AisinW

Check exterior and visual defect first. Just like what Tony said. Exhaust, bolts, heat shields, and then check all engine mounts, and diconnected vacuum lines. Do you feel any vibrations? If it vibrate during hard accelerations, it could be driveshaft. But do not replace the high quality OEM driveshaft with any aftermarket that cost 1/6 of OEM. From what I heard, it is only knocking under load. Check if the timing is all right. Do you have any check engine light? Disconnected vacuum line can cause knocking too. If you trace back what you had done. Check whatever parts you touch during cleaning with injector cleaners? I do not get why people using harsh chemical like injector cleaner if they already used high quality fuel with a good detergent. I am afraid something to do with the fuel lines or injector that fail after motul injector cleaner applications.

If The appron is still fine, conrol arms replacement is not that expensive. If the subframe got damaged and the caster is out of alignment, you will have a constant pull to right/left however it does not effect the tire wear. When replacing the control arms and ball joint, always get original Toyota parts or it will break in matters of months. The rubber quality and ball joints in OEM parts are not comparable to any aftermarket. Not even ZF or premium brands can.

Thanks Tony. I agree, wear must be there but if it is very minuscle, I will follow what Denso recommends, 100k miles. Toyota confidently put 120k miles interval since 2004 and it seems fine. The SC16HR11 spark plugs failure I knew was caused by internal failure on the resistor core, not the tip wear. With relatively small tip, 0.7mm, the change of the gap width do not effect as much as wide tip like Nickle plugs. E=div.V, sharper tip, higher electric field for the same voltage. The bottom electrode is platinum in SC16HR11. I just helped my neighbour replacing spark plugs on his 1.8L Zafira 2008. That plugs looks ugly after 40k miles, the v tips are all gone and start misfire. Nickle plugs interval is indeed 30k miles and more than that we got troubles. I agree that coils are more expensive than plugs. However, I never replace any of my coils even after 200k+ miles. Coils failure usually is caused by batch production issues.

When dealing with bumper with radar system behind the batch, we must warn thr shop to do it carefully. It can be grands cost fixing those system. The same thing with the windscreen.

That rust is terrible. I am not sure how much salt you guys have on the road. I only have 3 to 5 days snowy days in a year and always pressure wash the under body days after the snow melt. I think you should ask for warranty claim, otherwise, we can weld similar metal plate and paint it. Lidl often sells high temp paint up to 600C, it contains primer too. Just spray on those joints. £3 prevention is better than dealing with dealership. We cannot apply liquid film on exhaust system. Only on suspension parts and body panels.

Fortunately, newer car warn us loudly when the handbrake engage. corolla now only have parking brake motor. I remember my colleague cannot stop his car because he drove with parking brake on for 8 miles. Either the brake fluid was boiling or rotor and pads overheating. I always do hard brake test to test the ABS system when buying a used car. It is loud, cracking and jerking. That's normal.

I am wondering if you kept all the sparkplugs you had changed. I am sure the gap is practically at constant width over 60k miles. From Denso website, the SC16HR11 interval is up to 100k miles https://www.densoproducts.com/denso-3499-sc16hr11-iridium-long-life-spark-plug but Toyota recommends 60k-120k miles. It is very intriguing for me why?

@srt I am not exactly sure but I think I saw one in Youtube but do no remeber anymore. You also can check The USA Government website on Recall and TSB for Toyota/Lexus. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2022/MC-10230382-9999.pdf and https://www.carcomplaints.com/Toyota/RAV4_Hybrid/2019/tsbs/ in general for any TSB (service buletin)

Squeaky noise can be between plastic or gears. Silicon spray is the first choice for diagnostic but won't last long. You can spray PTFE spray. They are dry and clean, does not attract dirt.

If it still runs, and one can test drive, sell it on your own. If the AC, heater, and all locks work, no bad rust, some people will buy it for £2000 when they desperately need well running car. They will look for Toyota or Honda. Never junk a good running car, it is a waste of resources. Here in Germany, many 1990-2008 corolla are sold relatively high, €2000-€5000 depends on thr condition and who owned them before. There are some exporter too who will sell ot to Africa or eastern europe.

First, check for any vacuum leak, and how is the idle. Is it stable in idling, no rpm drop and up? Mild rattling/pinging at mild acceleration are common on pre-2008 car when using E10 fuel. It runs slightly too lean and start rattling. If it does not rattle at hard acceleration, it is safe and won't cause issues for 200k miles or more. I live with it since USA government mandated E10 on all fuel. My Prius 06, Sienna 04, Altima 02, and Camry 05 all rattling at mild throttle. Premium fuel does not help either because they are also E10 in USA, just higher octane. Try to use ESSO E5 or no ethanol fuel and see if the rattling get milder.

I suggest just to drive it more. Probavly in few thousands miles it will go away. Bosch and TRW are known brands and they must be certified within OEM spec. Grinding noise on low speed is perfectly normal, that's how the friction should be at the maximum grip. I used Zimmermann coated disc and Aisin pads GG rating (highest grip in hot and cold). The coating are gone at the surface where pads meet the disc (as designed). Eventually some pads materials are also embeded on the disc and then the brake finish beaking in. We get the maximum grip at that point. Consequently, i also hear mild grinding noise at low speeds. Sometimes it squealing in split of second before stop in rainy days when some surface rust built up on the disc. What need fixing if: it squeal loudly everytime we brake for long period (bad backing plate/pads) or grabby grinding noise when we are not braking (stuck caliper/pads). From MOT measurement, the braking force was up from 390 (old disc/pads) to 570 (fully brake in pads/disc).

Corn as the main source of ethanol in northern continent is more useful as food source for growing chicken and cows. Just like bio diesel using Rapeseed,sunflower, soy, and corn oil is silly too. Palm oil produces 5x more yield per hectar than Rapeseed but also the main contribution in tropical forest deforestation. Chicken is probably the best protein per kW energy and food. Better than Vegans food that are often wasted because no one eat them. In my opinion, ethanol in gasoline is just stupid. It is not better than pure gasoline for car, and not greener either if we include how much CO2 we produced in farming. The global fertiliser need petroleum stock. Back to the topic. E5 is still the best price/performance that often contain 3% or less ethanol but much lower price than no ethanol gasoline. It is all because of tax cut, not production cost.

If your version has no real issue, don't update. Multimedia is generally not problematic, the Bluetooth connectivity is always slow regardless which version. As long as the connectivity is stable, don't bother. I have 2019 fall map, at least it has the roads on my Campus. It was only blob of green with 2016 map. There are some eBay seller gives genuine update for about £50. There are too many new roads construction in the past 2 years, it never up to date. For £50 you can get Tomtom GPS unit and stick it on the multimedia screen. That works better than anything Toyota offer without android auto.

The intermediate steering shaft in some Toyota has such weird clunk. You can open and add grease there and reduce the noise. It is annoying but not a safety concern.