A Problem Shared

[Guest]

Hi, It's been a while since I posted here but I felt this subject is important to relate to everyone with an iQ, particularly the 59 reg Manual 1L version. We have had our iQ serviced at the (not so) local dealer in Shrewsbury. What has happened to our car, I believe, is no reflection on them. Before its last service -the beginning of October 2017- it had begun to use quite a bit of oil; earlier in 2017, maybe as far back as 2016. Anyway, I could not see any oil anywhere on the engine. I could not see any oil on our drive or in the car port. The day after its service this October, I checked the oil level the next morning and it was fine, right at the top of the mark on the dipstick, so I thought the issue had been cleared. I checked it the next week and it was empty, bar a smidgen of oil on the very tip of the dipstick. For those wondering, our drive is sloped a little, but the car port area is practically flat. I also check the oil when in level parking areas. Another 'happening' was the car began to chug at around 2000 revs and in (eventually) 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th at the speed limits of 20, 30, 40 and 50 mph. This happened to varying degrees, and if I lifted off the accelerator a little it stopped briefly. Due to the recent inclement weather I could not take the car in on Wednesday when it was booked for, as people could not get in to work on it, a backlog, yatta, yatta, yatta. Monday 18th it was in for two days. The mechanic, whoops, Technician, found the reported fault of chugging as soon as he took it out for a test drive. Result: Two of the three plugs were covered quite badly in carbon, and the 3rd wasn't too good either. Plugs replaced, problem has practically vanished. To date I have yet to feel it chug even a little. The oil problem is more troublesome and could be the death knell of our iQ. It is somehow burning oil, as no leaks were found anywhere; not into the cooling system, or anywhere else. So, monitoring the oil and taking it back to the dealer every 500 miles -up to 1500 miles (3 trips)- to check and note the consumption. Hopefully the car will last longer than the proffered 6 to 12 months. A new engine is not on the cards and swapping it out with one from a crashed (no front/engine damage) iQ isn't either. At least we have time to act and it's not dead yet. I have already begun looking at other Eco cars and will be making a list. Even another, younger iQ is on the list.

 Good news is that my courtesy car was a new Yaris, and a great little car that is. I just didn't like getting in and out of it (out being easier) as my legs got caught on the bottom of the steering wheel. Not as good either on fuel, but it was good to drive and comfortable.

  So there it is. There are many things that can happen to our diminutive iQ's, and this is one of them.

[craggle]

How many miles has it done?

Had a Google and it seems this isn't an uncommon issue on the 1.0 engine. Seems to be the Piston rings get bunged up and stick in place allowing oil past the pistons

Maybe a good oil system cleaner needs to be put through the engine and maybe one of those Terraclean treatments as well. If the Toyota dealer are still using the thin, 0w 20 oil as well I'd go thicker and put 10w/40 in it or even 15w/40. Any local, independent garage can do that for you although the Terraclean would need to be a specialist.

If the car is a 2009 model and out of warranty why go all the way to a Toyota dealer for a service. It's only a simple oil and air filter change and any independent garage can do that for you?

Craig.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, craggle said:

How many miles has it done?

Had a Google and it seems this isn't an uncommon issue on the 1.0 engine. Seems to be the Piston rings get bunged up and stick in place allowing oil past the pistons

Maybe a good oil system cleaner needs to be put through the engine and maybe one of those Terraclean treatments as well. If the Toyota dealer are still using the thin, 0w 20 oil as well I'd go thicker and put 10w/40 in it or even 15w/40. Any local, independent garage can do that for you although the Terraclean would need to be a specialist.

If the car is a 2009 model and out of warranty why go all the way to a Toyota dealer for a service. It's only a simple oil and air filter change and any independent garage can do that for you?

Craig.

Hi Craig, the car has done over 80,000 miles. I have been using 0w 30 and 40 when topping up. I did wonder about an oil system clean. As for the Terraclean, I had that done at least a year ago, maybe two, and it did improve and lasted for a while. As for the oil and filter change, well (I used to maintain my own cars back when I was able, no job was too big when there was a handy Haynes manual)... dearer maybe, but with the age of the car now (8 years old) and the fact Mr T completes a thorough check of everything...

 How's your motor going?