I picked up a beater 2000 Corolla on Friday for 400 bucks to replace my terrible Jeep Compass. It looks ugly, has 442000 kilometers on it but the body is in decent shape and the car meets or exceeds the EPA estimates despite having 2 malfunctioning O2 sensors. It's got a little vvt-i clatter on startup which goes away in about one second after which the engine is nearly silent. Is this something that can be helped by using a thicker oil or will it just continue to get worse over time?
2000 Corolla vvt-i rattle on startup?
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Depends on what's worn in the engine. What's been used in it before? I'd consider going one grade higher, with a 0w rating oil to minimize time for the oil to circulate. Other than that, just drive it.
Note: on my wife's 04 Wrangler, I got a really bad valvetrain rattle on startup with some oil filters, and none with other filters, so it could be some sort of filtration parameter.
Note: on my wife's 04 Wrangler, I got a really bad valvetrain rattle on startup with some oil filters, and none with other filters, so it could be some sort of filtration parameter.
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This is my specialty, go to a junkyard, and remove only the vvti-gear from the intake camshaft of a Corolla, the Celica ones are more commonly bad. It is the vvti-gear.
Cost me a lot of money to finally figure that out, it's not listed on any reliable forums as a common issue but I found 4/5 Celica ones to be bad, but never a Corolla or prism one. The one you do acquire from the junkyard, make sure it is not moving and already in a locked position, if so take it, and use brake parts cleaner in all the oil galleries to clean it, and properly dry it.
Do not open the 4 bolts that keep the intake gear together, only the big middle bolt that attaches it to the intake.
Cost me a lot of money to finally figure that out, it's not listed on any reliable forums as a common issue but I found 4/5 Celica ones to be bad, but never a Corolla or prism one. The one you do acquire from the junkyard, make sure it is not moving and already in a locked position, if so take it, and use brake parts cleaner in all the oil galleries to clean it, and properly dry it.
Do not open the 4 bolts that keep the intake gear together, only the big middle bolt that attaches it to the intake.
If what 01_celica_gt posted does not help check the timing chain tensioner. The Oring is probably leaking anyways so good time to replace that and check to see how much the chain has moved and/or if the tensioner is bad.
I use 10w30 Valvoline maxlife in my MiLs 2001 Corolla. After the repairs try that oil out as well.
I use 10w30 Valvoline maxlife in my MiLs 2001 Corolla. After the repairs try that oil out as well.
Aren't Toyotas known for VVT-i clatter on startup? Our 2AR-FE certainly does it. I've heard it'll do that for the life of the car without issue. Correct me if I'm wrong, though
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Aren't Toyotas known for VVT-i clatter on startup? Our 2AR-FE certainly does it. I've heard it'll do that for the life of the car without issue. Correct me if I'm wrong, though
No. I have had 7 of them and only one with the clatter which I traded because of it. The rest are completely silent. My last one had clatter at about 30,000 miles and then at 65,000 threw a CEL for an oil control valve which went away and never returned. But that plus a absolutely screaming great deal on a new one motivated me to trade it in. If I get one with clatter I won't keep it past 100k. The cost of the repair is over $2,000 and I drive long cross country trips. Don't need the bother.
Aren't Toyotas known for VVT-i clatter on startup? Our 2AR-FE certainly does it. I've heard it'll do that for the life of the car without issue. Correct me if I'm wrong, though
No. I have had 7 of them and only one with the clatter which I traded because of it. The rest are completely silent. My last one had clatter at about 30,000 miles and then at 65,000 threw a CEL for an oil control valve which went away and never returned. But that plus a absolutely screaming great deal on a new one motivated me to trade it in. If I get one with clatter I won't keep it past 100k. The cost of the repair is over $2,000 and I drive long cross country trips. Don't need the bother.
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Aren't Toyotas known for VVT-i clatter on startup? Our 2AR-FE certainly does it. I've heard it'll do that for the life of the car without issue. Correct me if I'm wrong, though
Yes....they are.
Some of the clatter is reduced/eliminated using different oils...5w-30 instead of 0w-xx, and some brands seem to work better than others in each specific engine (no way of knowing which would work better in OP's). It is not generally an indicator of anything serious.
Aren't Toyotas known for VVT-i clatter on startup? Our 2AR-FE certainly does it. I've heard it'll do that for the life of the car without issue. Correct me if I'm wrong, though
Yes....they are.
Some of the clatter is reduced/eliminated using different oils...5w-30 instead of 0w-xx, and some brands seem to work better than others in each specific engine (no way of knowing which would work better in OP's). It is not generally an indicator of anything serious.
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