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Hi there! January or so I picked up a manual Toyota Yaris from the salvage auction. It was a blast to drive but it was very small and 2 doors made it a hassle for my family size. I also found Toyota's shifting to be much easier than others I had failed to learn on. I was probably helped a lot by the lightness of the vehicle.
Anyways I let that car go to my sister maybe a month ago. She was taking a bike to work and desperately wanted something after her Craigslist Mazda 2 konked out the automatic transmission.
I missed having a fun car and saw a manual 2006 Scion xB at the auction last week. I was able to win it for $1098 after fees and towed it home last Thursday.
Maintenance
Last night I finally had some time to check all the fluids, tire pressure, and do its first oil change. After that I drove 25 miles and I'm very happy with it. I was a little worried because it has 197k miles but the engine is running very smoothly. Long term fuel trim is reading -9% which seems good!
I checked out some threads about service intervals on the gear oil. I opened it briefly to see what was going on inside there. The color looked great compared to some rear diffs I've seen so I closed it back up also because I couldn't find the fill hole with my flashlight (it's getting dark at 6:30 this time of year)
Today or tomorrow I'm planning to test and/or flush the radiator because I'm very keen on using HOAT fluid whenever possible.
Drive
Not as zippy as the Yaris but I did spin the wheels this morning so it's got power, I just need to learn more and feel it out.
Wheels have a lot of treads and all match! Wowow Haven't checked the year yet but the rubber doesn't feel old at all.
Issues
Obviously I've got a lot of bodywork that needs to be done and I'm not the best painter yet. I think I can fix the hood but the rest need to be replaced. Since the grill is missing 3 or more pieces I'm looking at CariD or eBay for some ideas and moving away from the OEM inserts.
If you know something cooler than the billet please link it! At some point the paint gun needs to come out so that opens some options too.
I'm tempted to put on a custom bumper since this one is probably not very repairable, the Skyline bumper would probably get a lot of laughs from my driving buddy who has like 2 Skylines.
I know my story is probably a little non-standard but thanks for reading. Unless there is a better part of the site for projects, I may post some updates as I collect parts and put them on.
In the mail: silicon wipers, oil catch can, front and back dashcam.
Last edited by Chunjee; Nov 22, 2020 at 12:12 PM.
Reason: Moved to Correct Forum by Administrator
Two things worth posting about. I bought another xB! Sorta. My friend's son needed a $2000 car and I saw a rear-ended 2010 that just needed a new bumper cover so that went to him and we found a paint matching replacement for $95. I'll post a picture of that when it's done and detailed. The interior has a lot of pet hair and may take me a visit or two. Couple big rock chips on the hood that could use a bit of touch up and buffing.
I am a little jealous of the updated dashboard but the 1st gen feels more spacious for the driver so I'm going to hold off on attempting an upgrade right off the bat. It's an automatic so there's that too.
The second thing is I registered with the DMV and did something I've never done before; ordered a personalized license plate! They gave me a paper plate good till March 2020 and implied that the custom plates would take quite a while. I really love driving this car, and the joke plate is only going to enhance my enjoyment. Sorry, You'll have to wait for it to arrive for the reveal.
I went around trying to get a new fender and bumper but the scrapper's site was wrong and they couldn't find the parts they thought they had. So I'm back to the drawing board in that dept.
In the mail: license plate cover
front and rear brakes
pink coolant (looks like its running almost plain water atm)
thermostat
spark plugs
air filter + cabin air filter
Need to take the wheels off and see how the rotors are doing. Almost bought new ones but with steel rims on it seemed like a waste if what's on there now is fine.
Hmm so I noticed the A/C compressor was unbelted. I asked online and the most likely reason is that it had an issue and rather than fix it they had the shop unbelt it. I tried to turn it and it's locked up pretty hard.
I got a text from the junkyard about a 2006 xB so I picked a fender, compressor, bumper, etc from JTLKT334964126587
Last night I put in a new thermostat in and updated the coolant which I was very eager to do. Also added the replacement compressor and fender.
Ended up giving the bumper to someone else who came around wanting it. It had a hole and the color matched his xB.
Replaced cabin and engine air filters. Cleaned MAF sensor. Now reading -4.7 Long Term Fuel Trim.
Biggest mistake I made was trying to use this RainX glass chip repair, it sucks real bad compared to what I've used in the past.
I picked up a cheap bumper last week and put it on. It's the same paint code but has a lot of rock chips. Switched over the bottom spoiler and honeycomb plastic. The spoiler also needs some repair so my plan is to repaint the whole car a metallic red once I get the body looking better.
Because the hood is janked up it re-broke the crashed headlight and I know moisture is getting in there. I've been hesitant to put in the replacement headlight because I don't want the hood breaking another one, however I lost some functionality on the running light bulb so I went ahead and changed it.
So far no problem.
I have the crashed grill and was inspecting it more closely to see if it is worth repairing. I think this car may have been in an accident before because this grill is not factory. But they may have just wanted the square bB logo. Not sure.
I'm checking my mail almost daily for the custom plate but they still haven't arrived.
Sold that AWD sedan AGAIN because I'm too nice and let my buddies wife return it. As a reward for getting rid of it finally, I ordered a transparent grill but it hasn't arrived yet.
I knew another xB had shown up at the junkyard but it wasn't the right color so I didn't go down to see it. However 2 days ago my dad calls saying that he came across it and the rear hatch looks perfect. Since he was pulling parts with a friend and it's a two person job to get it off; I said sure I want it and it's sitting in my garage waiting to be swapped on.
Once I fix or replace the hood the body should be basically back to the original shape. I have been thinking about repainting the whole car for a few reasons. The replacement bumper paint is faded differently than the rest of the car and I need to paint a lot of areas anyway. I was thinking to do a black cherry or truckbed liner; but just read in the xB history thread that Black Cherry Pearl was a color prior to 2006ish and want to be completely unique if I'm going through the trouble of repainting the whole thing. Painting to match the existing body may be the most realistic option.
Replaced the hatch, I did some soldering on the handle because my silver one in better condition but the rubber is completely deteriorated but also doesn't unplug anywhere easy to replace. Yesterday I saw a passenger in the car behind me snap a picture. I just searched instagram for #badbox but nothing of my xB appears yet. I can fix that I guess
it arrived on Wednesday and by Thursday it had been raided pretty thoroughly.
Someone got the silver fender I was interested in. Another point in favor of repaint.
VIN: JTLKT324X50180780
Clutch started going out. I'm in the middle of changing it. I'll have some thoughts and pointers once that is done.
If anyone has insight on how to get the rear transmission mount off, I'd appreciate it. That's the main thing I have to deal with at the moment and its a little vague in the videos/posts I've seen.
I got the bolts in the back. I'm trying to get the thing off now, but it feels like I've missed a bolt near the top. Sadly this is one of the hardest areas to see because of wiring and air intake in the way.
Edit: there aren't any super hidden bolts. Just needs a lot more wiggling than I thought.
Finished the clutch job. I need to record a few more thoughts and I may post it as a video. Since I had to drain the transmission for this I'm glad I didn't mess with that gear oil earlier, since I'd just be replacing it again now.
I was planning to go with an EXEDY kit but at the last minute went with LUK 16079 because it had more "Disc Splines", the little fingers that release the pressure. By coincidence, my mechanic later said that is the brand he prefers.
You can see the grill I've been working on. Since I decided to make something, I filberglassed the crashed grill back together and painted it. That is about halfway done.
p.s. If anyone needs this same clutch or rear main seal done nearby, I could probably knock it out in 8ish hours since I know every bolt by heart now.
I wired up the two grill lights. They are connected to a switch inside the cabin because for some reason I thought I'd like them to be controllable, but I just leave them on for the most part.
Pulled dashcam footage for the last few months and did a video concat. I wanted to upload but it's 11 hours long which is too large for me to do comfortably over my home internet connection.
Replaced one lug stud and all the nuts which were causing some noise over bumps. I should probably replace the other 3 since they're likely stretched or damaged in some way I can't see with a naked eye.
Every single nut was either slightly screwed up or super compromised. I'm going to blame the PO on this one but I will be looking into a socket that fits my torque wrench to ensure it wasn't some error on my side.
Another silver xB arrived at the junkyard; but I think I'm too far down the body parts rabbit hole to revisit parts that are already fixed. Spend time and energy on a repaint instead of running all over town pretending junkyard panels are going to be an improvement on the appearance. Am I going to re-buy the bumper and hatch just to have offmatching silver panels?
No thanks.
Went on a for fun drive late last night and found a nice 20min circle through the hills that leads back to my house. Was the most fun I've had driving this.
Here are some pictures of the clutch replacement: New pressure plate 2020.07.10 Factory flywheel, 200k miles Factory pressure plate, 200k miles Factory clutch, 200k miles New clutch 2020.07.10
Thinking to take out the rear wiper and washer. I saw another car I was interested in at auction but didn't get any offers in time on this Scion so I'm thinking to just go wild with paint and whatever I want and drive the heck out of it.
People are too obsessed with the number on the odometer. Oh well.
Rebuilt xB
