I need some help

[BennyLava]

I got three problems with my 09' yaris sedan. I would really appreciate some help on these three questions.

1. Is the 1.5L engine in my Yaris an interference engine? In short, do I need to change the timing belt asap? It just rolled over to 109k miles on the car.

2. I need someone to post up a pic of the headlight alignment screws please. I can't seem to find them. And I have a real problem with my lights pointing too far down.

3. Does anyone else have a phantom clunking noise coming from the suspension? When I go over bumps, sometimes it makes a very audible clunking sound. I took it to the local tire shop (that also does suspension work) and I was able to file on the warranty that I bought with the car. They replaced the two front shocks and the bushings that go with those shocks. Now the clunking just doesn't happen as often. So obviously it was coming from more than one place. Has anyone else had this problem? Maybe there is some kind of factory defect? Is there anything that is known to go wrong with the suspension, kind of early? The car has had this problem since it I got it, and it only had 40K miles on it at the time. The tire shop couldn't find the problem.

[WeeYari]

1. Is the 1.5L engine in my Yaris an interference engine? In short, do I need to change the timing belt asap? It just rolled over to 109k miles on the car.



These engines use a timing chain not a belt, so no you don't need to change it.

[CTScott]

For #2, do some searching on here, as they have definitely been posted a bunch of times.

For #3, there is a TSB on the control arm bolts corroding and breaking. Do a search for broken control arm bolt and you will see the issue.

[BennyLava]

What exactly is TSB? Is that like a factory recall of some kind?

[CTScott]

What exactly is TSB? Is that like a factory recall of some kind?

Technical Service Bulletin. Basically a notice to the service techs about common issues and how to deal with them. They are typically used for things that don't fall in to the recall criteria.

[BennyLava]

Now is this usually an up north thing, due to salt? I live down south in Texas where it doesn't snow.

[CTScott]

Now is this usually an up north thing, due to salt? I live down south in Texas where it doesn't snow.

Salt definitely makes it worse, but frequently subjecting them to moisture could be nearly as bad.

[BennyLava]

Man its nice to know that its a chain and not a belt! There is one thing I'd like to mention though, for the higher mileage guys. I'd still change the chain after about 200k. In my experience on other cars, they stretch. Eventually. It does take a good long time, but I've pulled the timing chain off an old ford that had nearly an inch of slack in it lol. From the factory it was tight.

Now I don't know if Toyota has rectified that situation or not. Maybe they never even had the problem. But I bet they have, on some of their vehicles. It seems to me, that they could fix it by using hardened metals in the chain, but maybe they already do. Somebody else might know. At least check the slack once you get to 200k. It can be the cause of a lot of problems that can be hard to find, but its the timing chain.

[Gogogordy]

Man its nice to know that its a chain and not a belt! There is one thing I'd like to mention though, for the higher mileage guys. I'd still change the chain after about 200k. In my experience on other cars, they stretch. Eventually. It does take a good long time, but I've pulled the timing chain off an old ford that had nearly an inch of slack in it lol. From the factory it was tight.

Now I don't know if Toyota has rectified that situation or not. Maybe they never even had the problem. But I bet they have, on some of their vehicles. It seems to me, that they could fix it by using hardened metals in the chain, but maybe they already do. Somebody else might know. At least check the slack once you get to 200k. It can be the cause of a lot of problems that can be hard to find, but its the timing chain.


It's usually the tensioner, not the chain that requires attention on high-milers.

[nookandcrannycar]

Man its nice to know that its a chain and not a belt! There is one thing I'd like to mention though, for the higher mileage guys. I'd still change the chain after about 200k. In my experience on other cars, they stretch. Eventually. It does take a good long time, but I've pulled the timing chain off an old ford that had nearly an inch of slack in it lol. From the factory it was tight.

Now I don't know if Toyota has rectified that situation or not. Maybe they never even had the problem. But I bet they have, on some of their vehicles. It seems to me, that they could fix it by using hardened metals in the chain, but maybe they already do. Somebody else might know. At least check the slack once you get to 200k. It can be the cause of a lot of problems that can be hard to find, but its the timing chain.

One member has over 535,000 miles on his original engine and he's never had to deal with the tensioner, nor the timing chain itself.

[mrpj]

Regular engine oil and filter changes help increase longevity enormously too.:smile:
Although Toyota (UK) recommend 10000 miles or 12 months I've recently done mine at 6 months and less than half of the 10000 miles.

[BennyLava]

It's usually the tensioner, not the chain that requires attention on high-milers.

Yeah i figured something like that might be the case, wasn't sure so I worded my post accordingly. I was thinking of V8's though, where the chains have frequently stretched. Maybe its one million miles on the yaris before you see problems, who knows. Or 1.5 million. But its not invincible. I've even seen the pins come out of the chain even though the chain itself wasn't actually stretched on a high mileage chevy.