Toyota Corolla Thel Higana Edition (Or My Take On An Axio Hybrid)

[Rumesh88]

11 hours ago, Jor-el said:

I too want to remove the windshield cowling and clean but haven't done it before or haven't seen someone doing it, is it a very simple DIY that a nimrod like myself can do without doing damage to windshield or the cowling? Remove the nuts that holds wipers and the cowling, pry it out, clean and fix everything together again?

Well it is not a difficult procedure. Only things that you should be careful about is to keep the wiper blades always attached to the arm when you remove and fixing them back, because if by chance they get released and hit the windscreen without the blades that might damage the windscreen. As for the process here is a bit lengthy copy-and-paste text from a previous discussion.

Cowling comes in three pieces two small corner panels between the fender and the middle part  and the larger middle portion of the cowling. Two small parts are a bit rubbery/flexible in texture. First remove wiper arms with a 12mm socket. Press and slide the two small panels away from fender side towards the center to detach them from the two white clips attached to the middle part. They will be still held between the windshield and the front pillar from their upper corner (I don't remember exactly how I removed it completely. You can leave it as it is or slide it down to detach from pillar side. Either way it is not important). There are two black plastic fastener clips with Phillips heads on either side of the middle part above the firewall. They will pop up upon turning anti-clockwise with a screw driver. Then you can take the middle portion off. Wash and clean the area below the cowling and the cowling itself with paint brush. Make sure the drain channels on either side are clear of any debris. Better use high pressure if available. Then I usually apply a UV protectant to all plastic parts after drying them. Before fixing the middle part remove the four white color slide-on clips and attach them to two small panels.  This way it would be easier to put the two panels back once you fix the middle part. If you find it difficult to insert the two black fastener clips wrap a twine tread around it to gather their locking teeth and pull out the thread after inserting the clip  halfway. That's it. Take usual precautions like fixing back at the same homing position and operating a couple of times off the windshield to just to make sure of their range of motion and homing position.

[john cooper]

This seems to be the bigger brother of Axio which is doing a fantastic job still under 10K as parents only use this if they traveling to Colombo.

Lots of pull if needed and Avg showing 17 km/L but been 2.5 L engine i don't think it is that Eco but it is comfortable and powerful.

I love the auto blinders at the back and cooler box (you know what i mean aye)

It's worth for the money.

 

regards

JC

[Jor-el]

6 hours ago, Rumesh88 said:

Well it is not a difficult procedure.

Thanks Rumesh, I'll try this when I have some free time and report back

Edited January 4, 2017 by Jor-el

[Rumesh88]

Well after 47500kms from zero mileage point and over three years from the manufacturing date I decided it was time for a transmission fluid change. Bought a 4L can of Toyota ATF WS and with a 10mm Allen key and a funnel attached to a 5/16 clear hose of 1m length in hand set about changing ATF. First unscrewed the filler plug so that just in case I failed to do it I could still drive the car. Keeping the filler plug hand tightened to prevent fluid from gushing out, unscrewed the drain plug and drained all fluid. Although fluid was slightly dark in color to me it looked like it could have run for another 10000kms atleast. 

Dropped the clear tube behind the engine to reach the filler hole keeping the funnel close to inverter coolant tank and began to fill after fixing the drain plug. In fact the filler hole can accomodate a bigger tube but you need some clearance for the air to vent out as you go on filling. It took little more than 3.5L before fluid began to overflow. I was doing it alone so I spilled quite a lot of fluid. Fixed the filler plug back and I was on my way again. I know I should have taken some pics but it is not that easy to handle a camera or a phone after you get ATF on your hands.

[Magnum]

On 1/4/2017 at 1:41 PM, john cooper said:

This seems to be the bigger brother of Axio which is doing a fantastic job still under 10K as parents only use this if they traveling to Colombo.

Lots of pull if needed and Avg showing 17 km/L but been 2.5 L engine i don't think it is that Eco but it is comfortable and powerful.

I love the auto blinders at the back and cooler box (you know what i mean aye)

It's worth for the money.

 

regards

JC

Thats pretty good, hows it to drive?

[iRage]

10 hours ago, Magnum said:

Thats pretty good, hows it to drive?

Comfy, so the suspension is a bit on the pudgy side; the back is a little bit late to turn in on bends at speed and does have a sense of wanting to under-steer. The new one is more direct but still suspension is soft.

Edited September 20, 2017 by iRage

[Rumesh88]

On 9/19/2017 at 4:19 PM, Rumesh88 said:

 Although fluid was slightly dark in color to me it looked like it could have run for another 10000kms atleast. 

I have a second thought about my own statement above  after driving the car for a few hundred kms since changing ATF couple of days back. I used to get a faint notice whenever the power source changed from engine to EV to regenerative braking or from any of them to the other. Now it is gone and I do not feel any of those things after ATF change. My car usually runs with only me as a load (65kg) and in weekends with a passenger who weights no more than 40kg :D. I do not use ECO mode at all (It is a PITA and makes me feel unsafe) but usually avoid hard braking and acceleration both but try to drive at the maximum safe speed. So after I changed ATF I did not expect any improvement and observed the car carefully to avoid any placebo effect. Basically I have come to the conclusion that changing ATF at 47,500 kms was not an overkill. So the local agent's recommendation (which came under criticism in this forum sometime back) to change ATF at 40,000 kms is quite reasonable at least in my own experience.

[terrabytetango]

Experienced my first electronic gremlin this morning; as you know, the facelift Axio Hybrid only comes with a black dashboard, i.e. heat absorpment par excellence, and you can feel the heat radiating onto your face. To mitigate this, I point the right most register to the extreme 10 o'clock position, a kind of air curtain if you will. Today I tried using the windscreen vents instead to see if that would have the same effect, and it didn't. When I tried returning the setting to the face level vents, they refused to work and air was flowing at my feet instead. When I changed to feet, the outer to registers blew air but the center one was closed, and the windscreen one was once again enabled. And thus, the climate control system went full retard. I even powered the car off and on while at a traffic light, but to no avail. After getting to office, I let it sit for a few hours and tried it again 10 minutes, and everything was normal. This leads me to believe I somehow stumbled upon a firmware bug, at least in the blend door controls, because temperature regulation was unaffected.

Edited October 13, 2017 by terrabytetango

[Magnum]

On 13/10/2017 at 4:56 PM, terrabytetango said:

Experienced my first electronic gremlin this morning; as you know, the facelift Axio Hybrid only comes with a black dashboard, i.e. heat absorpment par excellence, and you can feel the heat radiating onto your face. To mitigate this, I point the right most register to the extreme 10 o'clock position, a kind of air curtain if you will. Today I tried using the windscreen vents instead to see if that would have the same effect, and it didn't. When I tried returning the setting to the face level vents, they refused to work and air was flowing at my feet instead. When I changed to feet, the outer to registers blew air but the center one was closed, and the windscreen one was once again enabled. And thus, the climate control system went full retard. I even powered the car off and on while at a traffic light, but to no avail. After getting to office, I let it sit for a few hours and tried it again 10 minutes, and everything was normal. This leads me to believe I somehow stumbled upon a firmware bug, at least in the blend door controls, because temperature regulation was unaffected.

Or maybe it doesn't like tropical climate

[terrabytetango]

So checking in at 2 months shy of 8 years of ownership, done 67K kms, battery maintains 3.9v at each cell (checked April this by Toy#ta L#nka, and still giving back usable fuel economy. This thing has been so well behaved, I'll probably just change the battery at some point and continue using it.

[fiat fan]

Every few years you pop up and give an update. Legend