The Dark Wob

Hello all
Are Toyota Corolla s reliable ?
My dad bought it new 2002 1-6 Vvti and had it serviced by Toyota by the book until 2011 , it had started to use oil needing topping up between services . It was a known problem on this engine dodgy oil rings . He was offered scrap money on a part exchange on a new Auris so I bought it for my girlfriend and showed her how to check/top up the oil .
It proved its reliability for 5 years only needing oil and loads of tyres and brake pads because she drives like a mechanical savage or a rally driver (never breaks the speed limit apparently!) .
The engine out photo was after a quik fit mot gone wrong . The car was towed home and pushed up the drive inch by inch the hardest part of the job . It turned over like there was no compression .Removed the rocker cover and saw the problem !
The exhaust cam centre bolt had broken and the sprocket dropped off the cam while they were doing the emission test , I thought the valves would be destroyed. The engine had to come out to get the head off because the cam chain cover on the side had to come off to find what had happened to the bolt head .
Much to my shock and surprise no valves were damaged and the bolt head and washer were wedged in a crevice out of harms way . New parts needed head gasket , cam bolt , head stretch bolts and engine crane rental came to less than £80 , the Corolla sprung back into life and passed the mot the week after .
It’s still going ok ish , she can wear out tyres and break pads yearly still using oil and the eml light is on for emissions but passes the gas check and the mot man says check engine light is not a fail on a 2002 car .
It’s mot time next month hopefully it go thru ok and we get it to twenty years old .

I think there are a few toytas of this vintage that like a drink. Especially the avensis. I think Toyota knew about it at the time too.

Weve had a 05 plate vvti avensis 1.8,1.6 vvti corolla and I've owned an early avensis 2.0 auto. I as paul also mentioned heard a bad press about the oil habits with the vvti but we never had any issue with either of ours.

Japanaise reliability.

Even the Japs get it wrong sometimes, but rarely hence why they have a car industry and we don't.

One failure on a 2002 car and a cheap fix - I'll go for that. Those engines are non interference so can be fixed with the engine in and head on.

The Reverend Bluejeans wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 9:39 am Even the Japs get it wrong sometimes, but rarely hence why they have a car industry and we don't.

One failure on a 2002 car and a cheap fix - I'll go for that. Those engines are non interference so can be fixed with the engine in and head on.

Yes I can’t complain it keeps going , I had to take engine out to get the cam chain cover off the side to find the head of the broken cam sprocket bolt and washer .
It needs a new cv joint , but I will do that when it’s passed the mot .fingers crossed .

Toyota had an issue with bore honing on some of their diesels, but all I did was call a mate in a Toyota dealer and they got a new engine under warranty. No fuss, no dram, time after time.

Just noticed a worrying amount of spaghetti hanging over the nearside wing. I'm similarly bothered when I see those operations which require your intestines to be hoiked out onto the operating table to gain access to some well tucked-away organ.

The Acclaim burns oil if you're doing sustained motorway miles, but at 85,000 miles and running 15/40w this is to be expected. A Triumph SC lump usually needs new shells at every 60k or so.

I don't think oil consumption is uncommon at higher mileages on most Japanese cars with high revving engines, my Mk7 Civic needed the odd top up after 100k

Yes it does look like a bad operation ! With its vitals flopped out the side !
I don’t know if Toyota designed it like that but it came apart really easily, everything unplugged and unclipped (even the fuel pipe/gear cable/throttle cable )from the right to left and flopped onto the wing out of the way . The radiator came out with two bolts complete with fan , shroud ,pipes and header tank . Exhaust and drive shafts and it was out . It went back in easy as , no struggles.
I don’t want to do it again but wouldn’t mind 3/10 on stressful job scale .
Chinese scooter with seized engine caked in road grime and rust with stripped nuts and screw heads 10/10 on stressful job scale