Knocking / Pinging in 2006 Yaris

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Hello All,

My wife has an 06 Yaris (first registered Feb 2006, but I think it might have a late 2005 build date from memory) that seems to have a knock under load. We bought the car in January this year, through a car yard (a well known reputable one here in Perth), only one previous owner apparently.

The car had 42,000 km on it when bought, about 45 or 46k on it now. I thought I noticed a slight knock not long after buying it, but it was very faint and intermittent and I dismissed it as me being paranoid. Lately it has become more obvious and more constant under moderate or high load - quite easy to induce by trying to accelerate in 5th on the freeway, or going uphill etc.

The car has always been run on regular 91 ron unleaded, but last fill I put in 98 ron (BP ultimate) and the knock seems to have almost vanished but is still very faintly audible. The log books showed all previous servicing having been carried out on time and apart from some scratches showing the previous owner may not have been the most careful, it seems otherwise well cared for.

Obviously it's still under warranty, so I'll take it in to a dealer to have it looked at, but I was just wondering if anyone else has come across this in a Yaris before?

Cheers,

Adam.

[pinzvidz]

Knock? Knocking refers to worn out bearings etc. Your Yaris is pinging or detonating - sounds like you've really copped a bad batch of fuel. Water in fuel maybe? Try throwing in a bottle or two of methylated spirits (don't worry it won't hurt) with a tank of 98, that'll at least get rid of any water that might be in the fuel. Try running a couple of tanks of 98 afterwards, and check the basic stuff as well - condition of plugs and air filter. Unless your MIL lamp is illuminating (indicating a fault code in the ECU), the dealer can't do anything for you.

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Hi pinzvidz,

Thanks for the reply, yeah, pinging is what I mean - I had always heard knocking / pinging referred to as meaning the same thing... May well have had worse fuel lately, but surely not from every service station we have filled up at over the 4 months since we bought the car? I'll try changing the plugs, air filter and maybe fuel filter too, run another tank of 98 ron or two then try 91 ron again and see how it goes though...

Do you happen to know if the MIL lamp will stay illuminated permanently until the fault code is cleared, or does it only come on when starting the car etc?

Cheers,

Adam.

[pinzvidz]

Depends on the type of fault, if one is there. A major fault code (eg. permanent open circuit in something) will keep the light on while you're driving, and it'll keep coming back each time you start the vehicle. A minor code (eg. sensor slightly out of range) might register the lamp to come on once for the duration of a single drive, and might never show up again. However, it will store in memory for a certain period of time and then clear itself. Yeah definitely check/replace plugs, have a good look over everything including filters, make sure all connectors on components are plugged in securely, can't think of much else... good luck with it!