Waking up a drained Toyota Corolla E120

All I had seen was a picture of Coco lying there dusty with the battery drained out. The tyres also weren't holding air and my dad filled the air with the portable inflator he carried. Yet, due to his hectic schedule he could not jump start the battery and had to leave Coco there as is.

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It's been in a good 6 months since I saw Coco. My father once drove it in between and told me there's a scary sound coming from the front. My sister like any sibling exaggerated this and made it sound like Coco's nearing her end. Post this sound, my family has been unanimously forcing me to sell Coco especially since we have three other cars at home. However, being at Mohali for college and at Kerala during breaks, I had no idea of what was happening in reality and was worried for Coco.

All I had seen was a picture of Coco lying there dusty with the battery drained out. The tyres also weren't holding air and my dad filled the air with the portable inflator he carried. Yet, due to his hectic schedule he could not jump start the battery and had to leave Coco there as is.

Last week in college, we had a relatively chill week for the first time since the course started. That week we were supposed to get customer interviews done for an entrepreneurial course we were doing. Our group was doing a project on using augmented reality to navigate monuments and places of historical significance. Taking this as an opportunity I and my teammate, Rajat who is also my close friend decided (more like me convinced him) to go to Mumbai for our week and do research as well as check on Coco.

This was an impromptu trip that we decided on Sunday and we booked a Tatkal train ticket to Mumbai immediately. Our train was at 2 A.M on Monday morning and we left from Chandigarh in excitement to see Mumbai and Coco.

First thing we did after reaching the apartment was to check on Coco. As it turns out the battery was completely drained out that even the lights weren't turning on in the gauge cluster.

First thing in the morning, got someone to jump start Coco and being the trusty old corolla it is, started in no time. I was told to drive it for at least 30 mins to charge the battery. Drove it around in Hiranandani and left it for a while with engine turned on to get it upto charge. 

I too did notice that there was a vibrating sound coming especially when idling and accelerating and figured out that it was related to the engine mounts. This was weird because I had replaced the engine mounts only in June this year. Got an appointment with Akash of CRK automobiles to take Coco for a follow-up on the service done and to get this sound checked.

We filled air, renewed the pollution certificate and drove to CRK. They too immediately diagnosed the issue and told me it's covered by their warranty. I also got a fresh set of number plates since the front one was broken with a minor incident with a scooter. 

Next day, got Coco back with the vibration fixed and new plates. Coco drove just as fine. 

Once we got Coco back, the first thing we wanted to change were the tyres which were long overdue since the current set was over 11 years old. 

Contacted Diwan auto for the tyres who recommended us to get basic CEATs since the car didn't see much running. The tyres costed around 5.8k per piece and they also charged another 2k for alignment, balancing and new valves. I found them to be expensive. That said, the service was great. 

Got new tyres and we were all set for Aurangabad. 

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