2002 Corolla - Good / Bad ?

[Brad1]

I'm probably asking this a little late as I already put $100 down on an '02 Corolla S (but not too late to back out with only the loss of my $100) and I'm picking it up tomorrow evening, but is the problem with the oil consumption common, or not?

The Corolla I'm buying has 76k miles on it. Overall, it's in very nice condition. Test drove great. Picking it up for just under $7k. The dip stick looked fine and in looking at the metal parts (under the valve cover) that I could see upon removing the oil cap, there wasn't any more brown coloration than you'd expect for a car with 76k miles. I didn't notice any blue smoke coming out of the exhaust.

But after coming home last night, I found some posts about that era Corolla burning oil. Sometimes, you only hear about the bad and I'm wondering if for every 1 Corolla that had that problem, there's 10s of thousands that never experienced a problem.

I gotta admit I went into this purchase with a feeling that Corolla's are just about the best car made. I got that way after buying a used '94 Corolla DX about 4 yrs and 2 mos. ago (had 105k miles at the time), and have put 25k trouble free miles on that car. That little '94 of mine is one great car. It is that car that made me realize why Corolla's have such a good reputation. It barely even has any rust on it. I bought my '94 back then to save miles from my full size pick up truck. My Wife was just laid off and she had a company car so she has been driving my '94 Corolla the last three weeks while I've been driving my Truck. I want my '94 back so I picked up this '02 for her.

Sorry about the long winded post. Any insight / advice is greatly appreciated.

Brad

[Salty_Dog]

Originally Posted by Brad1

I'm probably asking this a little late as I already put $100 down on an '02 Corolla S (but not too late to back out with only the loss of my $100) and I'm picking it up tomorrow evening, but is the problem with the oil consumption common, or not?

The Corolla I'm buying has 76k miles on it. Overall, it's in very nice condition. Test drove great. Picking it up for just under $7k. The dip stick looked fine and in looking at the metal parts (under the valve cover) that I could see upon removing the oil cap, there wasn't any more brown coloration than you'd expect for a car with 76k miles. I didn't notice any blue smoke coming out of the exhaust.

But after coming home last night, I found some posts about that era Corolla burning oil. Sometimes, you only hear about the bad and I'm wondering if for every 1 Corolla that had that problem, there's 10s of thousands that never experienced a problem.

I gotta admit I went into this purchase with a feeling that Corolla's are just about the best car made. I got that way after buying a used '94 Corolla DX about 4 yrs and 2 mos. ago (had 105k miles at the time), and have put 25k trouble free miles on that car. That little '94 of mine is one great car. It is that car that made me realize why Corolla's have such a good reputation. It barely even has any rust on it. I bought my '94 back then to save miles from my full size pick up truck. My Wife was just laid off and she had a company car so she has been driving my '94 Corolla the last three weeks while I've been driving my Truck. I want my '94 back so I picked up this '02 for her.

Sorry about the long winded post. Any insight / advice is greatly appreciated.

Brad

All I can say is I've got about 72K on my 2002 LE and I've never had any of the oil issues reported by some.

[zuzu_]

I have a 2002 Corolla with 140k miles on the engine and no oil burning problem at all.

Assuming the CARFAX for that car is clean, it sounds like you're getting a pretty good deal.
(Especially now with high demand for sensible sedans rather than gas-guzzler SUVs and trucks.)

Adding to the durability of a Corolla is that the 4-cylinder engine uses a timing chain rather than a timing belt.

My Wife was just laid off and she had a company car

Company car, company laptop, company mobile phone, company health insurance... soon you won't even get a paycheck; you'll just live in company housing and shop at the company store.

[huangxin]

my old engine started burning after it past 110k

i say you are pretty safe at 74k. maintain it well, who knows yours might not burn a single drop even in the future.

[spanke311]

My '01 started having problems at 80k. Its at 105k now and I'm rebuilding the engine due to a spun bearing. I bought mine at 32k miles, thinking its an incredibly reliable car, but oh well.. All I can say is as long as you and previous owners kept and keep it full of clean oil, you probably won't have any problems. A little oil luvin goes a long way!