2014 Yaris Icon Smart D-4D purchased for learner. Several issues.

[Paramount]

Hi folks,

I recently purchased a dirt cheap 2014 Yaris Icon Smart for my eldest daughter who is about to get behind the wheel and learn to drive.  The car has done 115,000 miles and has had quite a hard life I suspect. The car comes with no owners manual or history.  It has taken a small whack in the rear which has caused the panel fit of the rear bumper to be slightly out of true with the boby panels on both sides of the car but other than that the body Shell and wheels are in pretty good fettle.  This was a deliberate punt because learners don't treat cars too well from previous experience so there was no point getting anything too "nice" as the car would likely end up up getting mullered as it goes through eldest daughter and, in a year or two, her sister who will start the learner process from May 2023 on. 

The car is desperate for a service for starters which I am about to sort out but I have noticed a couple of anomalies already. The car has returned an apallingly bad mpg based on the most recent tank fill after the journey back from Birmingham where the car used to reside.  Earliest indications are a whopping 7.7 mpg.  Not even my classic Jaguar x300 XJR can lay claim to that at 162,000 miles of age!!!  I have just checked the air filter - like the engine oil, filthy - and have yet to put the vehicle on a scan tool to check the MAF sensor and fuel trim data for correct operation.  There's no rough running or lack of power to note and the car drives superbly well, but 279 miles for 36 litres of fuel says there's an issue.  No overly sooty deposits on the tailpipe or smoke from the exhaust either, whether accelerating from idle or giving the car some welly at speed through the gearbox when fully warmed up.  Aside from vacuum leaks on various hoses any thoughts of whatever else I should look out for on this model?  I would expect at least a real world mpg of approx 55 to 60 mpg at this age?  No fuel leaks noted or smell of diesel to report either.  I'm wondering if the car is locked in a regeneration mode - it has spent some time as a city car pootling to the shops on short journeys for the most part - and might benefit from an "italian tune up" down the motorway for an hour at 3,000 rpm.

The car is equipped with the "smart" package.  That seems to comprise an infotainment centre with reversing camera, bluetooth connectivity and navigation suite.  Oddly, navigation, when selected comes up with a message stating navigation not installed.  Am I right in thinking that these vehicles should have the maps etc pre-installed?  If so where best to rectify?  A Toyota stealership or are there cheaper, reliable alternatives who can assist here?

I would like to get my paws on an owners manual for the car but 7 years on from first registration I don't know how likely that will be.  It's a nice to have as opposed to anything else, but might assist youngster out on her travels in the event of an issue after she passes her test.  The car needs a replacement mirror glass on the driver's side. Someone did a super cheap fix and put in some crappy chromed plastic in place of the original that evidently parted company when the mirror took a hit.  I'll probably dig up a new OEM one in any event. The mirror housing is tip top which is a bonus.  Paintwork chips will need attending to.  I've checked the data plate etc but can't work out the paint code.  Where on the plate is that code hidden?

That's pretty much it on this car for the while but I am looking at getting my teeth into this one.  I've been an admirer of Toyota and Lexus relaibility and quality for a couple of years now and watched them go head and shoulders above all other marques on the road and I look forward to rescuing this little number from what has been recent shoddy treatment although, for £2,900 it was worth a gamble.

[flash22]

It could be any number of issues, scan for codes, Clogged EGR and DPF issues are common if used for short trips, rear bumpers have a habit of popping out the there mounts the tabs are made from cheese and the bracket is a hard plastic they did redesign 3 of the 4 plastic mounts

Take off the EGR and give it a good scrub

279 from 36L = 35 ish MPG

Worst ways you're looking at a duff injector, they can be circa £300 each, a leak down test will soon show any issues, the SCV can also go bad

check all the boost pipework, a boost leak will make it burn the fuel

a stretched timing chain will cause issues

Never heard of an icon smart, may be an Icon Tech ??

 

Drop me a pm and i can give you the build date etc, a dealer should be able to pull any service history, i take it you did a HPI check on the car to make sure there is no finance/logbook loans on the car or any accident damage

[FROSTYBALLS]

1 hour ago, Paramount said:

Oddly, navigation, when selected comes up with a message stating navigation not installed.  Am I right in thinking that these vehicles should have the maps etc pre-installed?

See - https://media.toyota.co.uk/new-toyota-yaris-equipment-specifications-prices-revealed/

Sat nav (Touch 2 with Go) wasn't a standard fitment on the Icon - it was an option. The Smart pack provided Smart Entry, push button start and auto folding for the door mirrors. The sat nav module (Go) was an additional module.

[Catlover]

You may get a handbook/wallet off eBay. Have you done an oil/filter and air filter change yet?

[Paramount]

Hi Joe.

Not as yet. That's on the list of items for a deep service.  I have a search robot out on eBay so that's a good shout.

 

Cheers,

Jon

[Paramount]

Thanks Flash22,

Indeed, the car was clear of all those horrors.  According to the logbook this is the Icon Plus D-4D variant NLP130R. Thanks for the points to check.  Scan tool is the next port of call.

[Paramount]

Thanks Frostyballs,

 

Useful article.  Gives me a useful place to start.

Cheers.

[Cyker]

You should be able to download the manual from Toyota as they started putting them online when the Mk3 was made.

I think it is this one:

https://d24bc9lyrt5en5.cloudfront.net/Customer-Portal-Admin/emanuals/TOYOTA/OM52E26E.pdf

You can goto https://www.toyota.co.uk/tme#/my-toyota/eManual and put in your VIN, or click the slightly hard to see "I want to perform a generic search" and fill in the details.

 

The 1ND-TV D4D engine is a great engine if it's been looked after, and you're right - The MPG should be a lot higher; The one in my old Mk1 D4D was giving me 64mpg on average, generally 550-600 miles per tank, and I wasn't driving it gently!  

If it had regular oil changes the engine was normally very reliable - However, the later Mk2's and Mk3s all had DPFs, which is the worst thing to impact a diesel engine's reliability, so that'd be my first suspect for problems.

That said, where are you getting this mpg reading from? If it's from the car, reset it and see what you get - If the car's been sat idling for ages on the dealer forecourt or had forced regens it will have had a lot of fuel wasted which will drop the mpg a lot.

If the thing still hauls-***** then that might be all it is, as you tend to notice a power loss when the engine is unhappy. Still, no harm in e.g. giving it a tankfull of v-power diesel and going for a long motorway blast to burn off any crap on the injectors and give the fuel system a bit of a clean!

Also check for fuel leaks, although usually diesel cars are less prone to the sort of corrosion that triggers that than petrol cars as any spilt diesel acts like an oil barrier  

 

[Catlover]

As you have said the air filter is a dirty as the oil, before you go for a thrash on the motorway I would recommend you change air filter, oil, and oil filter before you do so. New spark plugs wouldn’t go amiss either.

[Paramount]

Thanks for that Cyker,

Set myself up with an account on the Toyota website and downloaded the necessary.  Great shout!  I've also pulled all the service data that they've got on their system.  Looks like the car had a minor front wing repair in 2018 at a Swansea dealership. Nothing evident looking at the car

I'll do a deep level service on the car and change all the fluids and start from a known baseline. I'll also scan for fault codes and see what's amiss there.  At the very least some diesel injector / fuel system cleaner will be a worthwhile shout. I'd be surprised if any of the injectors have gone bad this early on in the engine's life, given typical Toyota quality. I'm not expecting anything major tbh but will check off all the basic easy stuff off the list first before I head into more difficult teritory.

Cheers.

[Paramount]

MPG is an educated guestimate.  I put 22 litres into the wee beastie and zeroed the trip guage. I then drove the car back to home from Brum and then used the car for a couple of jaunts to work during the non fuel shortage - what the hell was all that about? No sooner started than over.  200 troops behind tanker steering wheels = naff all difference nationally and there's been no material difference in driver numbers coming into the country to bollster numbers - and then filled it up when the reserve light came up.  I'd done 279 miles and 36 litres was needed to fully fill the tank. Quick check makes that 7.7 miles to the litre x 4.546 litres /gallon so 35 mpg.  Once the service is done and some sensible journey's undertkaken inthe vehicle I'll have a better idea of what the car is doing.

[Catlover]

Can it be assumed that when you put the 22 litres in that the tank was full. If the tank was not full then that throws the figures out.

[Paramount]

Hi Catlover,

 

No it wasn't quite fully filled so the figures are a best guess. Once this tank load is fully consumed I'll have a clearer idea and will report back c/w scan tool findings.

[Cyker]

35 is really low for a Yaris D4D; I used to thrash my Mk1 around the countryside roads for fun - much more fun than an Aventador in Forza!  - and still got well over 50mpg out of it!! Under normal 'spirited' driving I'd still get 64+mpg - 36 litres should get you mileage into the 500's I would think (Or maybe a bit less as I think the Mk3 is a fair bit heavier than the Mk1?).

But yeah, when you start running some full tanks through it hopefully it'll clear up whatever is causing that - These engines really want to be used and don't like sitting around or being used now and then. They love having load put on them - Mine always seemed to be happiest hauling all my friends around to gigs and events and stuff  Being able to out drag stuff so easily while full of people and going up a hill never got old! Just let the turbo spin up and it just kept hauling! It was just so liberating knowing I could put my foot down any time I wanted and not worry about having to refuel 3 days earlier or something  

Best car I ever owned that one! Will never forgive Sadiq Khan for making me get rid of it!!

Good shout to run a full service through it - air filter, oil, oil filter, diesel filter, tank of V-Power diesel or your preferred cleaning additive etc.

Also, might be worth putting the reg plate through the DVLA MOT history thingy at https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk to see if anything of note comes up.

 

[wildtapholer]

4 hours ago, Catlover said:

As you have said the air filter is a dirty as the oil, before you go for a thrash on the motorway I would recommend you change air filter, oil, and oil filter before you do so. New spark plugs wouldn’t go amiss either.

I'd give the spark plugs a miss though being as it's a diesel

[Cyker]

Maybe he wants to convert it into a mazda skyactiv-x engine!  

[Catlover]

23 minutes ago, wildtapholer said:

I'd give the spark plugs a miss though being as it's a diesel

Whoops!

[wildtapholer]

Hi Jon, couldn't put a picture in on a PM but this what I have.

[Paramount]

Update time.  Happy New Year folks.  I trust you all had a decent amount of downtime over the festive period and are now refreshed for the long slog through the winter.  It was damned busy in the runup to Christmas so hence the long delay in getting back to y'all.

So, service sorted early november. New air, pollen, oil and fuel filters fitted and oil and brake fluid changed. New front discs and pads also fitted as the pitting and deep scoring of the rotors was not pretty.  I ran the vehicle on a wide mix of roads, with quite a bit of time spent on the M3 and M25 whilst they were flowing well and sat the car at a GPS 70 mph.  A bottle of STP diesel fuel system cleaner was in the tank also to fettle the injectors. Several school runs and some few miles done with daughter #1 learning at the wheel doing manoeuvers. 493.9 miles by the time the reserve light clicked on.  Fuelling until the pump clicked off returned a consumed amount of 35.82 litres which equates to 13.788 miles to the litre. Using 4.546 litres to the gallon = 62.68 mpg. With some 55 miles range left in the tank I'm not far shy of 550 miles range total and so I reckon that's pretty much what real world figures should be for an engine that's done 115,700 miles in 7 short years of life.  If I pottered around at 55 mph odd I'd probably get nearer to the claimed 70+ mpg but that's a bit unrealistic. 

What I have noted is that the tyres are some unknown to me budget offering.  I picked up a BMW 320D ED with similar cheapo chinese tyres on it and got them offed for set of 4 premium brand summer tyres.  MPG in that instance jumped from 10.5 to 12.5 miles / litre so when the tyres are nearer to shot on the Yaris I'll ditch them for a premium offering.  I've swapped the front and rear tyres around to make use of the deeper tread on the front.  It hasn't affected the handling and the tracking is pretty much spot on. I'll be carrying out oil and filter services every 6,000 miles and change the glow plugs at 120,000 miles.  The Battery is at half strength and needs replacing. What are the forum's thoughts on transmission fluid changing? Worth doing or leave well alone?

 

Cheers,

Jon

[flash22]

It wouldn't hurt to check the gearbox oil and top up as needed low oil can take out 5th/6th as they are up high at the end of the box

[Cyker]

Thanks for coming to tell us how you got on!  

62-63mpg is much more like it - Sounds like the car is fine!

I did find that as you got more mpg, small things had a bigger effect - I was running my Mk1 at 38psi on the front to get slightly better mpg  

I think the new tyres will likely help for similar reasons, as premium tyres tend to have lower rolling resistance than budget ones, and thus better fuel economy!