Yaris/Scion & Vitz :: 2003 Echo - Steering Wheel Vibration Gets Serious Around 60 Mph
Jun 24, 2011
My wife's 2003 Echo has had some persistent issues. We've replaced the right front wheel bearing 3 times now, and the driver side front once.
The current issue is steering wheel vibration. It's hardly noticeable at 40mph, but gets serious around 60mph.
Some things I noticed when I took it for a spin today:
The right front wheel makes a clunk-squeak sort of sound on rough road. It has a looser feel at those times. Sort of like an old truck. Not a peep out of the driver's side.
The steering wheel vibration is not changed by shifting to neutral (it's an automatic). The vibration increases with speed, and is rougher at 50mph coming down on a coast from 60 than it is accelerating up from 40.
The vibration is reduced with slight braking and stops with heavy braking. In turns where the weight of the car is shifted to the right side, the vibration is reduced or stops. When the weight is shifted to the left (driver) side, there is no effect or it gets worse.
Uphill seems to be worse than downhill.
The car does not drift to either side when the steering wheel is released when not vibrating, and doesn't have much wander even with the wheel vibrating.
It does not clunk or squeal when turning or braking.
The mileage is 115k.
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I have taken this problem to the dealer 3 times in the last 6 months and they claim not to notice any vibration or rattle. However, whenever I am at a stop sign or stop light with the car in Drive (automatic trans), a loud vibration sound can be heard and also felt in the steering column and the brake pedal. As soon as I press on the gas pedal again, the vibration goes away. The only other way to stop the noise is to place the car into Neutral. What might be causing this? Apparently, the noise is not audible outside of the vehicle since none of the techs at Toyota were able to hear a rattle or vibration.
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My 01 Echo coupe vibrates at idle and when running. I changed all mounts, with OEM ones,,,changed the bent cross-member, installed new rack and pinion, new bushings, terminal, bushings...and still the lil guy vibrates like a rattle snake tail.
I noticed that time chain is a bit slacked... what may be the culprit for that vibration, you can feel the vibs at gas pedal, dash and steering wheel.
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My wife's 2003 Echo is sitting at 255 000 KM's (Canada) and has hardly had a days problem.However yesterday tried starting and completely dead-not battery as almost new. Ignition makes clicking noise-lights/radio etc all working.Called the BCAA ( Vancouver) the guy tapped with a pole on something in the engine and voila she started. He said something about the starter or starter solenoid-today again the car is dead. Will take it to the mechanic on Monday but how do I get it started meanwhile ? what did the BCAA guy do and what did he tap on ?
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I'm getting a rubbing type of noise when i'm turn right and it sounds like a rubbing noise perhaps its a wheel bearing? how easy/hard is that to change. The noise is most notable when I'm on the highway and I'm making a left lane change or if I'm coming or going on a off ramp (left).
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I have a 2003 automatic Echo, 200 000KM. I was on the highway with the A/C ON and i suddenly noticed it started blowing warm air(because it was a hot day). I was a bit on a rush so i decided to just roll down the windows and keep on. Once i was on a red light, i noticed i could hear a sound, coming from the straps(wich seemed logic to me since the A/C stopped) The sound was a kind of continuous screeching. It also smelled a liitle bit like burnt plastic or rubber. So i stopped the car, check under the hood, saw nothing, so I decided to start it again. After like 50m, it stopped by itself, and now i can't start it. I even tried to jump start it with a buddy's car and nothing changed! I still have some battery, everything works, but the starter wont even "click" when i engage it...
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Echo 2003 2 door
Running lights: OK
Headlight mode, the running light stay illuminated but the head lights don't come on and the high beam light illuminates.
It feels like a relay but I don't know where to start. Had to drive home in the dark with the moon light my way home. I'd prefer to not do that again.
Found two 10A fuses under the hood. Both blown
The connectors to the lights are corroded and strangely, covered in oil. I could not find an oil leak (Problem with previous owner?)
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My ac compressor just went out in my 03 Echo and now the car won't even start. I believe the pulley on the ac seized up b/c the belt won't turn and it just makes a horrible squealing noise when you try to turn the engine over. Right now I'm too broke to get a new ac compressor so I figured I'd just replace the belt with one that bypasses the ac altogether. Is this possible with the 03 Echo? And if so, any diagram or pic of the engine with and without the ac belt on it? I need my car back on the road asap...
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My 2003 echo has a noisy manual transmission. The former owner put a salvaged tranny in it. Reverse sounds terrible.The car has 373000kms on it. I'm going to change the transmission oil this week. Any recommendation as to oil type? Should I put in Lucas oil treatment.
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How to change a 2003 toyota echo blower motor.... Looking for a step by step directions ....
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I am buying a Toyota Echo that the engine shakes on Idle and the shaking increase a bit when the AC is On ....
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I have an incredibly reliable 03 Echo, manual trans that has never had any issues starting or running well. TODAY, I started it and about a block down the road is sputtered and stopped. The engine is turning over powerfully when I turn the key and it tries to start for a couple seconds then just turns over. It's like it's not getting any fuel.
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Recently changed a front pipe manifold on my Echo 2003 4doors Five spd.
Noise I was reporting ealier thread seems to have subsided somehow but I did not hit the high road again, since the repair.
But I have this check engine light that went off 3 days ago and stays on.
Tried 4 times to read the code of OBd II reader and it pulls nothing. As if everything was normal.
I changed the batteries but it acts like it does regularly and it shows like there is no code to pull out.
Could that be a Ghostly Check Engine. It is still on at the moment meaning every time I drive the car.
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I was driving home and I lost power in my engine. When I gave it gas you can hear it miss fire and loose power I got it home and it starts and idles but not smooth. What should I be looking into at this point? I'll check the coils and plugs now but I'm not sure after that. I heard about a bad ecu but it still runs so idk.
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2003 echo automatic, 168,000 kms doing a routine maintenance, getting tranny fluid changed, is there a filter to change on these cars or is fluid enough.
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I have a 2003 Toyota Echo with 250,000 miles. It has been a great car as I commute 90 miles to work. I have had no major problems with the car. Unfortunatly it recently died on the way to work. It was running great and then all the sudden it sputtered and killed. When I first tried to start the car it would just turnover but after waiting 10 minutes it started back up (this was a cold morning). When it started it was running great again. I drove it another 15 minutes and it all the sudden died again. This happened 3 times.
I have hooked up to a scan tool and a camshaft position sensor code displayed. I replaced that but had no change. Another code came up as mass air flow sensor. I purchased a used one of those and still no change.
I have started the car up numerous times and always have the same results. It starts right up, idles good, speeds up good and runs good at full throttle. The problem becomes when it warms up the car kills. If I run it at idle to a slow acceleration it takes longer to kill than if I run the car at full throttle. Once it kills it will not start up until the car cools down, but once it cools down it will start right back up.
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My friend has a 2003 Toyota Echo that is throwing a cylinder misfire code. Original code is P0302 and P0302PD. The car is idling rougher, kind of sounds like "put-put-put". Also, the car has no power at all. He lives on a hill and he can't even pull out of his driveway. Lastly, the smell of the exhaust is gassy.
We have changed out the spark plugs...no change. Next, we bought a new ignition coil for the number two cylinder...no change. So, maybe its the wiring. Put the new coil onto the number 3 cylinder and the number 3 coil onto the 2 cylinder. Low and behold, the misfire code changes to P0303 and P0303PD.
Thinking we might have gotten a dud of a coil, we bought another. Same thing...new coil on 2 code is P0302...new coil on 3, code is P0303. Could we just have gotten two bad coils? Oh, coils were a BWD brand coil and Duralast brand. Should we just go OEM from dealer? OR Denso from Advance Auto?
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I currently have summer washer fluid in my 2003 Toyota Echo's windshield washer fluid tank. I need to replace this with winter washer fluid within the next few days before the temperature goes below freezing.
When I pop open the hood, I see that the bottle is located on the left hand side of the engine bay. The bottle has a black cap with a picture of a fountain (wiper spray).
I have no experience working on the mechanics of a car. However, I would like to know the easiest way of replacing my summer wiper fluid with winter wiper fluid. The tank is currently full with the summer washer fluid.
a) How do I go about emptying the bottle completely without removing it?
b) If I need to remove the bottle and then empty it completely, how do I do this and what tools do I need?
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My car is a standard and was working fine not indication of any troubles. Stopped and pumped $20 gas. Started to drive and car starts running rough especially at low speeds. Going up hill is brutal. Engine light flash when trying to accelerate, slow getting up to speed, shudders- not a lot of power, once up to speed engine light turn off.
Press the gas to go up hill- engine light comes back on and it begins all over, it also sounds like it is not running on all cylinders.
Is there any suggestions: fuel pump, fuel injection...spark plugs and wires? Something more serious
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So on my girlfriends 2000 echo I get the classic bad wheel bearing noise/vibration on the front left (driver side) wheel. Worsens under load (right turn) and goes away when unloaded (left turn). I've replaced left side bearing, CV axle, brake rotors/pads and the noise still persists. My next thought is maybe the ball joint but humming/vibration tells me something out of rotational balance. Bearing in the transmission? I don't know. I'm stuck.
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Why would my 2009 Yaris suddenly jerk to the left while doing 60-65 mph? It would jerk hard only once, but did it 3 times within a few minutes tonight and once earlier today.
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