I purchased a used 2003 Echo last week. The all season tires are on 15 inch rims. I would like to buy snow tires for this car. The question is - snow tires on 15 in rims or snow tires on 14 in rims? I understand that 15 inch rims was an option selected on the original purchase. Without this option, the car would have had 14 inch rims.
View 14 RepliesI have a Ford F150, 2003. I replaced the switch above the master brake cylinder just a few months ago soon after I bought the truck. I put 17" rims and new tires on my truck and now my cruise control works intermittently. It worked fine before then.
Can there be a connection between the intermittent failure of the Cruise and the larger rims and tires? I know my speedometer is off by about 4 MPH at 55 but I expected that.
I bought a set of new tires for my 2000 astro van and 1994 Saturn SL2 ::edit:: two summers ago. I bought a "full warranty" with the tires which includes checking the air pressure and free rotation. It seems every time I take the either vehicle back for a tire rotation there is a problem which is not covered by the warranty. For example I was told that each vehicle now has a rim/wheel which is slightly out of round with the implication that this negates any warranty on the tire.
I looked at the tire on my van as the tech spun it around while dismounted as you would a bicycle tire and sure enough the tire "wobbled" a tiny bit when viewed straight on at the treads - like a spoked bike tire would if it needed "truing". I was given a speech about "driving to hot" with steel rims and alloy rims were better as they tolerate heat better, also they mentioned the weight of tools in my van but I pointed out that any two of their hefty employees weighed much more than anything I ever carried in my van. The implication again is that this could negate the tire warranty.
I have driven since the 1960's and this is the first time I have ever had a problem with rims - even through minor accidents. The most I have done with these wheels is to bump them on a curb in a parking lot occasionally.
My wife's 2001 Chrysler Concorde can't seem to keep the air in the tires due to leaky rims. Mechanics say they are pitted and that's the best they can do. They have used rim sealant. Can I just use tire tubes until we get rid of this thing?
View 5 RepliesMy 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 ?
View 2 RepliesNot long ago I fitted after-market rims to my 2006 Passat 2.0 FSI HighLine, I changed from 215/55/16 to 235/45/17 with Falken ZE912 tires, all new. The center hub of the Passat is 57.1(as far as my knowledge goes) and the wheel hub seem to be 66.6, the shop who installed my rims inserted a 57.1 to 67.1 poly-carbon hub rings which needed some force to fit into the wheel, the vibrations did not stop. All 4 wheel&tires were balances 2 times on one machine then a third time on a different machine just to be sure, still the same. I didn't preform a front alignment yet as i didn't believe it's needed, although right now ill try anything...
Anyway i then measured the rim hub diameter which seems to be 66.6. I bought a set of 57.1 to 66.6 poly-carbon rings, they also needed a bit of force to fit in the wheel, still there is no improvement and the car vibrate under acceleration. I would like to add at this point that i had no vibrations what so ever with the old rims and tires even though the tires were quite worn. I am thinking maybe i need the 57.1 to 66.1 size? Or perhaps i should use aluminum rings instead of plastic?
Is a size difference of 0.5 can make that much of a difference? I know an aluminum ring wont fit unless its the perfect size, and plastic are a bit more elastic meaning like in my case, they can fit in a smaller rim with a bit of force. Should I aim for a ring that fit perfectly without the need of applying force? Can it be that a 66.6 ring, fitted in a 66.1 rim is not eliminating the vibrations just because its off by a 0.5 mm and needed a bit of force getting inside?? I though that as long as the ring fits inside the wheel it will work but obviously its not..
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...
View 6 RepliesEcho 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?)
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...
View 5 RepliesI just got new rotiform BLQ rims and nexen tires. I have the hub rings and the setup was balanced and aligned (double checked).
Before this I had 3 bent TSW rims and got a pretty bad shake in the wheel around 65-70 mph. Before or after that speed everything is smooth now.
Why would this shake still occur.
I Just did a little work on my 2013, lowering springs, BBS rims and Kuhmo tires....
I now get a Check Tires warning every-time at start up.... Clearly it has to do w/ the lack of tire pressure monitors...
Can this error be whipped/cleared? OR do I need to get TPM's? OR do I live w/ it?
The OEM M+S tires on their 18" wheels have been removed and replaced with 17" rims on which winter tires are mounted.Should I place the stored tires in garbage bags or anything?
View 15 RepliesDriving in the snow with the low resistance tires. Not necessarily on the Prius C, but any Prius as I assume they all had the tires. I've had nothing but great success with my C.
View 1 RepliesMy 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.
View 1 RepliesMy 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.
I live in an area where we don't really get any snow, very rare. But when it does, everything shuts down because our city doesn't have the proper equipment (salt, plow trucks, etc.)no one here owns snow tires, and we're all inexperienced. It snowed today around the same time as the drive back home and it took forever because it was rush hour at 5:00 pm (Fairly populated city, around 440,000 people).
Needless to say almost everyone was going super slow, 20-25 mph. Couple of people in SUVs were going fairly fast, but generally everyone was being safe. I saw a couple of accidents but nothing too crazy. I had never driven in the snow before in my LS460L. WOW. that was a stressful and long drive back. What normally takes me 30 minutes to get home took me close to 2 hours. While everyone was going very slow, I went EVEN SLOWER because of how nervous I was.
I felt like I never accelerated too fast or aggressively, and I did slow controlled braking (did not slam my brakes abruptly or anything). Yet every other time where I had to come to a complete stop, the rear part of my car would lose control and slide/slip to one side or another. Again, I felt like I was driving cautiously slow (between 10-20 mph) and did nice and slow controlled brakes. But I seemed to be the only one on the road slipping and sliding when at a stop.
The conditions were pretty snowy, but by no means was it crazy (maybe an inch or two of snow). Something that would be laughable to those who are used to real snow . That was a really scary and long drive. I am glad to be home. and I don't plan on driving my car out in the snow anytime soon.
How to change a 2003 toyota echo blower motor.... Looking for a step by step directions ....
View 2 RepliesI am buying a Toyota Echo that the engine shakes on Idle and the shaking increase a bit when the AC is On ....
View 2 RepliesI 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.
View 1 RepliesRecently 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.
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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