The COE of my family car was renewed seven months ago and it is about time to have an update to talk we felt about renewing and whether it was worth it.
My family initially decided to renew our family's Toyota Wish for another ten years on the basis that new cars are far too costly, had negligible improvements in performance, features and fuel economy when compared with a new Toyota Wish. Also, our old workhorse was working rather well and operated with a respectable fuel economy of about 13.5km/h, which was pretty good for a 7-seater car. Nevertheless, it was a gamble to renew the COE of an old car since there are higher chances that some parts may be at their end-of-life and may give way some time in the near future.
But since the car was well maintained throughout its first 10 years and was accident-free, we thought that we should give this old beast a chance to serve a little longer.
Transmission problem after 3 months
About 3 months into its renewed life, the transmission lost gear 1 and 4. Surprisingly, the loss of these two gears was subtle as gear shifts remained smooth and the engine noise was just a ted higher than normal when cruising down highway because the engine was running at a higher speed as it was running at 3rd gear instead of 4th gear. We could have lived with this, but this meant that travelling to Malaysia with this car was out of the question as the engine speed uncomfortably high at Malaysia's highway cruising speeds of 110km/h and the fuel economy won't be great either.
The faulty (Shift no.2) transmission solenoid could not longer redirect the flow of transmission fluid
DIY opportunity!
Several car workshops suggested that the whole transmission should be changed with an estimated cost of approximately $2000. That was terrible news considering that we just spent a huge amount on the COE renewal not long ago. The mechanics were not keen to repair the transmission and explained that they cannot confirm that there will not be other problems surfacing in the future after solving this one, assuming that they could solve it.
Sadly, since it was I who recommended to my parents to renew our old car's COE, it was only right that I had to solve this problem. After one month of researching, I narrowed down the problem to be a faulty solenoid. After all, that solenoid controlled both gears 1 and 4 and it had too be too much of a coincidence for two problems to surface at once. Now that I am quite sure that the solenoid was the issue, purchasing one was also a big problem in a country without much DIY culture. After hunting down several parts shops, I finally found one and it cost a whopping $200 for a thiny but possibly high performance solenoid. Given that the price of the solenoid is so high, surely the price of a repair won't come cheap at all. Electronic components may have a long shelf life but they can fail without any warning.
Had to track down all these parts! Not all shops are keen to sell these. Some shops will even try to ignore you just because you are not part of their usual clientele and unlikely to spend a lot
I took the plunge and opened up the gearbox myself and, with a stroke of luck, the part was easy to change. Crossed my fingers and fired up the engine for an obligatory test drive. Lo and behold, immediately, I could feel an improvement in the car's responsiveness and all my gears were back! In fact, it felt smoother than before because I changed the transmission oil and filter in process.
The lower part of the Toyota Wish's U341E 4-speed transmission looks daunting from here but luckily, online manuals had diagrams are easy to follow and identify the correct part.
All in all, I spent about $350 inclusive of transmission oil, filter and a new oil pan gasket. I saved quite a bit and the satisfaction from the successful job was palpable.
Is it worth i to renew the COE of a ten year old car?
Despite the fact that I had to go through the trouble of repairing my transmission not long after renewing my COE, I still feel that we made the right choice of renewing the COE as it will still cost way lesser than buying a new car, even if we were to send the car to a workshop to change the transmission instead of repairing the faulty part. However, to truly be cost effectively, it is great to try out repairing things own our own. Now that the internet is so rich in information, someone else far away may have already posted online their remedies to same problem.
If your car is problem free up to the ten year mark, chances are, it may be worth considering to renew its COE. Better yet, if you are handy with your tools, it may also be an excellent opportunity to learn something about your car while saving money. Having said that, not all repairs can be done by a lay person. Time to time, it is best to let the professionals handle the more risky repairs. Having some knowledge about cars would also help in getting the best deal for the repair.
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