New Ecu & Other Mods For T Sport

[CTS03]

Hello

I had a fast look in the Australian forum: http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/

It seems that there has been a Corolla T Sport RECALL for replacing the ECU and the AirBox Lid because the engine power was less than specified. The new ECU is reported to improve essentially the torque between 4000-6000rpm.

A heavier Gear Shift Knob and new Geal Selector Cables are also installed in cars with problems of rattling and gear selection difficulties.

Does anyone know if these actions will be also taken in Europe?

[spwolf]

I believe those cars were made in South Africa, not in the UK and that seems to be an engine mod that improves torque before 6,000 rpm as in US spec Corolla's and Matrix's, but they are now advertised as 173 hp.

My Corolla TS is quite fast, and I can shift nicely, this problem most likely might be related to specific market, 2zzge is not made in one place...

[spwolf]

Besides

Defect details: The engine was assembled with incorrect air cleaner cap and engine control computers. As a result the vehicle does not match the specification covered by its approval to ECE Regulation 51/02 and hence may not comply with ADR 83/00 External Noise.

there you go...

[CTS03]

On the contrary, they say that the power was increased because the accepted noise level depends on the power of the engine. Thus it was important CTS' engine to really pass above the threshold of 140KW so that a higher noise level could be applicable (sport car specs) .

Are you sure about the 173hp advertisement? We would not need such a modification!

I think that the Gear Knob etc. mods only cure rattling, not shifting. I had also this problem and at the end of July my mechanics fixed it ~90% in a common effort with fighting the dash rattles. I was not told any details but they used the conventional soft tapes "in various point near the engine".

The GearKnob- related rattle was a very intense noise (stronger than the engine's noise !) above ~5000rpm and it was stopping by puting my hand on the Gear Knob. It makes sense that in Australia replace the Gear Knob with a heavier one.

Just in case, to mention also that the 4th attempt (July) to cure the dash rattle resulted to a changed behaviour! In the past the noise appeared at 3000-4500rpm mainly when operating the /ac, now it appears when I start the engine (even not moving!) until it is warmed up.

I think all these indicate a bad isolation of engine's vibrations, which cannot be tolerated by the assembly of the car's parts.

[olorin]

The 2ZZ-GE motors produced in the RunX (Corolla hatch) in South Africa were underpowered.

A group of guys at a South African motoring forum (http://www.tolken.co.za/twincamforum) got together and approached TSA (Toyota South Africa) about the problem. After a few months they actually did something about it. TSA is in the process of "upgrading" (more like fixing) the RunXs in SA.

Since TSA exports the RunX to Australia, those cars would have to be recalled.

[CTS03]

All ECU chips for CTS-Sportivo-RunX..... should be the same and come from the same foundry if the ECUs are not generic integrated circuits.