:
NeFaRiOuS_SLE wrote:Mechanically, for 172,000 miles, minus the recent battery and alternator fix, it's been great. Everything else isn't really up to par though. In fact, this went from a car that I loved showing off to being something I have to be somewhat reserved about.

After finding a good job, getting laid off from it, getting screwed over by my own mom (long story), having a [now] ex-girlfriend that hates staying at home, and not even being hired by McDonald's for making ends meet, I'm starting up in business, so I've been only doing the cheapest/most mandatory repairs until things pick up.

The inside handle broke off a few months ago, and I haven't really had the time, or even up until recently, the budget to go get it fixed. If I have to get out of the car, I have to roll down the window, reach outside and open it, then roll the window back up.
That window occasionally makes a really loud noise.
An HID bulb burnt out. The kit was fairly cheap, but the replacement bulb sure isn't!
2 years ago, after having a VERY tiresome job working 11 hours for 3 days in a row, I wound up getting fired for something I wasn't even present for (I was on lunch break); in a combination of anger/ignorance, the street light just so happened to burn out the week before, and 3 nights of missed sleep thanks to some new neighbors that made me learn the hard way how thin the walls were in a previous house and how VERY noisy 5 kids can get at 6 in the morning, I clipped off my right mirror backing into the narrow parking slot of my last house. Now I have 1 black junkyard mirror and 1 OEM red (and that one has been fairly oxidized from the get go).
It just dawned on me yesterday that I missed a cycle in the oil change when a girl I'm dating mentioned she just had her car's oil changed. I'm 3,000 miles past due.

I have the EXACT same problem... I took off the door panel and couldn't see what was wrong. It's not a big deal but its annoying! You have an idea how to fix it?

I had this problem a little while back. It was a piece of plastic from the inside of the lever of the door handle. The only way for me to fix it was to buy a new piece!

by **NeFaRiOuS_SLE** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 4:57 pm

Mine isn't from the inside... It's the outside. Funny thing is that I noticed that it had all these hairline fractures on the surface for a while (for almost 2 years), but I didn't pay attention to it, figuring it was some sort of polish/protective thing peeling off until I went to go get gas one morning and *snap*

.

Oh, and I also noticed that my key is so worn that I do have to wiggle it on the driver's side, or when I drop my car off with a valet or park in a bad neighborhood and lock the trunk (e.g. when you turn it counter-clockwise), but any newer/spare key works OK. But like you said, I usually don't pay attention to it since I have the remote.

Speaking of the remote, it fell from a 2nd story parking lot, and one side where it loops onto the key chain cracked, so instead of 2 sides I have only 1.

by **ThurzNite** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 6:22 pm

Lol! My remote is also cracked where the keyring goes. Doesn't stay together either. It's wrapped w/ packaging tape. Works.

Dr J

by **mig0s** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 8:46 pm

Texasolara86 wrote:I had this problem a little while back. It was a piece of plastic from the inside of the lever of the door handle. The only way for me to fix it was to buy a new piece!

Where can you buy that specific piece of plastic?

by **NeFaRiOuS_SLE** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 10:32 pm

The stealership offers the whole handle assembly for $51 [that I'm not in a position to pay], eBay is trying to rip people off for selling salvage handles for $45, and generic ones are about $10, but they just so happen to not have ones for our Solaras. Replacing it is fairly simple and straightforward, and I do have a temporary fix, but this is too ghetto a fix for my own self to continue. Let me bring out my alter ego, Tyrese.

SWITCH-TO\PROFILE\TYRESE\\\Grammar=Limited\\SentenceStructure=Ghetto

wut the fuzzuck? how u knw whether ise happy or not foo? aight i guess i gotta walk yu guys threw dis

what u do iz ya take out the handle asembli (spell?)
find a couple-a wood skrews or some skrews dat tap eazy
den yu drill sum pilot holez in da snapped off handle and threw into tha other part
make da outer handle hole bigger so dat da skrew can slide itself threw
drill sum larger holez fo da skrew ta recess-ize into, so it dont be stickin out as much
den u poor sum glue in between n start screwin
the screws, not ur mom foo
den u hook it bak in wen da glu dries
u can add sum wite out to it to make it blend in a bit mo (i didnt yet im waitin fo da glu 2 dry), or get a sharpie if u have a black car
fo max ghettoness dont put the bezel back in (but den again im just leavin it out cuz its a pain in the ass to pull back out n im still planning to buy a new set once i find it)
n there u have it foo
notice the hairline fractures n s**t on it n see y my door done broke

back to ya, ya dam honkey

SWITCH-TO\PROFILE\ED\\\Grammar=On\\SentenceStructure=Proper

There you have it... The most ghetto way to have your door handle temporarily fixed.

by **QuickSEV6** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 3:12 am

Bought mine in January of 2001.

My Solara hasn't moved from the garage since 2007.
Hopefully, this summer, I will put it back to stock and get it running again.

Nothing mechanically wrong with it.

Only 86,000 miles on the clock.

With a little TLC, the car should last at least another decade.

by **DaZanY4002** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 5:33 am

178K on the odo now. Still runs good, but ever since I got a flat like 3 months ago, she's been rolling on three 18's and an OEM 16. I blew a fog light bulb and a piece of tire on the road stripped the front passenger lip kit piece the day before the So Cal meet two years ago? Damn, it's been that long? Anyways, I took the whole kit off and haven't fixed the foglight.

My hood has now begun to peel... She's not looking anywhere as clean as she did, but it's my fault. I'm failing to find that excitement I had caught a couple years ago, and I think it may be that the cars that inspired me are expired now, along with the new things that gained priority over her.

I also locked my keys in there a couple times and there's a little bit of damage on my passenger door trim. Not to mention that cleaning and detailing my interior is ruined by 15 minutes of having my German Shepherd/Husky mix sit in the back.

But she's reliable. Just no longer turns heads, but I'll make sure to change that come summer when I have some free time.

by **yaddadaimsayin** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 11:19 am

QuickSEV6 wrote:My Solara hasn't moved from the garage since 2007.

What?? You've kept it just sitting there for 4 years? Why?

by **QuickSEV6** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 4:59 pm

yaddadaimsayin wrote:
QuickSEV6 wrote:My Solara hasn't moved from the garage since 2007.

What?? You've kept it just sitting there for 4 years? Why?

At the time, I had a job that was 48 miles away. I didn't want to put that kind of mileage on my Solara, so I bought a Yaris for the commute. I have been driving a Yaris for so long, the original battery in the Solara died. I just needed to install a new battey. Now, I removed the suprecharger last summer,so I need to intsall the intake manifold and it should all be good.

by **DSM_Lara** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 3:25 am

Garage Whore....

Website · by **mettler** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:31 pm

I just turned 200,000 the other day. So far my probs have been (other than normal brakes etc) #6 ignition coil went out, and an oxygen sensor went out. I also had to get a new leather driver's seat - got one from a junk yard. But, other than that, I still get 23mpg on average (DC metro) and up to 29mpg on hwy trips.