So my 2000 Corolla has about 129K miles on it - and like lot of others 8th Gen Corollas it burns oil. There is no visible smoke in normal acceleration, but quite a bit of smoke when I accelerate hard enough.
Recently changed the battery, the upstream O2 sensor and 4 oil-fouled spark plugs. The mechanic said that the oil on the spark plugs was probably because of bad valve seals.
My question is, should I keep driving it till next summer when I plan to get a newer car or should I look to sell it right away. I am asking this as I don't plan to rebuild/repair/replace the engine at all. I do moderate city driving and occassional highway driving and I wanted to know if it would last till summer of next year without the engine going really bad.
At what rate is it consuming oil? Some 1ZZ-FE can go through a surprising amount of oil and still run pretty well otherwise. If you need to hold out until next summer - should not be an issue, as long as you keep topping off the oil.
Selling it - doesn't really matter if now or next year - the car will still burn oil, so that problem will not go away. Adding oil when necessary is a lot cheaper than dumping the car and having to buy something else, especially this close to the holidays - unless this is an early present for yourself.
At what rate is it consuming oil? Some 1ZZ-FE can go through a surprising amount of oil and still run pretty well otherwise. If you need to hold out until next summer - should not be an issue, as long as you keep topping off the oil.
Selling it - doesn't really matter if now or next year - the car will still burn oil, so that problem will not go away. Adding oil when necessary is a lot cheaper than dumping the car and having to buy something else, especially this close to the holidays - unless this is an early present for yourself.
So I took it to Jiffy Lube for topping off my oil (I know their quality is not the best around, but they do the topping off for free). They said that it was about a quart low and I had driven 712 miles since the last oil-change out of which 300 miles would have been on the interstate (average of 65 mph driving speed). Is this alarming ?
Also as a sidenote, the guys at Jiffylube topped off the oil using Pennzoil 5w-30 whereas I had Quaker State 5w-30 earlier - can this be a problem ?
I think I am going to hold on to this till the summer - it is too much work to research and find a good used car. Also do the 9th generation corollas have lesser issues ?
Sounds like a quart every 700-800 miles, depending on mileage. That is pretty excessive consumption, in my book. A quart every 3000 miles oil change, I would consider "normal" for a high mileage car.
As for oil - one brand is not grossly dissimilar to other brakes - as long as they have the same viscosity. But some oils due tend to resist burn off better than others. Most quicklube places will use whatever comes in the big drum - could be Pennzoil one week, Quaker State another.
If the leaking is from the valve seals - running a high mileage motor oil may help. Those typically have seal swelling additives that can help with oil consumption. Some high-mileage brands may also be a semi-synthetic motor oil, which would also help with the high speed oil consumption. Don't be tempted to put in "miracle" engine cures, most do nothing, some actually do more damage than good.
As for 9th gen Corollas - they have their own quirks. Oil consumption and EVAP system problems, they seemed to have solved, but others have replaced them - in some cases gone to suspect ECM situations.
I consistently ran my 01 prizm down 2, sometimes 3 courts, and the thing would still ran fine. I just drove the thing until my wife said, "whats that noise?" then I would put 2 courts in. I'm NOT suggesting this, but my point is the car will run. I admit, it was a pain in the butt adding oil all the time, but it was the cheapest way to get buy until I had time to work on it. I burned 1 quart every 400 miles easily for about 40k miles. I even put used oil in sometimes to cut my cost. Again, not a recommendation, but just saying burning oil won't hurt from now till summer. My symptoms didn't get worse or better. I noticed the ignition in the corolla is strong, so plugs wasn't a problem.
As long as you keep an eye on the oil level the can run for a few more years.
__________________ 2005 Corolla LE - Impulse Red - Auto Trans - 1ZZFE - 86,000mi 2003 Echo - Auto Trans - 96,000mi. - slow as dog-dirt - I'd rather put my money in the bank than in the tank!!!!!
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