Here's the story from the top. Okay, so I finished up my final at 9:45 this morning and finished cleaning the apartment before the management team did a walk through at noon. I had my Corolla all packed up with all the things I wanted/needed to bring home for the summer (basically the entire car was packed to the headliner where available) and headed on my way north. I noticed the usual power for the Corolla's weak 1.6L, but about fifteen minutes south of Madison my temperature gauge started rising quickly and to a point I've never seen it remotely close to. I managed to make it into Fitchberg (just south of Madison) before I noticed an immense drop in power. Somehow, I continued northbound enough to pull into a Mobil station just on the west side of Madison. By this time, the car had little to no power starting in first and it sounded like a crazy rod knock whenever I attempted to hit the throttle pedal. Needless to say, the 243,905 mile Toyota Corolla has spent its last life on the Wisconsin roadway system. I am lucky I was able to get a hold of my brother-in-law from a pay phone as my cell decided it didn't want to make any outgoing calls in that area (perhaps it was trying to tell me to never be in that area in the first place...Yes, I'm seriously glad I am still alive and have all my money and electronics that were in the car). I'm now 25 minutes north of the city here in Lake Mills just beginning my short break before I continue working throughout the summer. I know I was sitting on a ticking time bomb with the Corolla with such high mileage, but I ever expected it to do this now after how well it sounded earlier this week.
Oh well, I am planning on getting the Stealth whipped into shape within the week I have off and get it prepared to begin its duties as the summer car...I'm still debating if I want to get another daily driver that gets good mileage on 87-octane that I'm willing to use during the winter, but it seems Toyotas keep their resale value too well to justify purchasing a clean, newer one with lower mileage.
Topic: Had Quite the Experience Today...(My Toyota's Engine Died) (Read 757 times)
