Break even point

After running for 55358km over two years, seven months and seventeen days after the installation of the Vialle LPi LPG liquid injection system, the Corolla got to the point where the cumulative value of the fuel savings surpassed the value paid for the installation (2337€).

It took longer than expected to reach the break even point, this was due to the increase in LPG taxes and last years petrol price drop. 

Even with a average LPG consumption of 7.77 litres for 100km, which represents an increase of 24.1% in fuel consumption over the values registered in the Board Computer, the fuel expenses dropped 43.8%.

Next landmark... when it reaches twice the installation value.

183k service

The running distance keeps adding up and another service was due one year after the last one. 

This time, besides the oil (5W30 as recommended by Toyota), oil filter, air filter and cabin filter, the Corolla had the auxiliary belt and the front brake pads replaced, none of which had been replaced since I own the car. The replaced brake pads lasted for 93 thousand kilometres, more than half of the Corolla's total driven distance, 183369km.

Also the clutch actuator was lubricated because, when lifting the foot front the clutch pedal, it made a squeaking noise... again.

Total expense was 71.04€ and it is ready for 15k more, soon valve clearance will be measured.

2014 year analysis

With a total driven distance of almost 16000km, the Corolla is getting very close to the break even distance (2064km to go), which should be reached in late February.

This year's costs.

Scheduled maintenance: 47,68€

Periodic compulsory inspection: 30,54€

Road Tax: 55,31€

Insurance: 147,84€

Tires and steering alignment: 199,75€

Fuel: 950,98€ (which 106,45€ in petrol)

Total: 1432,10€ (0,09€/km)

The total savings on fuel costs for this year were a little over 500€, even with a new tax applied to LPG and the last trimester petrol price fall.

Soon, probably late next month, the Corolla will be serviced again, and the valve clearances will be measured once again to verify the Vialle´s LPi efficiency on the valve and valve seat recession issue.

Winter is coming

After running the (now) old Yokohama's C.drive 2 for over 61k kilometres (the last 40k were at the front axle), I decided to try something else, one of those fuel efficient type of tire that promise to save you what can be a considerable amount of money.

I had driven Dunlop's before (nice soft and unlucky tire... blew two of them little over 20k) but never tried fuel savers. Crunching some numbers, thanks to the Energy Efficiency page of the European Commission, and they say that I can save up to 195€ on fuel by fitting B labelled tires instead of F labelled. Well, since I paid 199.25€ for a pair of Dunlop Sport Bluresponse (195/60R15), they seem to pretty much pay for themselves if, I drive them up to 60 thousand kilometres... not a problem!

The new tires were fitted at the rear axle, the older ones were balanced and the steering was aligned, this is also included in the paid value.

The glitch is no more!

And the LPG fuel level indicator goes "bip bip bip" as the system switches to petrol as the LPG runs (near) empty.

This was achieved with a new software update made to the system control unit that finally solved the problem. One thing is left to check later, the fuel reserve, to little and the system will not switch to petrol when out of gas, to much and the Corolla will be running to the LPG station far to many times.

Driving home that day, the engine seemed more "smooth" than the usual for the past few months, as I was told by the man that made the update, that was natural since the new software not only had the correction for the fuel level problem, but also had some other minor corrections made.

178947

At fifty thousand kilometres running on LPG the odometer red 178947km, still some 4k short to the break-even point.

Sometime soon the Corolla will have to pay a visit to the shop to try and sort out"the glitch" and check if everything else in the LPG system is in perfect working order.

Valve clearance will be checked next oil service at 182k.

Two years running on LPG

The Corolla got to the two year mark. 

No problems whatsoever related with valve seat recession, or of any other kind that could not be solved without fuss.

Over these two years, the 3ZZ-FE engine ran for 44595km (27710 miles) with a average consumption of 7.80l/100km (30.16mpg US 30.22mpg imperial) saving over 43 per cent on fuel expenses.

Squeaking 5th gear shifting

Shifting into 5th gear was starting to be painful in the ears, not because of the noise volume, but just simply because there shouldn't be a noise!

Turns out that the gearbox actuator (I believe this is the right name), was as dry and dust covered as a desert. It seems that everything needs some taking care of sometimes and this was no exception, after some cleaning and some cooper grease silence settled in again.

Still not working

One more try and still the LPG system doesn't automatically switch to petrol when running low on LPG. A new electric-valve was fitted and plugged to the system but at the test-run to the petrol station nothing happened, had to manually switch to petrol to avoid the engine hiccuping its way to destination.

Actually this is something that doesn't bother me much, everything else works perfectly, and I pretty much never let the LPG tank go dry, it is barely a annoyance.

The 167k service

Fresh oil (5W30), new oil filter, new cabin filter and a set of spark plugs (Denso, gapped at 1.0) were in the menu for the day, plus the chain tensioner o-ring replacement.

The last item on the to-do list revealed itself to be rather easy task, with only one single remark, after fitting the chain tensioner in place, the crankshaft must be turned (by hand) counter clockwise. This is done

to release a tiny hook on the tensioner allowing it to extend and apply the correct tension to the chain (i'll leave the YT video link here).

Serviced at 167643km (38199km on LPG).