Hello car friends, an epic blockbuster is coming. Today we are going to refurbish a 2012 13th generation Toyota Crown. It is a personal first-hand car from a Hubei car enthusiast. It has traveled 270,000 kilometers and is in terrible condition. The car owner hopes that we can revive it with full blood and fight for another ten years. Let’s take a look at what problems this car encountered!
The protagonist of this article is the 13th generation crown
When it comes to Crown, everyone will think of the 12th generation Crown. The 12th generation Crown has been highly hyped by car dealers, making it a good car and a car that maintains value. There is also a popular saying "After the 12th generation Crown, there will be no more Crown". , making the existence of the 13th generation Crown seem particularly redundant. In fact, the chassis and engines of the 13th generation Crown and the 12th generation Crown are the same. Except for the interior appearance, there is no other difference. The most important thing is that the overall cost performance of the 13th generation Crown is far better. It is higher than the 12th generation Crown, but no one is interested in the 13th generation Crown. This is really embarrassing.
The owner of the car said that he has a very deep affection for this car. It has been with him for many years of hard work. Now he is reluctant to change the car and wants to keep driving it. This time he asked us to fully repair the car. Anyway, in one sentence: let it return to its youthful state!
When the car arrived at the store, I conducted a road test. The brakes were shaking badly and the chassis was very loose. It was indeed quite uncomfortable to drive.
The car owner summarized it again, and there are still some functional issues that we need to deal with.
Let's get started. Toyota engines don't have much trouble with carbon deposits. We can directly use a bottle to deal with the three-way catalytic carbon deposits.
Add internal engine cleaning agent to remove impurities that have accumulated over the years.
Remove the water tank and condenser. This must have never been cleaned. It is really dirty.
After cleaning, check that there is no leakage from trachoma, and you can continue to use it.
The inspection revealed that the valve cover was leaking oil. Toyota V6 machines generally have oil leakage from the head gasket after 200,000 kilometers, which is mainly caused by aging.
It's 270,000 kilometers, so let's just replace all the rubber rings and mats on the engine at once, so that the car owner can worry less for the next ten years. Note that all original parts must be used.
Remove the cover and replace the sealing gasket and small spark plug gasket. Compared with BMW's plastic valve cover, see if this Crown metal valve cover is particularly secure.
The old spark plugs were all burnt with blackheads, so we also replaced them with a set of new original spark plugs.
The air intake seals were also replaced, and they are all original parts.
After checking the engine, there is no sign of burning oil at all, so we can just deal with all potential oil leakage risks in the future.
I removed the throttle and cleaned it, it was a little dirty.
The timing system has also been updated and adjusted.
Replace the combination belt, drop pulley, tensioner and other accessories.
Installed.
The cooling system, air intake duct, valve cover, and timing system all began to be reinstalled.
Reinstall the cooling system and refill the coolant.
After the engine is assembled, replace the oil filter and prepare to renew the oil.
Refill new engine oil.
Replace the transmission filter element, sealing ring and oil and water.
Under construction...
Finally, the gasoline filter element was replaced, and the power maintenance of the car was completed. The engine did not burn oil after 270,000 kilometers and only leaked slightly. This state is indeed very worry-free.
Next comes the maintenance of the chassis system. There are indeed many regular wearing parts that have been updated. The chassis rubber parts of Japanese cars that have traveled more than 200,000 kilometers are basically in a state of aging and cracking. They are indeed not durable and can easily cause the chassis to become loose and shake.
The blue accessories are our upgraded adjustment swing arms and adjustment levers, which can better adjust the crown chassis data completely. The chassis method of the 13th generation Crown is the same as that of the 12th generation. It is not difficult for us. After all, we are the 12th generation Crown. I have done more than N sets.
The green accessory is that we upgraded a set of Japanese TEIN shock absorbers, which can take the comfort of the Crown chassis to a higher level. There is also an upgraded set of Japanese DIXCEL brake pads, and other accessories are some original rubber sleeves, ball heads, dust boots, etc.
The front suspension components have been disassembled.
Replace and install each part of the front suspension one by one...
For the rear suspension, the differential and rear axle were directly removed because we had to replace two big things.
It's the big rubber bushings for these two differentials.
The large rubber sleeve of the differential is being removed and replaced with a new one... not many shops dare to replace this thing, because if it is removed like this, if the rear part is not installed properly, the car will vibrate even more when running.
All rear suspension tie rods, ball joints, and rubber sleeves are being updated.
The shock absorber is being assembled...
Check the rear wheel bearing for abnormal noise, so you can only replace it with a brand new one.
When disassembling the rear brake, I also found that a small accessory was missing. Fortunately, this thing can be ordered as a separate original part.
Differential reassembly to body...
By the way, change the differential oil.
The rear axle suspension is reassembled into the body.
Everything has been reassembled. The chassis is green or blue, which is quite unique.
Finally, install the brake disc and leather of the entire vehicle.
Use a special machine to replace the brake fluid to avoid air blockage and ensure braking safety.
The wheel system is in good repair, but the wheel hubs are in pretty bad shape.
After our renovation and repair treatment, it will look brand new.
One of the tires is a recently replaced Michelin tire, so we updated three of them.
Assemble the tires and wheels, and do some dynamic balancing data.
Install the wheels and use the American Hunter locator to adjust the chassis data.
In the data measurement, there are deviations in various inclination angles of the front and rear wheels. No wonder it is difficult to drive.
After some careful adjustments, the perfect value was restored, and the lower left corner of the screen was filled with green health values.
The chassis adjustment parts were upgraded in the early stage just for the green screen. All the inclination angles and toe angle values are perfect. There is no need to test the car. The chassis of this car is in excellent condition. Although this car is a mechanical tool, it is actually just like us. If you do a physical examination and the indicators are all abnormal, you will definitely feel uncomfortable and this car will definitely be difficult to drive. Your indicators are all within the range, you must be in good spirits, and your chassis must be in good shape.
When it came to the exterior renovation, the car owner requested that the entire car be repainted. We checked the paint surface and found that some surfaces had been repainted. The paint surface of the entire vehicle was indeed very poor. Let me take a look at it below:
Various scratches and obvious color differences due to repainting.
Scratch marks on the rear wheel...
A piece of paint fell off the rear bumper.
There are various minor injuries on the entire right back.
The right taillight is still cracked.
There are also various minor injuries on the left side, and the entire car is ready to be repainted.
Start polishing the whole thing and put some putty on the small damaged parts.
All parts of the front and rear bumpers were dismantled and repainted.
The whole car is covered and primed before entering the oven.
Once, twice...the paint effect is slowly emerging.
After we left the paint room, in order to ensure that there was no color difference in the rear taillights, we specially found a dismantled car light of similar color and replaced it, so that it would look flawless. The paint surface also needs to be given a mirror effect, which is the final treatment. Let’s finish the interior first:
The leather on the left side of the leather seat is broken and the sponge has collapsed. Just replace this piece of leather and sponge alone. Let me tell you a secret. The damaged area is not real leather at all. Most of the seats that are called leather seats have this. The most easily damaged piece is actually not genuine leather.
The steering wheel is brightly oiled and has a thick patina.
The interior is really dirty and messy.
It seems that the car owner is quite busy, eating in the car, and there are disposable chopsticks in the car.
The interior must be deeply cleaned and dismantled directly.
It's really dirty. This car must have been used in many construction sites.
Remove the carpet, it's a bit disgusting, I'll go~
After removing the big roof, I found that the big roof showed signs of moisture and mold, and the skylight drainage must be blocked.
Now that the interior is dismantled, the skylight needs to be cleaned and maintained as soon as possible.
Clean skylights, clear water pipes, and lubricate tracks to prevent clogging and rust.
Various interior parts were cleaned and repaired, and they were slowly dried.
Clean the bike rack first...
There is no spare tire slot in the trunk.
Use a soft-bristled brush to clean various large interior coverings...
Various worn small interior parts have been fully refurbished.
After half a month of hard work, all interior parts were cleaned and repaired.
The effects of various down items after cleaning.
Various covering board cleaning effects.
The main driver's door panel was damaged and we renovated and repaired it.
Various interior details have been renovated and restored.
We made the steering wheel covered in genuine leather to restore a new texture.
The peach wood interior parts were refurbished and cared for to regain their roundness.
The damaged leather on the driver's seat was replaced, the seat sponge was replaced with the original one, and all seats were deeply cleaned to remove any patina.
The spare tire has been cleaned, the wheel hub has been waxed, and the overall dynamic balance has been adjusted. The spare tire must be convenient for use.
The interior was all put back together and it felt great.
The last step is to finish the appearance, which must achieve a mirror effect.
Door handle details...
The details of the rearview mirror must be round and shiny.
Addressing details left behind by spray paint.
To meet the owner's requirements, the window rubber cover is replaced.
The one-button window lift does not work. In fact, it is not a problem with the lift, but with the window tape. After replacing the tape, the problem is solved.
The refurbished wheels feel very good, right? Let’s start to appreciate the effect of the whole car:
After a deep clean, the engine bay is spotless, clean and comfortable.
Appreciating the interior, it is full of texture.
The central control design of the 13th generation is indeed simpler than that of the 12th generation, but... I quite like this simple feeling.
The black interior is paired with dark peach wood parts, plus the crown logo, which is actually quite classy.
The refurbished main driver's seat and the entire vehicle are covered with original floor mats, which greatly improves the quality of the interior.
Renovated main driver's door panel.
After cleaning the rear seats, the rear space is quite large.
Appreciate the large appearance, fully spray-painted + mirror effect treatment, round and shiny.
It’s not too much to say it’s a new car, right?
The only shortcoming may be that the appearance is not as domineering as the 12th generation Crown, and the center grille design is indeed a bit of a failure.
It took three months to completely renovate this 13th-generation Crown car, and it finally returned to its youth and was delivered to the owner perfectly.
After the car owner picked up the car, he was quite satisfied with our renovation effect. We chatted on the phone for a long time. Within two days, he introduced me to a friend’s Prado 2700 that came to our factory for maintenance. It has 560,000 kilometers and is currently lined up in the factory waiting to be started.
In the past two days, the car owner chatted with me again and said that he wanted to send his wife's Mercedes-Benz GLK300 for maintenance. Hahaha... Brother really takes care of my business, thank you very much!
That’s it for this issue, see you next time~
Construction: Monster Team
(Specializes in refurbishing old cars)
