I am new to the thread, but wanted to put in my two cents about routine maintenance and some possible upgrades. I have 29000 mi on my 06 corolla, and have changed the following:
Air Filter - Fram
Oil/Oil Filter - Regular Castrol GTX - changed every 3000 mi.
Transmission Fluid - Toyota Genuine - No "Burning" smell when replaced. Pan was dropped when changed.
Cabin Air Filter - NAPA autoparts - The car had a "smell" when I bought it. Fine now!
New Michelin X Radial Tires - I bought the car used from a rental company...
Anyway, I have heard throughout the forum about the MAF and to clean it. I have also found a "debate" about the K&N air filters vs. the regular paper filter (which I have now). With my current setup, I get ~30 mpg city. I have heard plenty of other people getting anywhere from 30-35 city and would like to know what I could do to get more mpg.
My tires were inflated last week to 30 psi. The trunk has my college textbooks and a jacket, so maybe ~100 pounds max. I am a fully time student, so the primary use of my car is driving from my house to school. I don't really drive hard, but I do like to get up to speed. It is an automatic transmission, and usually doesn't get over 3,000rpm before shifting. I used to drive a Honda Ridgeline, so the lead foot ready doesnt apply too well in that scenario.
For the 10 months I've had the car, I have loved it! Much better than the Mustangs I had test-driven before my purchase.
Try the tires at 35 PSI or so. 30 PSI is the Toyota specification, and often done for comfort rather than for fuel economy. You can get better mileage by increasing tire pressures. The Michelin X Radial tires are among the best in terms of rolling resistance. We have them on our Town & Country van and really like those tires. I also had them on a Cadillac I used to own. I would have put them on my Corolla, but I got the Yokohamas half off through a friend.
Also, if your car is an automatic, 30 MPG in the city is quite good. I have a 5-speed in mine, and average about 35 MPG in the city...but having a stick helps a lot. Accelerating slowly helps a lot. In my experience, you can improve your fuel economy by as many as 10 percent simply by modifying your driving style. Don't accelerate hard, and as soon as you know you'll have to stop ahead, get off the gas. Don't stay on the gas until the last second then brake hard. Let off the gas early and coast down.
Thanks for the ideas! I plan to try them the rest of this week. I got a front end alignment today, and the mechanic claims that my front right tire was out of line... Anyway, my tires are nitrogen filled, so I will try to go by CostCo to get them to filled to 35 psi. The Integritys that were on there before were at 35 psi, and I could not tell a difference in ride quality. The X Radials are MUCH nicer though, especially in the rain!
Dorman68:
I had changed the transmission fluid myself. I only have 29000 mi. on the car, so I drained and dropped the pan. I cleaned the magnets and the inside, and replaced the gasket. I left the filter and strainer alone. When I change oil next, I plan to drain the pan, and put in ~3 qts. of fresh trans. fluid. I wish I had taken some pictures to better explain what I am talking about...
Other thoughts:
I have seen the ad for the mod express lights, and was wondering about others experience with them. Also, there is a K&N air filter that is a cone looking style. It is not a CAI, but it looks pretty cool. I was wondering if anybody has had any experience with either of these items. I still have some Christmas money that I would like to "invest."
Thanks for all your comments! I greatly appreciate it!
Don't invest Christmas money in a K&N filter. There are a number of rather objective resources out there that demonstrate relatively poor filtering capability. Indeed, the only thing really standing between your engine and the elements is a thin film of oil. Poo-poo on that. Just stick with the standard Toyota/Denso filter and you'll be fine. Consider doing a home-made cold air supply tube:
It won't cost you hardly anything, and it gets rid of the rather restrictive intake ducting next to the battery (you can see from rdkill's photos how it "necks down" to about an inch or inch-and-a-half in diameter!). Rdkill chose to use the stock airbox, but without a filter, and attached a cone filter to the bottom of the cold air tube. I elected to keep the Toyota/Denso filter and just run the cold air supply tube by itself. You can see from the pics that I also played with a "ram air" thing, and it helped some, but I didn't care for leaving the fog light cover off. I now have fog lights anyway, so it's a moot point.
About the nitrogen in the tires, I wouldn't worry about going back to Costco to keep them filled with nitrogen (especially if you have to pay extra for it). Recall from science class that ambient air is already about 78% nitrogen. Most nitrogen systems achieve a concentration of about 95%, so it's not even completely PURE nitrogen anyway. The benefits of using nitrogen in passenger car tires aren't really there. If they filled 'em with nitrogen, that's fine, but I couldn't make it a point to use it all the time, or drive back there just for an air pressure adjustment. Race teams use nitrogen because their air delivery systems are pressurized to like 3000 PSI for fast fills. Aircraft use nitrogen because it's an inert gas and will not burn/explode. Neither of those advantages really apply to passenger car tires. Again, it's certainly not hurting anything, but it's not really gaining you anything either, so don't spend a lot of time and money driving back and forth for air pressure adjustments.
Very Interesting! Much cheaper than the K&N. You are right about the Nitrogen. It sounds cool to say you have nitrogen inflated tires, but most normal air is nitrogen anyway. I'll stick to my cigarette lighter tire pump. Thanks for the suggestions! Just to double check, if I mixed my regular tire inflation with the nitrogen that is in them, would it matter? I figure it wouldn't, but would hate to find out the hard way. Thanks again!
Dorman68,
No problem. If you need help with the tranny, consult my write up about it here 04 ce tran fluid question=
I had changed the transmission fluid myself in a "custom" way. It is better than nothing, but will be worth something someday.
Just to double check, if I mixed my regular tire inflation with the nitrogen that is in them, would it matter? I figure it wouldn't, but would hate to find out the hard way. Thanks again!
No. The 95% nitrogen that's in the tires will just dilute down as you add 78% nitrogen to them. Eventually, they'll be back close to around 78-80%. After enough fills and natural leakage.
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