Cheap Elderly Yaris Renovation - Of A Sort.

[Madasafish]

Youngest son needed a new (to him) car after writing off his 106 in the snow..(don't ask).

After some discussion we decided on a Yaris 1.0 and I was tasked with finding a cheap one - under £2,000 - and having it renovated quickly to provide reliable daily transport - a 36 mile round trip to work each day.

This was January 2010 in the end of all the now and cheap Yarises in Stoke on Trent and surroundings were notable for their absence...Indeed I have only seen four within a 30 mile radius on Autotrader and they tend to sell very quickly. But eventually I found a silver 3 door 2001 GS with ABS , electric windows and 8 months' MOT for under £1,600 and bought it for under £1,500 with new tyres fitted on the front included in the deal.

Basically it was covered in stone chips, had done 90k miles, and the ABS and sidelight warning lights did not work. Looking at it when it was on the ramps at the garage, I guessed the ABS bulb had been removed (the instrument panel showed signs of recent removal...) and hoped it was the normal problem - the left hand side (passenger) front sensor. The front disks and pads looked newish (Kwifit invoice in 2009).

So we duly insured and taxed it, drove it home and I gave it a complete service: new engine and gearbox oil, air, oil and cabin filters.. waxoiled all the black steel fittings underneath - which were rusty - and replaced the wheel trims with new Halfords one on offer half price at £15..

I then replaced the plugs to find the spark plug recess next to the oil filler full of oil...it was obvious the engine cover gasket was leaking!. Oops. Unscheduled spend.

So I then sourced bulbs and holders for the instrument panel (T90099-53009 and T83101-14040) from our local Toyota dealer Pinkstones - very helpful and set about testing the ABS system. I have a very cheap (£12 from eBay, discontinued model) autorange multimeter - and tested the front two ABS sensors.. Resistance of the left one (passenger) side was .. err nil... and the front right (drivers) was 1.7Kohms.. Guess was right - the left was dead..

Where to find a new ABS sensor cheaply? Toyota were out. Local parts factor quoted me £86, scrapyard £35 and then had none! and cheapest UK eBay was £56.. Then I discovered a very good German eBay supplier of pattern parts with 100% feedback http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/atp-autoteile/... and the delivered price to the UK was under £37 - at the then exchange rate mid last week. Ordered Wednesday am, arrived Friday am...Fitted Friday night.. and the ABS warning light - which I had just replaced - DID NOT go out!

Oh dear..

So today I stripped down the rocker cover, removed all the bodged gasket sealer, replaced the gasket with a new one - pattern part £11 delivered..and cleaned the Oil Control Valve - reoiled it before inserting it, the PCV valve and the air intake with STP carb cleaner. (See http://www.corolland.com/forums/index.php?...ntenance-items)

(Unlike the 1.3, the 1.0 does not appear to have a OCV filter - if it does I could not find it)

Assembled everything, engine restarted - after a few turns, checked for leaks - none.. BUT STILL the ABS warning light glowed at me!

Eventually after reading the ABS diagnostics, I realised the car needed to run at 12mph to reset the warning light. Son and I go for a test drive and light goes out! Success..Relief :-)

I attach some piccies:

1 : the car itself.

2 : the rather stone chipped bonnet.

3. the rather mangled rocker cover gasket: you can see the gasket round the upper plug hole has been mangled by the prior bad fitting.

4: the dead front ABS sensor.. (Left hand side ones have white connectors at the end, right hand side black connectors)

5.a picture of the oil control valve (circled in red) . The new rocker gasket can be seen beside the red arrow.

6. the PCV valve in green..

So for under £1600 with service costs and new parts, son has a fully functional Yaris which goes and stops as it should, appears to burn no oil and leaks no water (I had to silicone in one body washer in the floor in the driver's footwell.). It may not look great closeup and has a few dings on the driver's door but form a distance it looks OK. The interior is clean , it does not smell and it was cheap!

Jobs: 1 new tyre: puncture day2!

New windscreen wipers.

Paint touched up.

Full service including all locks. (especially bonnet cable and lock). Changed brake fluid.Changed coolant.

Washed and hosed out underneath arches (the mud!)

New rocker gasket.

New ABS sensor.

New dash warning bulbs x2.

Waxoiled underneath all suspension and brake components..

Job to do: new drivebelt - the current one looks original (9 years old) and has cracks... A new one is £12 from a factor but lots of work ...so left...

And some time the rear exhaust box will collapse with rust.. And the rear brake shoes will last only 10k miles...

[Raeman]

Great post! ;)

Hopefully your son will have many miles of happiness in that.....Just don't let him drive it in the snow! :P

Good luck. :)

[reece]

Excellent post

[stantheman1]

I also liked your post, sounds like you really enjoyed yourself!

[Cyker]

Nice! :D

There should be a special forum tag for people like you and Haylands, bringing Yarisseses back from the brink of death

[apaykapuy]

nice post and photos.

i have changed the drive belt of my yaris, its very difficult but rewarding to do.

i also do oil and filter change every 5k miles.

[Madasafish]

Thanks for reminding me.

Update.

Still going having done 10 k miles.(over 100k in total)

Rear exhaust box did collapse: new one ordered from eBay - German sourced at c £37 (Toyota £100+). Painted all welded seams with heat proof paint first. Removed old one- had to grind off old bolts due to rust. fitted new one with some old bolts lying in spare bolt tin. Fitted perfectly.

Had one more oil and filter change...5k intervals.

New belt fitted... pia having to undo engine mounting bracket but easy.

Radiator sprung leak and fitted new one for £65 ex eBay - easy peasy..

Oh lost one wheel trim . Never found. Found one similar on pavement (really officer). Glued together cracked bit. Fitted it. Looks not too different.

Still going strong. passed its MOT no problems on first try.

It gets washed once every three or four weeks , is on its original Battery, burns no oil and starts first time... 50 mpg.

[apaykapuy]

madasafish,

how did you waxoil your yaris? im planning to do mine when the weather is good.

[Bobby'sGirl]

As an owner of a 2001 Yaris, this is really interesting post. Wonder if the son still has the car now....

[FROSTYBALLS]

From Madasafish's profile, his son has a 2012 Yaris now - "Yaris D4D T spirit (son has 2012 1.3 SR)"

[Madasafish]

As an owner of a 2001 Yaris, this is really interesting post. Wonder if the son still has the car now....

Sorry - as Frosty said... it had gone. It had done 140k miles, and was starting to show its age... Scrapped for £100.

It provided 4 years of cheap transport for little outlay and was very reliable...

He bought a 2012 SR Yaris with 27k miles: delighted with it. (It was cheap due to paint scratches .. now rectified)