Bought a used yaris, now to get it back into shape, need some feedback. [LONG POST]

[johnwk]

Sorry to hear that your new Yaris came with some surprises, but I'm glad your approach is to fix them yourself!

I've used Prestone Flush+Cleaner, because I bought my Yaris with high mileage and no evidence that the coolant had ever been flushed. 4,000 miles later, everything's working normally—no temperature issues or leaks. Most people I've talked to about it said it was probably unnecessary, but your situation may be different given the green coolant.

[seatech30]

Originally Posted by johnwk

Sorry to hear that your new Yaris came with some surprises, but I'm glad your approach is to fix them yourself!

I've used Prestone Flush+Cleaner, because I bought my Yaris with high mileage and no evidence that the coolant had ever been flushed. 4,000 miles later, everything's working normally—no temperature issues or leaks. Most people I've talked to about it said it was probably unnecessary, but your situation may be different given the green coolant.

Thanks for the response. I guess I knew I was already in the creek, might as well make the most of it. Big hopes on the engine low mileage.

I ended up doing only one bottle of prestone flush+ cleaner. First I drained, filled with distilled water, ran up to 210F ish. Before I realized the coolant flows at about 186F, but I also wanted to make sure the fan worked, which turns out was so quiet with the heater on high that I missed it. But it turns on around 205F. Waited for the car to cool off, about 2 hrs. Drained again, added the prestone flush+, topped with more distilled water, ran up to 205F again, saw fan spinning. The prestone flush+ was spilling/foaming out the reservoir (whoops) so I let the car cool off by the curb. When I drained it, I wasn't sure if the cleaner "burned" or actually loosened a lot of black stuff because it looked very dark. I filled with distilled water again, and ran up to 186F until it started climbing to 190F meaning the coolant (water) had been thoroughly cycled. Cooled, drained. Water still looked pretty dark, so filled with distilled water again, and repeated cycling. I was ready to do the second flush+ if the water wasn't clearer at this point, luckily it was significantly clearer, but not as clear as I'd expect. I said F it and mixed up a 67% coolant mix hoping to even out the distilled water already left behind. I came up a bit short -24F I think it was, so I added a bit more at 70ish%. This time it ended around -42F. I'll add some distilled water next time it needs to be topped off. I'm planning to do a flush around 30-50k miles just to be on the safe side. Ran the car up to 205F and the coolant seemed fine and dandy. And that concludes the coolant journey.

I did a throttle body and MAF cleaning. This seemed to increase my idle a bit, but the vibrations were still present. I've ordered parts for all mounts, should hopefully come in next week, I already got 2 of the 4 in. I also ordered the exhaust rubber holders to try and see if that has an effect on the vibration, will do the motor mounts first, though. I bought and received the front stabilizers, but will install those after the mounts and exhaust holders. I discovered a bolt laying on top of the transmission, another loose bolt on the battery bracket and another loose bolt on the brake component (forget the name) under the battery next to the driver wheel. I plan to do a much more thorough look through for more loose bolts. Seems the car may have been abused a bit for the front stabilizers to have been messed up as they were.