I have a 1995 (non turbo) Talon. I bought it two years ago with
94,000 miles on it, and I've only managed to rack that up to 110,000.
Car still runs okay.. but I've had some bizzare issues I thought I'd
share. My best friend is an auto-technician for toyota and he helped
me a lot with these issues, but even he was stumped for a while.
Issue #1 - One day the car wouldn't start. I mean the starter motor
would actually not engage at all. We put power right to the starter
relay, and it turned over. So, we poked around through all the wiring
and fuses, and relays for two days. Eventually what we found was that
the clutch pedal has this stupid little plastic "stopper" that became
old and brittle and fell out. So the switch that the pedal is
supposed to depress was not getting depressed because the swtich just
pushes right through a hole in the pedal. Sad thing is, we had
unplugged the switch and tested it with a volt meter the first day,
and found it was working. Never realized the problem was the pedal..
Anyway, I kind of dismissed this as a really odd problem. But then a
couple of months later my brake-lights were sticking on. What did I
find? Same issue on the brake pedal! I fashioned something that
works temporarily to fill the holes... but how irritating, and no
mention of this problem on any of the DSM FAQ's I've read.
I had the fogged headlights too. I found toothpaste and a paper towel
and some scrubbing solved that.
the check engine kept comming on for the EGR. We replaced the EGR but
it still kept comming on. Eventually found that one of the vacuum
lines that rubs up against the engine had a hole in it right at this
spot. Should have checked that first, I guess.
Kept having issues with the battery terminals. The lights on the dash
would start flickering and the car would not start again after
shutting off the car. I could jiggle the terminals and it would fix
it for a few minutes. I kept cleaning the terminals but didn't help.
Eventually I discovered that there is a metal ring inside the
terminals to help tighten it. Well I popped that ring out and found
corrosion between that ring and the terminals. I took my dremel and
sanded that ring down and the inside of the terminal.. cured that
problem.
I have also had the doorhandles break off of BOTH DOORS TWICE EACH!
That is a total of 4 door handles I've replaced in 2 years. The first
time they broke I replaced both driver and passenger side with cheap
aftermarket door handles. One lasted 3 weeks and the next lasted a
year. So the next time I replaced them with factory handles. So far,
so good.
Of course, the struts on the hatch don't work.. have never gotten
around to replacing them.
I also have a leaking head gasket, which leaks down into the sparkplug
holes and has to be cleaned out once or twice a year.
besides that, I'd say it has been a great car for being over 11 years
old.
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