Need help with problematic '07 Yaris Sedan

[SinScion]

I just bought this car from my parents who bought it brand new in 2008(year-end clearance) and they have all of the maintenance records from the dealer. The car currently has 40,000 miles. All of these problems happened during my ownership. I am just like my parents, careful and soft driver:

-Creaking/lose noise from dashboard near the speedometer when hitting bumps on road(possible lose screw? I will take apart soon). Is this common?

-When shifting into park then releasing brake, car slides 2 feet back; something clicks, and car stops.

-It doesn't matter how good the oil is and what the oil level is, during idle, there's a valvetrain/slight knocking noise coming from the left of the engine(near the belt area). I've tried Premium fuel and Synthetic oil, still makes noise.

-When hitting a harder than usual bumps, there is creaky suspension noise. During normal bumps, everything is normal, smooth and quite.

-After driving through a snow storm, my Brake and ABS light simultaneously comes on. I lost ABS and 1/2 of braking power. I checked brake pads and fluid and they were still good.

-When turning all the way right or left, there is one snap noise. Checked CV axles, they were still good.

-When the engine is cold, 3rd gear hangs on until 3,500 RPM then shifts into 4th gear regardless of acceleration power. When engine is warm, transmission shifts normally.

--Only 31 MPG, even when engine is properly maintained?

-Recently, I got an oil change and told the Toyota mechanic my problems. When they did an inspection, they claimed that all mechanical parts were still good. (I doubt they checked).

Can anyone tell me if these problems are typical for the Yaris model? My parents own a Toyota Camry and they never have any problems. Thank you in advance.

[heartdisease]

Originally Posted by SinScion

I just bought this car from my parents who bought it brand new in 2008(year-end clearance) and they have all of the maintenance records from the dealer. The car currently has 40,000 miles. All of these problems happened during my ownership. I am just like my parents, careful and soft driver:


My first question is had you ever ridden in it before with them driving?

I have no experience with the Yaris. I have lots of experience with cheap small cars, about 500k miles combined driving in them. All of these seem to me to be normal creaks and bumps of small cheap cars. You will hear everything and they don't have the more expensive mechanical systems ie engine transmission and brakes. What I mean by that is the engine isn't refined for smooth and quiet, the transmission is smaller, lighter duty and may use cheaper internal systems, sounds like you car has some movement when you put it in park before it comes back on the tang in the tranny, try putting the parking brake on with your foot on the brakes before you let the car roll back, take the slack out so it can't roll. The abs braking system both need a signal from a wheel speed sensor, All that I have seen are magnets that produce a signal I suspect the cheaper nature of this car means some sort of cover is not designed in that other cars may have, I bet snow got packed in and blocked the sensor from picking up.

The engine cold stuff is probably due to older tech in the engine? Does it have obdII Check for codes? 31 mpg does sound low for a Yaris, I thought you could get 40 out of them easy, hilly area? windy? Why do you doubt the word of the Toyota Mechanic? Do they have a bad reputation? Past experience? Most any mechanic that I have been to if you say, "hey I want to spend money, find something wrong" They will at least find some tire issues or old air filters or something to get you to part with some green stuff! If they said nothing I think that is easier to believe than wow your car is going to blow up when you had no complaints.

I guess I am saying, are you sure these are really problems? Sounds like a cheap reliable car to me. I have had nothing but good luck with small cheap cars, get way more than my money out of them and very cheap to insure to boot. I bet you could drive it for another couple hundred thousand just the way it is.

I would have your folks drive it with you not saying anything specific and see if they say wow when did this thing start doing that etc etc. Or do you think your folks dumped a lemon on ya? Hope this helps, just curious is this your first small cheap car?

-Creaking/lose noise from dashboard near the speedometer when hitting bumps on road(possible lose screw? I will take apart soon). Is this common?

-When shifting into park then releasing brake, car slides 2 feet back; something clicks, and car stops.

-It doesn't matter how good the oil is and what the oil level is, during idle, there's a valvetrain/slight knocking noise coming from the left of the engine(near the belt area). I've tried Premium fuel and Synthetic oil, still makes noise.

-When hitting a harder than usual bumps, there is creaky suspension noise. During normal bumps, everything is normal, smooth and quite.

-After driving through a snow storm, my Brake and ABS light simultaneously comes on. I lost ABS and 1/2 of braking power. I checked brake pads and fluid and they were still good.

-When turning all the way right or left, there is one snap noise. Checked CV axles, they were still good.

-When the engine is cold, 3rd gear hangs on until 3,500 RPM then shifts into 4th gear regardless of acceleration power. When engine is warm, transmission shifts normally.

--Only 31 MPG, even when engine is properly maintained?

-Recently, I got an oil change and told the Toyota mechanic my problems. When they did an inspection, they claimed that all mechanical parts were still good. (I doubt they checked).

Can anyone tell me if these problems are typical for the Yaris model? My parents own a Toyota Camry and they never have any problems. Thank you in advance.

[craigq]

Originally Posted by SinScion

-When shifting into park then releasing brake, car slides 2 feet back; something clicks, and car stops.

-It doesn't matter how good the oil is and what the oil level is, during idle, there's a valvetrain/slight knocking noise coming from the left of the engine(near the belt area). I've tried Premium fuel and Synthetic oil, still makes noise.

-After driving through a snow storm, my Brake and ABS light simultaneously comes on. I lost ABS and 1/2 of braking power. I checked brake pads and fluid and they were still good.

-When the engine is cold, 3rd gear hangs on until 3,500 RPM then shifts into 4th gear regardless of acceleration power. When engine is warm, transmission shifts normally.

--Only 31 MPG, even when engine is properly maintained?

1. Stop car using brake pedal, shift into park, apply parking brake, remove foot from brake pedal. The car shouldn't creep using this method.

2. Might just be injector noise. All of the 1NZFE's I've heard sound a little noisy.

3. ABS and Brake warning illuminating in winter weather on our year Yaris' points to the rear wheel speed sensors. Check this thread on Yaris World : http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11533

FWIW a couple of us have just cleaned and applied dielectric grease and the problem hasn't come back.

4. Transmission control module will not shift into 4th gear until :
a) engine coolant is higher than 60*C/140*F
b) atf is higher than 10*C/50*F

Otherwise it will remain in 3rd gear until meeting the conditions in a & b.
Basically, it won't shift into 4th until a little bit after the "cool" light shuts off

5. Fuel economy can vary greatly, there are way too many factors involved (driving style, driving environment, warm-up time etc). FWIW ours averages about 6.4L/100KM combined in the summer (pure highway dips into the high 5's) and closer to 7.0L/100KM combined in the winter .

[SinScion]

Originally Posted by craigq

1. Stop car using brake pedal, shift into park, apply parking brake, remove foot from brake pedal. The car shouldn't creep using this method.

2. Might just be injector noise. All of the 1NZFE's I've heard sound a little noisy.

3. ABS and Brake warning illuminating in winter weather on our year Yaris' points to the rear wheel speed sensors. Check this thread on Yaris World : http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11533

FWIW a couple of us have just cleaned and applied dielectric grease and the problem hasn't come back.

4. Transmission control module will not shift into 4th gear until :
a) engine coolant is higher than 60*C/140*F
b) atf is higher than 10*C/50*F

Otherwise it will remain in 3rd gear until meeting the conditions in a & b.
Basically, it won't shift into 4th until a little bit after the "cool" light shuts off

5. Fuel economy can vary greatly, there are way too many factors involved (driving style, driving environment, warm-up time etc). FWIW ours averages about 6.4L/100KM combined in the summer (pure highway dips into the high 5's) and closer to 7.0L/100KM combined in the winter .

Wow..so it's normal? Well, that's kind of a relief. However, it's kind of a bummer that the Transmission control module does that. I feel uncomfortable driving over 4,000 RPM in freezing temperatures on the highway. It feels like the engine will fall apart.

For the brakes, both lights when off after I went to an automatic car wash with underbody flush. The light when off after that.

Thanks for your help.

[arabianobsession]

Heartdisease:
All cars from 1996 and up came with OBDII diagnostics. There are a few 1995's who came with OBDII and very, very few 1996 models with OBDI, but you get the idea. Just an FYI.

[2005RS]

sounds like most of your questions have been answered, but I just wanted to add that the valve lifters are not hydraulic and are inherently a little noisier. the clearance of the valve lifter can become excessive, which would make the valvetrain noisier and would require adjustment

I wouldn't lump the yaris in the same category as a lot of 'small cheap cars'. I've had a few 'small cheap cars' and they have been money pits

[arabianobsession]

The Yaris is a small, cheap car, but has a reliable powertrain