Toyota Corolla (2002 – 2007) Review

• January 2002: Toyota Corolla launched
• January 2003
• May 2003
• July 2004: Corolla facelift introduced
• November 2005

One report of a mixture of electrical failures from 16 months old. Bits can become detached from inside inlet manifold of 1.6 after 3 - 4 years, requiring a new manifold. If the engine intermittently cuts out and the fault cannot be diagnostically traced it may be due to a faulty safety fuel cut-off solenoid switch. On D-4D cutting out can also be caused by a build of of salts on a hot wire in the airflow sensor. VVT-i engines can start to use up to a litre of oil every 600 miles after 40,000 miles.

May 2006: 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 litre VVT-i engines can start to use up to a litre of oil every 600 miles after 40,000 miles due to a bore liner problem. If under 5 years old and Toyota maintained, under TSB EG 6020, Toyota wouldl usually replace FOC.

Multimode automated manual transmissions prone to actuator failure.

One report of failed driveshaft CV joints at 5 years old.

For safety when driving in mainland Europe you might want to add a nearside rear fog lamp to your 2003-2008 Toyota Corolla. It takes about half an hour, depending upon how competent and confident you are. The rear lamp cluster is secured by three 10mm nuts. Two them are accessible after removing the two interior boot blanking pieces. Two of the nuts accessible but to access the (third) top one you need to pull away the top of the interior covering which are held by two push pins. This can be done by hand. After removing the three bolts on each side you will observe that there is a bulb missing on the nearside. Remove the feed plug from the bulb cluster by holding in the small plastic tab with a small screwdriver and pull outwards. The rear fog lamp bulb is the right hand bulb (the one that is missing. You will also observe that there is a corresponding plastic blanking piece on the hole in the back of the cluster into which a bulb would be fitted. It is necessary to remove this blanking piece which is an integral part of the plastic surround. Carefully drill small holes around the circumference of the blanking piece until you can separate it from the housing and then clean the hole up with a round file. You will also observe that the third connection in the plug does not have a wire attached. Obtain a suitable piece of insulated cable and bare the end for about 3cm and put this down into the back of the plug where the wire is missing and carefully replace the plug trapping the wire and making a sound connection. Ensure that there are no loose strands which might make another connection or touch the earth side. Run the cable underneath the black plastic edge protector between the two clusters and repeat the same exercise for the offside except to use a blue snap connector on the red wire leading to the fog lamp bulb. Replace all the parts, making sure that the three nuts are not over tightened and thats it.

Remote keyfob failures seem to be a problem. Spring fails under the door opening button. Toyota replaces under warranty, but after that they are £112.50 and independent specvualists are unable to supply them.

On a batch of 2006 1.6 engines the valve stems were incorrectly hardened and eventually 'mushroom'. One reader quoted £1,200 to fix at just 49,000 miles. If the car is Toyota serviced then Toyota might be sympathatic and come up with some goodwill.

On belt-cam 2.0 litre diesel engines the waterpump must be replaced at the same time as the timing belt. They are prone to breaking up and when they do they throw the belt off.

All Toyota VVT-I 1.4, 1.6 & 1.8L engines (1zz 1.8, 3zz 1.6 & 4zz 1.4) made from 2000 to mid 2005 may suffer from excessive oil consumption of 1L/600miles. The cause was insufficient oil capacity, poor piston and piston ring design. This led to the oil-ways sludging up, eventually causing hardened oil around the rings to misshape the bores. The use of poor quality or overly thick oils (thicker than 5w30) increased the likelihood of the issues above occurring. The fix was re-designed pistons, rings and short block - some were replaced under warranty; after about July 2005 the fix was applied new build Toyotas.