I have a 94 With the 1.8L; both motors are basically identical save for a longer stroke on the 1.8L.
Reliable relaiable as heck! The only major (and it's not really major; just above anything else that could go wrong) item with the 93-97 Corollas is they eat alternators on a somewhat regular basis and probably a lot less than other vehicles with alternator problems. Part of that is overtightening the #@$%! out of the alternator belt. Also, some of these vehicles have oil consumption problems. Mine does; doesn't affect performance at all and I regularly get 40 mpg on the highway now.
Aside from that, I'd do the timing belt and check the valve lash, new cap and rotor, wires and plugs, and get a new fuel filter in there (unless any of these items were taken care of buy previous owner). On the fuel filter, it's easy to get to, but the acorn seal on the fuel line is trickey - they were overtigthened from the factory and damaged, so you have to CRANK the bottom fitting on with the filter stabalized to get a leak free installation, or replace the feed fuel line. New belts as well would be in order. And fresh coolent and rad cap; beware, the engine block drain which is super easy to access) has a tendancy to rust in place. Also do a manual trans drain and fill. I recomend Dino GL-5; I've tried everything, including Specialty Formulations, Redline etc.; any synthetic is notchy. The Dino varients of 75w-90 perform best for some odd reason, especially Valvoline.
Easiest car in the world to work on; manual trans fluid changes and coolent changes are so easy a child could do it.
I did all this stuff when I bought my car and it's never even so much as hickuped (knock on wood
).
Good luck; any questions don't hesitate to PM me Steve.
