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Maintenance Schedule

By Burned, December 23, 2014


  • 15 posts

Hi,

We have a 2004 Corolla and are looking for a maintenance schedule. The car is coming up on 100,000 KM and I dont want to forget anything.

This is the wifes car, I am used to working on American cars.

I plan on doing a coolant change and flush. I usually change out the thermostat when I do coolant flushes. Toyota dealership said that isn't necessary. Is this true for such a cheap part? Other thing that bothers me is the fuel filter. Do these vehicles have an inline fuel filter that needs changing? All I can find is reference to the sock type attached to the pump.

Also is a valve adjustment needed on these engines?

Thanks for any info.

You can download PDF's of the maintenance schedule from the Toyota main website. Just navigate down to the owner's section, there you'll see a link pointing to maintenance and owner's manual.

No need to change out the thermostat unless you see an issue with it. One all the Toyotas that I've owned - they all ran on the original t-stat, including my Camry with over 400K miles on it.

Now on my 60's and 70's domestic muscle cars, yeah, I change those out every time I do a coolant flush.

With that low of mileage on the Corolla - might even get away with a coolant drain and refill, as recommended by the manufacturer. The coolant is a super long-life, hybrid OAT type of coolant.

As for the fuel filter - again, no need to change that unless you suspect some contamination of the fuel system. They intended this to be a non-serviceable part. There is an out "sock" on the pump inlet, the filter itself is inline with the fuel pump. Since this car uses a returnless fuel system (meaning it only filters what the engine needs - on demand) - the filter almost never needs replacement. When you shut the engine off, the filter back flushes itself.

If you really want to replace it - you'll have to pull the fuel pump/sending unit assembly. Pull the back seat, disconnect the wiring to the pump, remove the access panel on the floor, disconnect the plumbing to the pump, remove the mounting ring for the pump assembly out of the tank. Then you'll have to pry the pump apart to get at the filter.

Valve adjustment is only needed if the valves don't quiet down when the engine is fully warmed up. Technicians will do an audible check to see if it needs to be done. You can easily check it yourself - I usually pull the valvecover off to check on the top end from time to time. So far, 265K miles and the valves are still well within spec.



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