Chicken

Apparently the alternator like that wont fit because as-per mechanic, it's facing the engine block this way, and there will be no room to connect the plug. Going with rebuild.

Yeah the Alternator, my bad. The powersteering pump is as greasy as it can get, not too bad dripping though. Gonna ask the Mech to put some electric tape on the IAC valve tight so I can at least drive it back. Thinking of pulling a IAC valve from a wrecker if I'm lucky and replacing it too.

Thanks Landar. So I got another starter. Just one quick question. The specs match perfectly with the stock, except the socket in this one, seems to be on the side rather than on the back. Think this might pose a problem ? Here's an example : The stock one looks like this :

Thanks, yeah it was a bad alternator. Not surprisingly, powersteering fluid dripped on it and blew it. Now the mechanic tells me the alternator change will take 3.6 hours of labor, and 200$ for the alternator. Is it me or is the guy trying to slow-milk the money here? I looked at http://www.lextreme.com/alternator.html and seems like a simple enough job for DIY.

Guess I spoke too soon. The battery low light is on. That's weird cause I had the battery just 6 months ago, and while driving to the airport, right at the gates, ABS light started showing up, then Track off, and then the car died. 2 hours later after taking care of "Business", I started the car, and got on the freeway. Right when the car is about to slow down and I'm hitting the brakes, the lights come back on. Waited on the shoulder for an hour, and started the car, it started again, drove for another 25 yards and the ABS light started to come on again, so I pulled over and had the car towed. Do you guys think it's the Alternator going bad? Need new brakes?

Is your battery stock ? (not likely), What's the battery power? The last one I replaced after I bought my LS was 650w, the new one is 800w and runs fine.

So I took it to the mechanic. They ordered the new sensor from the dealer for 250$. Turns out the last a-hole broke the connector to the sensor, and said it's "Loose". They showed me the broken sensor. Replaced it with a brand new one. Cleared the code with my bluetooth OBD2 device and Torque. 0 Can you guess what happened next? Took it out, as soon as I crossed 2000rpm, bam! Check engine light back on. Went back , checked it. Same P0330. Having said that, despite the CEL being on, the "TRAC OFF" light wasn't blinking anymore, and the engine ran fine, however, I didn't floor the gas pedal and didn't let it go past 2500rpm. Initially I thought it was the wiring Harness which may need replacing, but the guy switched the wires and the other one started giving code for bank one, telling the wires were fine, the sensor was bad.Can't believe I drove 100miles to find out the new sensor was also bad, wasn't sending volts to the ECU. Having said that, the guys said they'll order another one next week and install it for free. Oh well. 800$ down the sh!tter

Thanks for the responses, or lack thereof, guess now I have to waste another 600$ getting the damn knock sensor replaced.

No need to buy a car charger. Start it, if it does, drive around for an hour. If you're planning highway trip, do that. Also, see if you can borrow a Voltmeter from someone. Check the voltage on your battery, and if it's over 12.45, you should be good, unless the experts here have a different opinion

I can really use your help guys. So first off, my starter died. I opened the car up, but when I went to the starter, I gave up since I was busy with work and found this "Toyota" mechanic. I towed the car to him, and had labeled every nut/bolt in a ziplock bag for him to restore once he had replaced the starter. Next thing you know, the guy calls me at work , saying one of my knock sensors is loose. I told him to fix it somehow as I need the car today. I dont know what happened but apparently he didn't do anything to it, and placed the manifold back. That evening, when he was gone to work and I went to pick up the car from him place. The car had just turned abyssmal. a) The engine was loud. b) When I turned the key to ignition, a motor seemed to turn near the throttle, and after that, the "Trac off" light started blinking. c) Started the car, and voila! the check engine light is on. I ran the diagnosis, says "Power train : P0330 - Knock Sensor bank 2". d) I took it out on the road, and the car wont shift from 1st to 2nd until I hit 5000rpm, the same goes for the 3rd. Also, the rpms keep going up and down. Hence the questions, Whats' wrong besides the Knock Sensor here? Or is it just that? Will replacing the knock sensor fix the problems above or what else may have gone wrong? Let me be clear, it was today that I figured the guy didn't know the car well, but saw the diagrams and tried to put the whole thing back together and finally started the car( while I was in my office sipping coffee ). I'm kinda sick since I've wasted 450$ on this issue and now new issues have come up. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

Apparently the rim shop was in a hurry and didn't go a good job. Got the alignment done, and the wheels re-balanced from a different shop. According to the new shop mechanic, the spacers were too wide for the front wheels. He replaced with a couple of thinner spacers, now the rims are almost "touching" the front calipers. But the ride is smooth now. Will post pictures in the morning.

Yeah , guess I'll get em balanced. Gotta agree to the Caliper part, especially front ones.

Do you have any check engine codes? You should be getting upward of 400 miles on a tank if the car is running properly. What year do you have, miles on it and when was the last time you had a tuneup? No Check engine light. Got 126k Miles on it, oil changed ( regular, not synthetic) every 3000 miles or so. I've considered selling it , but it's only been less than a year since I bought this car.

same issue here when it comes to MPG. A full tank of gas only lasts me 250miles in the city and around 300-325 on the highway. Doesn't matter if I use high octane ( 91 ) or premium ( 89 ).

Thanks Randall, I don't think it's an issue with suspension or bushings as they're virtually new, the last owner took very good care of the car. So I'll try the tire swap idea. Having said that, I've had the issue previously on stock rims, until I took the car in for wheel balancing and that solved the issue. Here's my problem. Do I need to rebalance on brand new rims? I'm worried about having those ugly snaps/metal pieces on the new rims and that will ruin the looks. If I go the alignment route, that's gonna burn me another 70 bucks. I've heard good things about the Hunter balancer, any experience with that?