Just bought a used Gen 2

what year, how many miles?
do you know of any previous service?

 

You can Google the VIN and sometimes a whole lot of nonsense will pop up about the car sometimes not and then depend upon how you got it you bought it from somebody how they got it and all that If you get it or close to it when the car dealer takes it in or brings it in I've had old registrations and glove box and call people right up still live at the same address or whatever you know obviously bring a capable scanner read the car see any stored old whatever codes that sort of thing generally the generation twos are pretty solid like Corollas of their generation pretty solid you don't have to do a whole lot of checking Make sure there's no big dents you can't live with and all that and let it rip obviously you're going to change transmission fluid and engine oil if the coolant's red in both jugs leave it alone take a pH test strip if you want to make certain you can do the same with the brake fluid long as it looks nice and clear probably leave it alone Wait for the break actuator to fail straighten that out You should be good for many years you'll be tired of the car before it's tired of you that's a fact generally speaking with this model.

 

start watching the oil level, keep notes and top up as needed.

 

Even if economy is not your goal, you probably won't go wrong to pick and choose items in that thread. A car that is running for the best economy is going to be well running in any case. Just use your discretion as to what seems necessary.

 

I would suggest having a capable scantool and checking all systems for any codes. (see post 37)

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Check the engine bay from below, looking fo oil leaks. Check Constant Velocity joint boot condition while you're there.

 

Nothing drive the hail out of it. The leaking drive axle boots you'll just get axle shaft with new boots. That's just a little grease linging out when you get sick and tired of being sick and tired you buy new axle shaft for each side of the car they're about $68 a piece remanufactured. You can't do anything about the brake actuator there's no preemptive anything you can do nothing changing the brake fluid playing games with the car It makes no difference to the break actuator only makes a difference to your mind and your pocketbook so you wait for it to fail and then pick your poison on how you're going to fix it used new etc And this day and age you're not going to do anything with a car or for another car for the price of a break actuator You can't replace the car get another one or anything like that for the cost of that part and even the cost of its install or you'll be picking up another bunch of problems like you're working on now at least this car you're dealing with is well documented and easy to make that happen Go ahead and get your payment on a Hyundai or a Kia and you may be walking they don't even have engines to do the warranty work on those cars. At least the car you're working on is well documented as a good community of people and things can happen.

 

Coolant and fluids can generally be checked very similar to pool water if you've ever done anything like that so no reason to just dump all the coolant in the transmission fluid out just because!. Generally you're fine you're cooling and your brake fluid is probably well within the decent pH range and what have you and it's probably fine The brake fluid is near clear and the engine coolants are red You should be good unless you're in some kind of extreme temperature area this stuff should be fine You can change it if it makes you feel better but at $19 a jug of coolant and $25 a bottle of transmission fluid. I would say the transmission is the most neglected that fluid will probably come out near black and go in more or less red so I could see possibly changing the transmission fluid there's no reason to flush it and push a lot of pressure through it just drain it out let it stand open 30 minutes while you're doing something else and then refill it and go on about your life A lot of times you start power flushing internals of old equipment out and it can create as many problems as you thought it was going to cure.

 

This is your number one concern! Burning close to a quart every 1000 miles (more often than that if you camp in it) means you could easily run out of oil and ruin the engine.

I would check and top off every fillup or every week on the same day, which ever comes first. Have quarts of oil in the car.

Ruining the engine costs way more than the $3k you paid for the car.

If you have torn leaky cv boots they need to be fixed immediately! Otherwise you could be driving down the road and have the cv joint break. At that point you are stranded and will require a tow.

 

Oil leaks can come from various interfaces, and what to do about them “depends”. If it’s a minor oil bloom, and the fix would be tough and/or expensive, and the car’s getting on, and maybe after all your efforts it’ll start up again, might be “let sleeping dogs lie”. Other times it’s a steady drip from a small bolt-on component, more easily remedied.

If the cars leaving an oil signature everywhere it’s parked, and the underside’s a mess, I’d want to remedy for sure.

 

First things to do are get AAA membership with towing, the car is old and you can't do repairs on the side of the road. Then find a good independent shop, one that has experience with hybrids would be good. New brake fluid is never a bad idea but will cost a few hundred to do it right. The car should not leak any fluids, that is a sign of issues. Axles with torn boots should get replaced or have the boots replaced. Otherwise you might really need the towing thing. A quart of oil every 1K is high but is it burning or leaking? Get in the habit of checking oil level every other fill up. If you don't know what has been done in the last 50K plan for an inverter coolant pump, and maybe one or both of the batteries.
Last thing, spend lots of time reading on this forum. There is a lot of useless stuff but hidden in the useless is some really relevant information and knowledge is important.

 

Use a slow engine cleaner like Auto-RX. It might fix the oil burning issue. After that do the 3k oil change with Valvoline R & P. It might free up the rings (if that was causing it). Mine used i think 1/4 qt between roughly 3k oil change. Running Auto-RX now. 1K later, oil level hasn't dropped. Hopefully it will fix it.

What i did so far on my 2009 with 150k is as below. I might be missing some items.

1. All fluids and filters.
2. Spark plugs
3. PCV valve <- This can cause oil consumption.
4. Tires and TPMS sensors.
5. Brake actuator and brake fluid along with it.
6. Clock spring. Not all buttons on steering were working
7. MFD - Loose solder. Bought a used one. Need to replace.
8. Inverter coolant pump - This failed and threw a code
9. Mechanical water pump - Changed as PM
10. Serpentine belt.
11. Re-lubed brakes.
12. Cleaned the hybrid battery filter.

Brake actuator was the most expensive one and then the tires.

Now the CAT efficiency code is popping up. P0420. I am thinking that the burning oil caused it.