Just this issue with my friends Corolla. It started making this noise 2 days ago, it was quiet and happened while accelerating, but today they become very prominent and when they drove back home the check engine light came on. We checked the codes and it spat back P0012 and also C1201 for the abs(this one only appeared on one of the two OBD apps we used). It needs an oil change but the engine noises worries us. When driving; nothing about it feel that crazy odd, besides the engine sound, and while I haven’t driven it in about a year, I remember it being snappier on the acceleration. From why I looked up it could be a dirty/faulty VVT solenoid or a timing belt. 

We plan to change the oil, then clean the solenoid to see if it solves the problem and go from there, but while we did those things I wanted to see what yall think. These corollas are stupid common and reliable, I’m sure someone’s bound to have heard these unholy noises. 

Car info:

Toyota Corolla 2009 VVT-I Dual

133,944 miles (134,000 oil change/next month it will have been a year since the last change)

Battery 13.5V when driving, 12V was the lowest I saw.

This is their dad’s car they got in 2022, I’m gonna assume it had good maintenance, their dad seems like the type of person to be on top of it. Under them it’s been a little more spotty, but not bad. They barely drove it to the first 2 years, and more frequently in the last year. I think 3-4 years is the ownership time, don’t remember what time of the year it was. I also drove it. Couple times and every time has been perfect, lowkey the best feeling car till I got mine. Oh and their engine bay is dirty. 

Corolla 2009 started to sound like a tractor.