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Toyota Echo Maintenance and Repair

913 messages,  Last post on Apr 16, 2013 at 4:11 PM

You are in the Toyota Echo Forum.

What is this discussion about? Toyota ECHO, Coupe, Sedan

Messages Page 87 of 92

#853 of 913 Re: cigarette lighter dead [meatball7] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Apr 26, 2012 (3:21 pm)

Replying to: meatball7 (Apr 25, 2012 10:56 am)
Yes, it's the fuse marked "ACC" in the instrument panel fuse box. Left hand row of fuses, second from the bottom.

#854 of 913 Valve clearance check - worth it? by albusd

May 17, 2012 (10:05 am)

2000 echo sedan auto trans 128,000 miles on it. My question is how many of you have had the valve clearances checked as part of the regular maintenance. There isn't anything wrong with mine, just wondering if I can skip this part of the maintenance. (also skipped most of the 90k tuneup).
 
I am looking for someone to say, either yes, I had the valve clearances adjusted and it made a huge difference, or no, I haven't ever had that done, and my echo has a million miles on it and is still fine.

#855 of 913 Re: Valve clearance check - worth it? [albusd] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

May 17, 2012 (11:12 am)

Replying to: albusd (May 17, 2012 10:05 am)
Sure you should check it...they may not need adjustment (which is a bit complicated, requiring shimming). Improper valve clearance can lead to engine damage down the line.

#856 of 913 check by kneisl1

May 18, 2012 (3:46 am)

As far as I know almost NO ONE does this check or adjustment. Because this valve arrangement is patterned after high performance motorcycle engines (and almost NO other car engine has it) I doubt very much if your typical Toyota mechanic knows how to do it or has ever successfully done it.I wouldnt trust them to do mine unless they could prove to me they know how and have done it. My sons 2000 ECHO has 180,000k miles on it now and runs like a watch. All its had is a new fan belt, a set of brakes, a MAF sensor (it has the one from my Yaris and I installed a rebuilt one in the Yaris) oil changes, new sparkplugs at 120,000 miles, and maybe something else.
 
Its never had an adjustment check and at the rate its going it probably never will.
 
Years ago I wrote a proceedure for CHECKING the ECHOs valve clearances in this very forum! I ride motorcycles and have done it twice myself.

#857 of 913 Re: cigarette lighter dead [Mr_Shiftright] by meatball7

May 18, 2012 (7:56 am)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Apr 26, 2012 3:21 pm)
Jeese, ... My apologies for taking so long to respond to the helpful responses from all of you here. My email pgm was sending my edmonds emails to my spam folder. .... Anyway, thanks to your help I did find the ACC fuse, after finding the instrument panel fuse box, which I had not seen before you put me on track to it. Thank you for that. ......... So my ACC fuse is good, so I assume I will have to replace the lighter. ... I am pretty sure I can pull that off, but if I run into a problem I will ask here. ...... Thank you again folks for your help with this.

#858 of 913 Re: cigarette lighter dead [meatball7] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

May 18, 2012 (9:35 am)

Replying to: meatball7 (May 18, 2012 7:56 am)
Be sure to check the fuse with a simple ohm meter if you have one--visually checking a fuse can fool you sometime.

#859 of 913 Re: cigarette lighter dead [Mr_Shiftright] by meatball7

May 18, 2012 (10:27 am)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (May 18, 2012 9:35 am)
Actually, I did replace the fuse with one of the spares of the correct amperage and the lighter still did not work, so I assume that is a pretty good indication that it is the lighter. ........... Thank you for the tip about the visual check however. I was not aware of that.

#860 of 913 Re: check [kneisl1] by albusd

May 20, 2012 (2:44 pm)

Replying to: kneisl1 (May 18, 2012 3:46 am)
That is exactly the advice i was looking for. No disrespect to Mr. Shiftright and his response that it couldn't hurt to check it, but I will simply forget about it. I would think the engine would start running differently, mpg would decrease, or it would throw a check engine light if there actually was a problem with the valve clearances.
 
Glad to hear your son's Echo is still ticking along nicely. Thanks again for the help.

#861 of 913 Re: check [albusd] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

May 20, 2012 (2:56 pm)

Replying to: albusd (May 20, 2012 2:44 pm)
no offense taken! I suggested it because that's what Toyota engineers put in the owner's manual. I'd be remiss if I didn't at least point people to the recommended services coming from the factory. If it were a dealer suggestion only, I'd be more inclined to forget it.
 
Actually though, just as a point of information, if your valve clearance was too loose, you'd hear it, you're quite right, but if it were too tight, you probably wouldn't notice it, and tight valves could cause valve damage.
 
If you're in for the long haul, you might consider checking the clearance at some point in the future.

#862 of 913 vales by kneisl1

May 21, 2012 (4:23 am)

Just to help you in your descision about the valve clearances...
 
Valve clearances do not get looser....they get tighter. The valve wears down into the valve seat in the head. This results in the clearance getting less not more. The clearance can get really loose with no harm down other than noise. But if the clearance goes to zero then the valve burns, the engine loses compression and the only way to fix it is an expensive valve job.
 
Problems with the clearances will NOT throw a CEL code. Yes mpg and power will go down. But by the time you notice that the dammage is done your car needs $$$$ work.
 
Although it is common to let the clearance inspection go, and truly in most cases that is a safe decision, to play it really safe an inspection would be the safest bet. In this economy a car like the ECHO can be a godsend. They are cheap to run and reliable as they come. If you are heavily dependent on your ECHO finanically wise you might consider CHECKING the clearances. I have a proceedure buried somewhere in all these posts. Its not much harder than changing sparkplugs. If the clearances are good than so is your engine. If they are not haveing them fixed could be a lifesaver.
 
Just FYI!

Messages Page 87 of 92

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