Just picked up a 2000 Toyota Corolla for cheap transportation to and from work (about 20 miles each way). Cold A/C, only 130k miles, automatic, power windows, tint, etc..pretty nice economical car. Books at $5000 roughly, selling price of the car was $795 plus taxes/fees . Pics coming soon

 

sweet deal id have jumped on that bitch too

 

wow!!!!! thats amzing, anything wrong so far with the car, or its all good to go?

 

^Oil pressure light came on..checked the oil and it was low. filled it up but its still on, will have one of the techs look at it tomorrow when I get to work, but no problems really. I might get a $200 maaco special on there just so it looks a bit better, but interiors clean, no funky smells/stains, exterior could use some work (the roof is faded..clearcoats pretty much gone..hence the cheap paint job), but other than that no. Motors clean as hell to. I should have pics up tomorrow, after I get a chance to wash it and vacuum, maybe shampoo the carpets and seats. Thanks guys

Edit: after reading up on the car a bit, apparently they start to burn a lot of oil at this mileage. its not a leak problem and no blue smoke, just burns a lot for some reason..about a quart every 1000 miles.

 

its probably not burning oil, its most likely sludged. especially if the oil light is on. that light is set by low oil pressure, like what happens when the pickup is clogged.
pull the valve cover off, i guarentee you it looks like someone took a shit in there. if it isnt smoking, it isnt burning, that oil is just building up inside your engine.

it can be fixed, and cleaned out, but its a time consuming process, and somewhat expensive. valve cover, valve guide seals, and oil pickup need to be replaced, and the engine completely cleaned out.

there is a service campaign through toyota dealers for the sludge, and could possibly be covered under warranty, but youll have to prove the oil was changed every 5k miles. and if someone dumped the car that cheap, i doubt it was.

 

oh also, the main problem with the sludging, especially if its dropped oil pressure enough to set a light, is it completely starves the engine of oil. so it will wear bearings, cam lobes, and possibly worse.

honestly, dont drive the car, and get it looked at.
and check compression, if compresion is low, the rings are shot.

this really wasnt a very good deal at all. sorry to piss all over it.

 

Even if the engine is sludged up, I'd think it would still be a good deal for a running 2000 model..the motor could be swapped or rebuilt and it would still be well under book. But for 800 bucks, if it is messy in there, I would probably just drop the oil pan and wipe all that crap out, clean the head out, change the oil a few times and drive it till it seizes.

Nice find

 

Low oil pressure is an indication of excessive wear in the main and rod journals, exccessive wear caused by high mileage. The oil clearance is too large causing a larger volume of oil to pass through without building adequate pressur to create the necessary hydraulic buffer needed between the operating surfaces of the crankshaft, connecting rods, cylinder block etc...There is nothing that can be done about it short of a rebuild. Sludging doesn't affect oil pressure unless it's blocking oil passages or jamming check valves etc... Then you would have oil starvation in certain parts of the engine, in my experience this is found primarily the cylinder head camshaft journals. Sludging is also created over time, he is going through oil at a quart per week. It is either being left on the cylinder walls and burning off in the combustion chamber, leaking through the valve guides/seals and burning off in the combustion chamber or the engine is leaking it somewhere he haven't seen yet. He will figure it out, he just got it...

The engine has a very limited life expectancy IMO, time to swap it out.

 

Hmm. Always put heavier weight in the car! hah!

 

I was wrong, it looks like the oil pressure light..it was check engine. MY dad hooked up it when he got home and checked the code, he said its not a big deal but I wasn't payin attention to what he was saying..I was looking into the 3sGTE into it . If something goes wrong, it'll get a swap. If it lasts 4 months, it'll get a swap. Lights off now and i'll have another tech double check it today at work.