High Mileage Maintenance Tips?

[06YarisRS]

Originally Posted by AdamDavis

Hi all, 4 months ago I bought a diesel yaris on an 07 plate here in the UK with 144000 miles on.

Anyway the car seems to be running fine, however the service history is dodgy to say the least so I replaced the air filter, pollen filter and most recently the fuel filter for the car and I found them all to be very dirty/clogged so a bit of neglect seems to have happened with previous owners. When I bought the car, a new turbo had been put on and the oil and filter done.

I'll be taking the car to a local garage in a couple of months and having them do a coolant change and the oil and filter on the car, but I was wondering if there is anything else I can do to help get the most life out of my car as possible, as I will be driving it about 2000 miles a month just for work. I have read about cleaning the EGR valve as carbon builds up there, but as I understand it is not as easy on the 2nd generation Yaris's compared to the first as I can't even see the EGR valve at the moment.

So is there anything else I can do/ should keep my eye on, to make this car last to 200,000 miles (3ish years) at least?

(PS. Most of my journey to work is motorway driving so I'm just going to be sat in 5th gear at 70-75mph most of the time. Oh and I put on new front brake pads.)

Hi Adam.

Congrats on your new acquisition. I always replace all fluids when I buy a used car whether they have been recently done or not. It helps me get to know my new car. Plus, it gives me a baseline to record maintenance. I use a site called carbot.org for an online maintenance record. Is your car manual or automatic? Either way I would replace the ATF or gearbox oil. Power steering fluid and brake fluid are easy jobs and contribute to longer systems life in my opinion. I'm a huge advocate of rustproofing, providing it's done to the interior panels but in order to do that, drilling is often required. a 1/2" counter sink bit on a drill and plastic 1/2" body plugs make the job easier. My philosophy is that anything mechanical can be replaced/fixed. Corrosion, on the other hand is best addressed immediately as repairs in this area require extra-human efforts to maintain/preserve.

Having never owned a diesel, I'm not sure what should be done regarding glow plugs or ignition parts, if anything.

EDIT: Oops, disregard the question re: automatic vs manual. I see you mention 5th gear. I have to learn to read more carefully.