Definitely change the serpentine belt. Mine also used to squeak when ever it rained. I finally had the belt replaced last week on my 05 Corolla LE Auto and the car is absolutely silent now.
As far as the spark plugs go, fellow TN member JasonA has posted several times that our cars use full iridium plugs (confirmed by your pics), that do not need to be replaced until at least 100k. Can't hurt to clean them up a bit since you have taken them out already.
Plugs look great, they are rated for 100K miles so they can go longer. I recommend NGK iridium plugs, advanced auto sells them for about 34 dollars or so if you want to replace them.
Is the 22 mpg city or highway driving or a combo of both? Air filter or MAF or throttle body dirty? Brakes dragging? Auto or manual tranny? Ever change the fluids? Any CELs? Tire pressure ok?
Is the white stuff around the tensioner salt or coolant? I cant really tell if it is leaking. The tensioners and belts are notorious for suckage. They suck so much there is a TSB for it. I would replace the belt first and if it still squeaks replace the tensioner. Goodyear gatorback and Gates belts are awesome. This is the tensioner you need: http://www.amazon.com/Dayco-89356-Au...9668477&sr=8-1
Any way to have someone test the AFR sensor (front O2 sensor)?
#1 Is the 22 mpg city or highway driving or a combo of both?
#2 Air filter
#3 MAF or throttle body dirty?
#4 Brakes dragging?
#5 Auto or manual tranny?
#6 Ever change the fluids?
#7 Any CELs?
#8 Tire pressure ok?
#9 Is the white stuff around the tensioner salt or coolant?
#1 Combo, maybe more local than highway
#2 New air filter
#3 MAFS and throttle body are clean
#4 I don't think they are dragging, doesn't feel like it but if theres any drag going downhill I think it would be the transmission slowing the car down
#5 Automatic transmission
#6 Which fluids?, Always do basic oil changes(Mobil1 Syn 5w30), never done a coolant flush
#7 No CEL
#8 Tire pressure 32 all around
#9 I'm not sure what white stuff your talking about but if your talking about the white stuff on the valve cover/head i'm pretty sure its salt
heres another photo of it.
Last edited by sillygirlie; 04-13-2009 at 08:20 PM.
Does the tranny fluid smell burnt? The local driving, is that a lot of short trips, say under 5 miles? Do you have access to anyone to test your front O2 sensor.
Does the tranny fluid smell burnt? The local driving, is that a lot of short trips, say under 5 miles? Do you have access to anyone to test your front O2 sensor.
Tranny fluids does not smell burnt
Yes local driving is under 5 miles
I have a Fluke Multimeter but, I don't know what the specs are supposed to be when idling, and it would be hard to keep the meter hooked up to the car while driving lol
but wouldn't the check engine light come on if the 2nd O2 sensor sees a bad difference?
From the picture it sure looks like the tensioner sub-assembly (the part that looks like a little shock absorber) is leaking. I just recently replaced mine with a new aftermarket part I ordered on ebay for $36 delivered. Just search for 'Toyota tensioner' on Ebay and you should find it. I posted a walkthrough for the repair on this forum under the title "Drive Belt Tensioner Leaking".
If you prefer OEM parts, the OEM part is called the tensioner sub-assembly (part #:1660122013) and sells for $95 MSRP. You can get it for $70 from an online OEM dealer or you local dealer if it will match online dealer part prices. A single 13mm bolt attaches the piston to the assembly and a single 12mm nut holds it to the engine.
What's extra nice is that you can replace the piston/tensioner without removing the entire tensioner bracket. Just release the tension on the drive belt, remove and replace the piston, and then reattach the belt. The job takes less than 30 minutes. You'll need 12 and 13mm hand wrenches to remove the piston, and a 19mm wrench/socket to release the tension on the belt.
Warning. This repair will only stop the squeak if the problem is the piston. If the pulley on the tensioner is the source of the noise, you'll need to replace the pulley or the entire tensioner unit. On my engine, the worn out piston was creating a rattle sounds when the engine was cold. No squeak.
So what's inside of that piston? Is it compressed gas (like a liftgate lift arm)? Or is there a coil spring in there with some sort of lubricant to quiet it down?
As for the belt, I've read that the Goodyear Gatorback (available through AutoZone) is the one to get. I've never tried it on the Corolla, but have it on my Dodge Dakota and it seems like a great belt. My Corolla also squeaks a bit if it's moist and cold out, so I had planned to change the belt, but now that it's warmed up, it doesn't really do it, so I'll probably let it go until the Fall again.
Just went to my garage and pulled out the old piston/tensioner sub-assembly to examine. Knew there was a reason I saved it.
It's a coiled spring under the rubber cap with the cavity under the cap partially filled with oil for lubrication and noise reduction. Unless the rubber cap was ripped, it appears you could pry it up and refill the cavity with oil. There doesn't seem to be much inside the piston that could go bad.
The weak link of the piston appears to be the mounting bushings. At the base of the piston which attaches to the tensioner frame with a bolt, there is a hard rubber bushing with a metal bushing inside the rubber one(The mounting bolt goes through this metal bushing). On my piston, it was the hard rubber bushing that had worn out and created an oblong rather than circular hole. That distortion allowed the base of the piston to vibrate against the tensioner assembly and make quite a racket when the engine was running.
Interestingly, when I listened to the noise, I could have sworn it was coming from the alternator area rather than the tensioner. It was only after I held the piston with the engine running did I notice the sound went away.
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