Toyota Corolla Axio 2007 Maintenance

[chamilka]

Hi all,

I recently bought a Toyota Corolla Axio 2007 G grade model. Since this is my first car with somewhat hi-tech I need some help. Major concerns that I have right now are.

1. Should I NOT run this on 92 octane?

I know that using 95 octane is batter for engines but I really wanted to know whether 95 octane increases the fuel consumption that 92 octane in this particular Toyota 1NZR VVT-i engine. And is there any know problems when using 92 octane. It is too early for me to know the exact fuel figures because I did not drive it much yet. I'm looking forward for you guys experience on this.

2. How often should I change CVT fluid?

Since this is my first cvt car I have no idea what is the specific oil and how often it should be changed.

Thank you in advance.

[Rumesh88]

1. Being a JDM recommended fuel is "Regular" in Japan which is 87 Octane AFAIK. Whether 87 Octane in Japan is above or below 92 in Sri Lanka is questionable but you should not have a problem with using 92. Octane 95 is not necessarily (or intrinsically) better than 92 as many believe. It all depends on design of the engine (mainly its compression ratio and the operating temperature) and the manufacturer's recommendation.

2. Recommended CVTF change interval is 90,000km (in severe usage) or 72 months. But in Sri Lanka if you ask 10 mechanics/servicemen (including the agent) they each will come out with 10 different answers . Use Toyota CVT-TC fluid part no. 08886-02105.

Edit: Please see my next post on this thread.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Rumesh88

[sathyajithj99]

I use 95 octane for my axio but I don't think there's any problem with using 92 as well. Honestly I also pumped octane 92 a few times because in some rural areas 95 was unavailable.

I changed CVT fluid for the first time @ the mileage of 40,000kms. I'm planning to do the next one when it reaches 70,000kms. I don't know whether it's too early to do so. But with our driving conditions specially with heavy traffic ,it will be better to do so. And most importantly CVTs tend to fail with bad maintenance, so earlier the better

Edited February 18, 2016 by sathyajithj99

[gayanath]

Hi all,

I recently bought a Toyota Corolla Axio 2007 G grade model. Since this is my first car with somewhat hi-tech I need some help. Major concerns that I have right now are.

1. Should I NOT run this on 92 octane?

I know that using 95 octane is batter for engines but I really wanted to know whether 95 octane increases the fuel consumption that 92 octane in this particular Toyota 1NZR VVT-i engine. And is there any know problems when using 92 octane. It is too early for me to know the exact fuel figures because I did not drive it much yet. I'm looking forward for you guys experience on this.

2. How often should I change CVT fluid?

Since this is my first cvt car I have no idea what is the specific oil and how often it should be changed.

Thank you in advance.

How about your millage now??

1. No issue running with 92 or 95. I have used both for my all cars. No any fuel consumption increase or decrease (I have all fuel records since year 2007 up to now for three cars which I have used).

2. Rumesh88 is perfectly correct. changing interval for severe condition is 90,000 km or 72 months whichever comes first. Severe conditions covers all Sri Lankan conditions like heavy traffic, start stops, etc by the definition. However, as Rumesh88 said, most of the service people will tell you to replace it far earlier (20k, 30k, 40k, etc) without a valid reason. (For me, "for safe" is not a valid reason as there are enough safety factors included by design itself. Why don't they recommends to replace it by 10k for safe if CVT oil replacement is that much critical). This 40,000 value is a general practice for old automatic boxes and now the oils and clearances are much more improved. Anyway, the full capacity of transmission oil is about 6 ltrs, but you can only replace less than 3 ltr (2.7 L as I remember) at ones. There is a tricky point when adjusting the level.

Edited February 18, 2016 by gayanath

[hrm]

This CVT maintenance is always tricky with our bayyas. My car had it replaced at 53K before I got. There's a service tag saying to replace it after another 25K. Even if you replace it on time I'm not sure how many mechanics know the exact procedure.

Edited February 18, 2016 by hrm

[Rumesh88]

I use 95 octane for my axio but I don't think there's any problem with using 92 as well. Honestly I also pumped octane 92 a few times because in some rural areas 95 was unavailable.

I changed CVT fluid for the first time @ the mileage of 40,000kms. I'm planning to do the next one when it reaches 70,000kms. I don't know whether it's too early to do so. But with our driving conditions specially with heavy traffic ,it will be better to do so. And most importantly CVTs tend to fail with bad maintenance, so earlier the better

This CVT maintenance is always tricky with our bayyas. My car had it replaced at 53K before I got. There's a service tag saying to replace it after another 25K. Even if you replace it on time I'm not sure how many mechanics know the exact procedure.

Well it all depends on how the fluid change was done. So let's put these figures into perspective. If you can remove ALL the old fluid inside transmission and replace with new fluid I do not see a reason why we cannot run another 90k or 72 months. To do it you would have to partially dismantle the transmission and clean all the passages, empty the transconverter etc and refill. But this procedure would be too expensive and time consuming. On the other hand you can just drain the fluid (in a Toyota CVT this requires removal of the drain tube) but you can drain only about 50% of the fluid. The best approach IMO is to remove the bottom pan, drain the fluid, clean the pan and the magnets and to refill. But still you would have about 2 L of fluid remaining.

So what does it all mean?

Let's assume the fluid capacity of the box is 6 L then if you drain and refill you can only replace about 4 L. If you directly interpolate these figures in proportion with the original recommendation of 90k and 72 months, the new figures will be like 60k and 48 months (ie 90*4/6 with the assumption that 2L volume of old fluid does not undergo a further degradation which is not really the case). So there is nothing wrong in adding a further safety factor and change the fluid at 40k. Without a clear direction from Toyota on this, it is left for each mechanic to interpret his own replacement interval and the poor user is at their whims and fancies.

Hope my reasoning makes some sense but I leave it open for further discussion and counter arguments.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Rumesh88

[gayanath]

Well it all depends on how the fluid change was done. So let's put these figures into perspective. If you can remove ALL the old fluid inside transmission and replace with new fluid I do not see a reason why we cannot run another 90k or 72 months. To do it you would have to partially dismantle the transmission and clean all the passages, empty the transconverter etc and refill. But this procedure would be too expensive and time consuming. On the other hand you can just drain the fluid (in a Toyota CVT this requires removal of the drain tube) but you can drain only about 50% of the fluid. The best approach IMO is to remove the bottom pan, drain the fluid, clean the pan and the magnets and to refill. But still you would have about 2 L of fluid remaining.

So what does it all mean?

Let's assume the fluid capacity of the box is 6 L then if you drain and refill you can only replace about 4 L. If you directly interpolate these figures in proportion with the original recommendation of 90k and 72 months, the new figures will be like 60k and 48 months (ie 90*4/6 with the assumption that 2L volume of old fluid does not undergo a further degradation which is not really the case). So there is nothing wrong in adding a further safety factor and change the fluid at 40k. Without a clear direction from Toyota on this, it is left for each mechanic to interpret his own replacement interval and the poor user is at their whims and fancies.

Hope my reasoning makes some sense but I leave it open for further discussion and counter arguments.

Highly appreciate your professional approach for the matter.

Yes, shorter interval method after first replace is also a general practice (40k interval is questionable though).

As an example, it has mentioned for radiator coolant as follows. For SLLC, 150,000 km for first change and 90,000 km intervals then onwards. However, couldn’t find this for CVT fluid. If you refer Prius or Prius C(Aqua) manuals, under special operating conditions (Driving while towing, using a car-top carrier, or heavy vehicle loading - though it’s not applicable even for taxi in our context), mentioned to replace transaxle oils at 90,000 km and 180,000km, etc. or every 72 months. I too agreed that oil mixing should be considered, but don’t know what is the reason for their advice.

Adding followings too for further discussion.

1. Engine oil drain plugs are normally provided in the lowest point for proper draining and frequent draining requirement. Why CVT oil drain plug is provided slightly higher than lowest point and need to remove 15 bolts to remove oil pan for proper draining?

2. According to Toyota maintenance schedule, 40K interval is also mentioned in their manual for old cars. The new cars using ATF WS, CVTF TC and WS can be go for higher intervals. Still we are using very old thumb rules. I think there is a knowledge transferring barrier for latest technologies in our context due to most of the service people here are not qualified and have no proper technological and IT background to grab the latest knowledge from the readily available sources.

3. My Aqua, there are several stickers pasted in the engine compartment. It shows the replacement intervals for Engine oil, Engine oil filter, Radiator coolant, Inverter coolant (though the interval is 240,000 km), spark plugs, and some information’s like idling rpm, angle for TDC, refrigerant type etc. But the interval for transaxle oil has not mentioned. Why do they give that much less priority for it?

Above are strictly not for argue with anyone, and only for friendly discussion to improve our self-knowledge if someone wish to discuss.

[chamilka]

Thank you all for your valuable ideas.

My car has run 81,000 km so far and it shows considerable evidences for it to be genuine mileage. However I didn't buy it from the original owner though it is still registered to one owner. I was told that the CVT fluid has been changed at 40,000 km (as usually done for automatics in Sri Lanka). Usually when I buy a car I don't depend on the previous owners maintenance. So I will change it again from the agent and keep count from now on.

Thank you again for sharing your knowledge.

[Seeker LK]

I have a 2007 Vitz (SCP90) U Grade 1300 CC and it has done 89000KM as of now. I would like to do the ATF change. I'm worried about doing it  Aut* M**aj (where I frequent for services) as it'd need some technical skills (calibration). 

Would it be a good choice to go to Agents or you think our local people can sort it out without messing up things? Thanks in advance. 

[tux]

Toyota hybrid transmissions do not have any friction based components (no clutches, belts). Nothing to heat up during operation, so degradation of transmission oil quality is very slow compared to a regular auto box.  

Do don't compare oil change intervals of regular CVT vs eCVT of hybrids. 

Edited February 26, 2018 by tux

[Rauf shah]

There is problem on reverse gear when put on reverse gear the car engine off