Warning - Broken control arm bolt!

[NYC-SE]

Does anyone have a copy of T-SB-0078-12 ?

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by NYC-SE

Does anyone have a copy of T-SB-0078-12 ?

T-SB-0078-12.pdf

[NYC-SE]

Thank you Scott. I had a sneaking suspicion you would have it.

[tmontague]

Good thing you got them out when you did, mine looked about the same when I removed them 2 years ago

[ern-diz]

How concerned do you think us California kids have to be about this?

[tmontague]

not very likely unless you live near the coast with a lot of ocean spray.

I'd swap them at the 10 year mark if I lived in Cali. Or to save money just pull your out and coat the threads with anti seize and then coat the whole thing in marine grease. That's what i did to my new ones and after 2 years not a single thing of rust on the bolt shaft

[ern-diz]

Originally Posted by tmontague

not very likely unless you live near the coast with a lot of ocean spray.

I'd swap them at the 10 year mark if I lived in Cali. Or to save money just pull your out and coat the threads with anti seize and then coat the whole thing in marine grease. That's what i did to my new ones and after 2 years not a single thing of rust on the bolt shaft

Thank you, sir!

[RichardPan]

My 07 sedan is now 10.5 years old, and I live in Ottawa, Canada, where road salts are just a fact of life. Would it be a good idea to find a mechanic to replace the bolts, before it snaps? Seems like this potential problem would be the last remaining item that would limit the service life of my Yaris. It has only 130k km on it, and engine/transmission seems to be in good shape.

[jayeh]

Originally Posted by RichardPan

My 07 sedan is now 10.5 years old, and I live in Ottawa, Canada, where road salts are just a fact of life. Would it be a good idea to find a mechanic to replace the bolts, before it snaps? Seems like this potential problem would be the last remaining item that would limit the service life of my Yaris. It has only 130k km on it, and engine/transmission seems to be in good shape.

I had my old mechanic in Ottawa switch mine out. My car is a 2008 and they were replaced in 2012-14 sometime ( I can't remember!) and snapped when they were extracting them. Luckily they welded on a bolt and were able to extract them that way!

I'd get on it ASAP!

[yaris2011-07]

I was able to get the bolts on my Yaris replaced. The passenger side came out without breaking. I wasn't so lucky with the driver's side.

The attached images are the driver's side bolt from a 2008 Yaris Hatchback after 10 years and 70K kms.

The new ones have been installed with lithium grease.. should last longer!

[ex-x-fire]

I'd soak those bolts in lube before trying to remove them.

[tmontague]

The issue is accessing the threads to get a penetrating lube in there.

If you have impact tools if try yourself, if they snap drive cautiously to the nearest mechanic. If you don't have impact tools then just go to a mechanic.

I can't remember but I believe the solution if they snapped was to have a bit welded onto the stud which can then be removed.

[NYC-SE]

This is still an issue with 3rd gen cars. Below is a pic of the passenger side LCA bolt from my 2014 SE. I changed them out a week ago because the front end was making a clunking noise and I suspected that the LCA bolts were the issue. They were. No more clunking now. You can read about my adventure here:

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57576

For those who suspect this may be an issue with their car: The only symptom I had was the clunking noise. The car rode, handled, steered, braked fine. Everything that you could see of the front suspension looked fine too. That's the problem, the LCA bolts are hidden. If you are in a heavy salt area and you are clunking you need to check the LCA bolts.

I was able to R&R the bolts with the car on the ground without a problem. As others here have suggested I coated the new bolts with a high quality calcium sulfonate marine grade grease before installing them. Should help for the future, but I'll be inspecting them every year going forward.

Toyota needs to update the TSB to include ALL model years and they need to extend the warranty on this to 3rd gen cars as well.

P.S. This thread needs to be made a sticky.

[tmontague]

Originally Posted by NYC-SE

I'll be inspecting them every year going forward.

FYI, I had also originally planned on pulling the bolts once per year but after coating them virtually the same as you and pulling them to inspect after 1 year, I now just check them every 2 years. Even at 2 years they're virtually untouched.

It's your call but I figured I'd give my input to save you some hassle as your roads are similarly coated in brine for 4 months of the year like ours are.

[NYC-SE]

Originally Posted by tmontague

FYI, I had also originally planned on pulling the bolts once per year but after coating them virtually the same as you and pulling them to inspect after 1 year, I now just check them every 2 years. Even at 2 years they're virtually untouched.

It's your call but I figured I'd give my input to save you some hassle as your roads are similarly coated in brine for 4 months of the year like ours are.

I think I'll pull them in a year anyway just to satisfy my curiosity. I would expect them to be in good shape. After that probably every 2 years. I figure if they can survive for 3 years with no protection they should be fine after 2 with a good coat of grease.

[Cartel]

toyota pig iron...I'll have to inspect mine after seeing this disaster

[bladesmith6]

Well i finally checked mine on my 2007 and glad i did, the driver side was looking really bad. Well coated the new ones in grease and installed with no real drama.

[NYC-SE]

My God, I think those are the worst I've seen yet!