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Scion Care and Maintenance

24

Comments

  • lottacarslottacars Member Posts: 4
    Low Profile
  • guardian131guardian131 Member Posts: 2
    I bought A high Performance Spark Plug Wire Kit for my xB and it only came with 2 wires. I e-mailed the people that sent it to me and they said that it was all ym car required. I look under the hood and it is a distributerless setup. How the heck do you install high performance spark plug wires on these things?
  • scootertrashscootertrash Member Posts: 698
    What did you hope to achieve by changing the spark plug wires?
    What do you find wrong with the factory wires?
  • 1333513335 Member Posts: 2
    Oil change is easy. Filter is under right side of car near the front wheel on the left side of the engine. The drain plug for the oil pan is easy to reach even if you are laying on the floor without any height added by a jack. I removed the oil filter and drained the oil in about 7 minutes. I replaced the oil filter with a K&N because it has a nut on it for the use of a crescent wrench. I use Mobil 1 synthetic oil 5w-30 in the engine because I like Mobil One and I have used it for over 30 years, it leaves no residue, no foam, and it flows when it is cold, I have never had engine problems when it was hot nor cold or inbetween.
  • 1333513335 Member Posts: 2
    I use Mobil 1 5W-30 with a K&N oil filter.
  • zhangtao9703zhangtao9703 Member Posts: 18
    Hi,

    Is it true there is no buzzer working with the security on Scion tC?

    I have security installed, but I don't hear any sound when I lock or unlock my tC.

    Thanks.
  • calgalcalgal Member Posts: 2
    I have a 2006 xb- great car! The brakes squeak while reversing out of my driveway in the morning. Anyone have this problem?
  • pnxbpnxb Member Posts: 1
    Has anyone replaced the air filter on their xB?
    I bought the filter but have not a clue as to where to look.image
  • jimw0238jimw0238 Member Posts: 65
    square plastic black box to the right of engine, has a black rubber (big) acordian looking hose going to it. :shades:
  • mikki1mikki1 Member Posts: 1
    I have an xb and LOVE it!!! However, I am wondering what I can use to clean the interior that won't damage it other than water--the black interior gets dusty and looks gross and I what to keep it looking nice. Any tips???? :)
  • brazucabrazuca Member Posts: 95
    The xB does not come with a cabin air filter, you should install one. I did it on mine and the interior / dash stays very clean. The compartment is behind the glove box, you should remove it first, you will find a small box to place the cabin / polen filter. You can buy it at your dealer or just purchase a larger home filter and cut it to size. I got this tip from scionlife.com ;)
  • jimw0238jimw0238 Member Posts: 65
    there is a interior spray shampoo that i can find at pepboys and auto zone called "tuff stuff:. it comes in a yellow and red can and works really good, also smells like "simple green". as always - do a spot test first, but it is what i have been using for a couple years now.
  • axiomowneraxiomowner Member Posts: 76
    I'm lucky to have 3 Scion delears in my area. I'll be due for the 15K miles service soon. (Bought my tC in 9/04).

    I noticed that each of the 3 dealers define the 15K service differently. You guessed it, 2 of the 3 are adding pricey services that aren't listed in the service manual for the 15K service.

    I recommend everyone check their service manual and make an informed decision regarding maintenance. At least pure pricing allows easy cross-comparison. :)
  • time123time123 Member Posts: 1
    Any opinion about whether the extended warranty is worth the money? Aren't Toyota reliable enough that there isn't much in the way of repair costs up to 100,000?
    Appreciate any thoughts about this.
  • unixfagunixfag Member Posts: 2
    I purchased the warranty with the understanding that what you don't use, is refundable.
  • driley99driley99 Member Posts: 5
    I called for my xA 15K, and dealer wanted $300 for oil change and inspections. I took it to my non-dealer mechanic and got the service recommended in manual for MUCH less AND they fixed a slow leak (nail in tire) I'd had since almost new, which missed dealers notice on the 5K and 10K tire rotations.

    I would prefer a Scion rep did the work, but I was not prepared to spend that much at 15K.

    The manual both says that you can get maintenance work outside of dealership, but it also says somewhere else that it "may" not void warranty. What this means, I hope I don't have to find out. :confuse:

    Anyone else who does there own work or gets it elsewhere? How does dealer respond to warranty afterwards?
  • tundradudetundradude Member Posts: 588
    Personally, other than the oil changes and tire rotations, just do the 60K service only unless something comes up. I do this for my cars since they are heavily used. The only exception is my truck which is 30K since its pulls my RV.

    I have great dealer service and all the work is done there except for the tires (after the first set).
  • gtwgtw Member Posts: 46
    change the radiator fluid and transmission oil at 30K
  • iluvmysephia1iluvmysephia1 Member Posts: 7,704
    I'll 2nd that emotion. Those are both vital to the continued smooth usage of your powertrain.

    2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick

  • james49james49 Member Posts: 5
    I agree with Mobil 1 oil and K&N air filters, Pure One and WIX oil filters. Also, trans flush at 30k miles. Also added air horns to be heard. Maintenance manual says to "tighten drive shaft bolt" at 15,000 miles. Does anyone know which specific bolt they are referring to, I have checked all that I could find and they are at correct torque?
  • jimw0238jimw0238 Member Posts: 65
    that would be the big nut that is located on the axle end at each front wheel...... :P
  • aathertonaatherton Member Posts: 617
    The manual calls it a bolt, not a nut. A big nut on the end of the axle sounds like it would torque the wheel bearings. Where is the drive shaft bolt?
  • cdbvacdbva Member Posts: 3
    Geico offered me an extended (7 year) warranty for $500 with $250 deductible. If I were going to get one, that's what I'd get. However, I'm with you on Toyota reliability. And if there's a problem, $750 will probably cover a lot of it. Dealer offered one for $1800. As if.
  • bartpgbartpg Member Posts: 5
    Anyone have their valves adjusted yet? This looks to be a costly affair, requiring lots of labor for teardown (camshafts need to be removed!) and rebuild. My guess would be ~$500, not including probable timing belt replacement and associated parts.
  • james49james49 Member Posts: 5
    Valve adjustment on these engines is not a normal scheduled requirement. You will find it is not in your scheduled maintenance manual. The valve train uses buckets and replaceable shims (similar to high performance motorcycle engines) and are not usually adjusted as a routine maintenance. These engines can go way over 100,000 miles without valve adjustments. And yes, it could be expensive, but the advantage to this system is adjustments are rarely needed. Change the oil often and use good quality oil. I recommend synthetic Mobil 1 and Wix filters.
  • jimw0238jimw0238 Member Posts: 65
    a small round shaft that is threaded for a nut to go on and that is located on the end of the drive axle shaft is considered a "bolt". if you take the big nut off then unhook the strut and suspension, the axle will just pop out because the only other thing that holds it in is a snap ring. front wheel drives are totally different than a rear wheel drive. these have a pressed in bearing assembly- not the old fashion push in bearings that you set by the nut!
    please consult any front wheel drive toyota factory or haynes manual for an illustration of this, then it will all be clear :P
  • sighon6sighon6 Member Posts: 10
    being a mechanic i know what you mechanic was thinking when he wrote your oil change sticker. we dont know every cars service intervals so 3k is the industry norm, plus alot of people dont like the idea of going 5k miles because of everything they have known and been taught about maintence in there life. just ask them to put 5k on the next oil tag when you bring it in.
  • sighon6sighon6 Member Posts: 10
    being a mechanic and owning my tc i will take it upon myself to tell you basically how your warranty will work. you do not have to have your car serviced at a dealership. you can do your own service and your warranty will still cover everything besides stupidity. any thing that is a mechanical defect will be covered by your warranty. if you put brake fliud in your crankcase this will not be warrantied. remeber if you arent sure dont do it. let a professsional do it, because nine times out of ten it will be wrong if your just guessing.

    also all recalls will be covered at your scion dealer. again you dont need to be a regular customer. as long as it says scion and you have your recall paper work its covered free of charge.
  • sighon6sighon6 Member Posts: 10
    i forgot to mention in my last postmsomething important. unless you drive your scion in extreme conditions on a regular basis or you are abnormally rough on your vehicle there is not much of a need to follow all your guidelines pointed out in your manual. as a tech i know that the dealrship is just trying to get money for nothing out of you. rarely do i find something wrong with a car that has less then 50k on it. as long as you regularly rotate your tires and get your oil changed every 3-5k then there should be no problems with your scion. also id like to mention that i rotate my tires with every oil change. i change my oil every 5k and i also run 5w30 fully synthetic oil.
  • sighon6sighon6 Member Posts: 10
    being a mechanic i have to disagree with you 100%. running full psi in your tires is not a good idea. for a couple of reasons i believe this.with 44 psi your going to run on only the middle of the tire and wear it down to the steel in no time flat. 44 is a rediculous pressure to run on a passenger car. 32 is the standard. also if your worried about the size of your footprin and heat the spreading weight out of the entire tire would yield less heat per square inch. if you have a smaller footprint your cramming all that friction into a smaller area. same weight diffrent surface area. higher temps. hence the tires wear faster. the 44 psi is for maximum weight loads. and lets face it that a scion should not have a ton of weight in it nor would it fit. running at this psi is for intended for extreme weights for short, and i stress SHORT periods of time. passenger cars should not be run at high psi. i assure you the tires will wear faster and rediculously irregularly if inflated to maximum psi.
  • miamaxmiamax Member Posts: 5
    Hi XB fans,
    question for ya, I recently purchased a used 2005 XB and LOVE the little box...it is a second vehicle that me and pets love..however since I now own two vehicles it's a tight fit in the garage and recently I snagged the bumper while trying to fit into the garage..any pointers on repairing a scratch to the front bumper without having to completely :( replace? it's a clean straight line...thanks all,
    M.
  • aathertonaatherton Member Posts: 617
    Order a touch up paint stick in your color from here:
    http://www.brandsports.com/by_make.php?make=Scion&Submit2=Go
  • 4_flat_tires4_flat_tires Member Posts: 2
    it doesn't look like like i can get to them without removing the exhaust manifold. my hands aren't that small. there's gotta be an easier way? anyone have any suggestions?
  • 4_flat_tires4_flat_tires Member Posts: 2
    awesome!thank you so much. :)
  • tinkuytinkuy Member Posts: 7
    My 2006 Scion xA leaks every time it rains. Does anyone else have the following problem or a solution to it? Toyota/Scion of Berkeley, CA and the factory field technician certainly don't! This is the 7th time I've taken it in since March 2006, 6 weeks after purchasing the car.

    PROBLEM:
    Water enters the driver's side door and dribbles onto the floor when it rains. The water accumulates on the outside of the door sill and makes its way into the car. Water entry is documented by placing newspaper on the floor, flush against the base of the door sill.

    SOLUTIONS? NONE SO FAR.
    At first Toyota/Scion denied there was a problem because they couldn't duplicate it. It leaked for me but not for them when they did the hose test. Maddening & frustrating.
    Recently they finally determined that water enters when the car is on a slight slope towards the street gutter. The slope is only 5 degrees, following the camber of the street.
    The door seals have been replaced twice. The car still leaks.
    A vapor barrier was installed in the door. The car still leaks.
    Carpeting was replaced after intial complaint -- soaked & moldy. The car still leaks.
    The A/C is not the cause of the problem. The car still leaks.
    The dealership & Scion claim nobody else has this problem. My car still leaks.

    MY CONCLULSION: STRUCTURAL DEFECT/DESIGN FLAW
    This car is a LEMON & Toyota/Scion are incapable of fixing the problem.

    WHAT WOULD YOU DO? IS THERE A SOLUTION?
    I'm sick & tired of this situation & being given the runaround by a bunch of incompetents.

    Thanks for listening, Tinkuy
  • sciescie Member Posts: 2
    I'm experiencing the same problem with my 2006 xA except the leak is on the passenger side. I've had it at the dealership 3 times and they replaced the door seals but it's still leaking in the same area. I also called Scion directly but they haven't heard of this problem before. It's currently at the dealership to be fixed yet again. One technician suggested that it might be coming from the side mirror gasket which is put on at the dealership after it arrives from the manufacturer. I will let you know if/when/how they repair it.
  • crazedcommutercrazedcommuter Member Posts: 281
    Several months ago I called the Scion dealer that I bought the XB from and asked about flushing the fluids. The service department stated that the Scion recommendation is at 100K miles for both flushes. That seems like bad info to me after reading the posts here, and will probably prevent me from taking the XB into a Scion dealer for service.
    The mechanic on Motorweek (PBS TV) also stated that Toyota is recommending those fluids be flushed on their vehicles every 24K miles. Does anybody know the correct spec on these flushes?
    I have 55K on my '05 Box and will probably get BG flushes and the 60K service at independant garages in the next month.
  • albsalbs Member Posts: 4
    I HAVE A 2006 XA.THIS IS THE THIRD TIME THE ARM REST HAS CRACKED.SCION SAYS IT IS A MAINTENANCE PROBLEM. ANYONE ELSE HAVING THIS PROBLEM? :mad:
  • albsalbs Member Posts: 4
    I HAVE A 2006 XA. THIS IS THE THIRD TIME THE ARM REST HAS CRACKED. SCION SAYS IT IS A MAINTENANCE PROBLEM. ANYONE ELSE HAVING THIS PROBLEM? :mad:
  • joesbarjoesbar Member Posts: 20
    When I had my sub put in at Toy I also had them check the alignment. It seems the car, even though brand new, feels like it wants to drift LEFT most of the time (drivers side). I checked the tire pressure and they were all maxxed at 44psi. I reduced it all around to 32 but it did little good. Toy said the xB is perfectly "in specs" and the alignment wasn't even necessary. But it is tiring on my hands while driving to constantly be correcting the direction by holding or nudging the wheel to the right. Any ideas on what could be the problem? On the straightest of straight roads, admittedly the xB feels fairly spot on, but on real world roads I feel as though I have to practically hold the sterring wheel to the right, which like I said is very tiring after 8 hours. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

    It would seem that if it were the "roads" at any rate sometimes it would drift right or left but I have about an 85% (of the time) left drift, while only rarely will the xB drift right. Am I imagining all this? Any one else have anything similar to this? Something just doesn't feel right.
  • joesbarjoesbar Member Posts: 20
    I don't but you have to admit they are just cheap plastic. I leaned on it once to get something on the floor and you could just feel the thing wincing.
  • iluvmysephia1iluvmysephia1 Member Posts: 7,704
    I would take it to your Scion dealer and ask them to check all of the front end parts. If they say they've already done that then ask them what they think it could be. A new Scion xB shouldn't pull to the side like that.

    I think it may be a bad tire or something off-kilter with one of your tires. Just having one tire with less or more air in it can cause the problem you're describing. Go to your dealer for this-they're responsible for making it right for you.

    We're paying a lot of money for our new cars and even though Kia's and Scion's and Mitsubishi's are low cost automobiles(generally)we are paying enough for them to expect a decent riding rig. Go get it fixed and please report back what the problem was so we can all learn what needed to be done to correct it, OK?

    2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick

  • joesbarjoesbar Member Posts: 20
    A crazy thing is to; I was felt put on the spot by them, being told "well, you are entitled to one free alignment at up to 20k miles, do you want to use it now?" The car HAD 500 miles on it when we were discussing the problem! Should that really count towards my one free alignment? It's not like it was something I had done to the car by putting miles on it etc, it seems it came this way.
  • iluvmysephia1iluvmysephia1 Member Posts: 7,704
    concerned about the problem and try to take care of it. It shouldn't pull to one side like that.

    2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick

  • tinkuytinkuy Member Posts: 7
    scie: please let me know if rain leak has been diagnosed and/or fixed. My 2006 xA has started leaking again. The seals were replaced again in Nov. & it's been a dry winter until now. All it takes is steady rain & a slight tilt to the right for water to come in through the base of the driver's side door.

    Scion is FULL of crap about not having "heard of this problem before." They've been giving me the runaround for a year now. Good luck.
  • belle5belle5 Member Posts: 3
    I LOVE my Xa. Except, it recently started (or I finally noticed) that the incoming fresh air through the vents is quite a bit warmer than the outside air, even when the temp is set to the coldest setting. At first I thought it was my imagination, but this evening it was pretty clear that the air blowing in was MUCH warmer than the outside air. Even when the fan is turned off, the "drift" air is uncomfortably warm at times, and I don't necessarily want to turn on the a/c (and the fan) when it's cool outside. Anyone else seen this?
  • belle5belle5 Member Posts: 3
    Have you ever seen www.tundrasolutions.com? I went to www.ask.com and typed in "Scion Xa repair problems" and found references on www.tundrasolutions.com to TSB's for the leaking problem (evaporative drain hose?) and the "pulling to the side" problem. In fact, my dealer gives alignment checks and free alignments -- so someone realizes some of these things are real problems. My 2006 Xa has weird ventilation problems -- it doesn't seem able to pull in outside fresh air. No luck on my first attempt with the dealer. Stay tuned. Hope you can get some help and some answers. I love this little car, but the weird problems can suck the fun out of it. Take care.
  • tinkuytinkuy Member Posts: 7
    Toyota finally acknowleged my leaking 2006 xA is a :lemon:
    Too many attempts to repair it & no resolution.
    Toyota is repurchasing the vehicle (full price) since the xA has gone out of production.
    I'm glad to be getting rid of the car. It's been a giant headache.
  • infaelinfael Member Posts: 1
    How can I change wiper blades on my Scion xB?

    TIA

    infael
This discussion has been closed.