Problems with ae92 - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

albertmdh · 09-09-2005, 01:48 PM

My girlfriends 88 4 door corolla 5 spd just got a standard tune up about a month ago, and the exhaust replaced a few weeks after that. Since the tune, gas mileage has dropped from 50-60 mpg down to 29-30 mpg, pretty drastic and horrible. It seems like it's idling really low, and the exhaust is a bit stinky, someone said maybe a bad injector? any help would be great.

-albert

***REN69*** · 09-09-2005, 01:57 PM

stinky, sounds more like the cat is probably gone too

tashirosgt · 09-09-2005, 02:06 PM

Is this 1988 4 door car that used to get 50-60 mpg a diesel?

albertmdh · 09-09-2005, 02:15 PM

No, not a deisel. I wish it was, with gas prices being the way they are. Just mostly highway miles, I swear on anything we were getting 600 miles per tank just about every time, now its like 320. How much would a cat-replacement be, just had the rest of the exhaust replaced anyways.

edit: fixed some typing errors, I know how some you guys can get.

karugs · 09-09-2005, 02:36 PM

Amazing, my mom's 1992 barely does 25mpg.

Check what has been changed, start there since that's what the only difference is between tune up and old condition. Stinky smell? Maybe running too rich now? Anything on spark plugs when you pull them out? You didn't mention if some shop did the tune up and/or exhaust repair.

albertmdh · 09-09-2005, 02:46 PM

A local place did both the tune-up and the exhaust, I don't think we'll be going back there. I think it is running rich, I'll check the plugs tomaro morning. It's strange that I'm complaining about getting better gas mileage than your mother, I'd say something must be wrong there!

karugs · 09-09-2005, 03:08 PM

Yes, but the car has over 213,000mi. It's a work in progress, I'll look more into it once I have time.

If you're not going back to the local shop you mentioned, I would assume that's not entirely the best one around. Time to hunt for problems!

By any chance, could you advise me how to get that good MPG? I'll forward that to my mom

tashirosgt · 09-09-2005, 03:16 PM

I think its unlikely that you were getting 50-60 mpg unless you were able to do a lot of coasting down a mountain. The 29-30 mpg figure for highway driving sounds pretty good for a 1988 4 door Corolla. Have you actually measured this, in the usual way? You said you just had a new exhaust put in so it will smell different for awhile. That leaves the problem of it idling low. Many modern timing lights have built-in tachometers. If you feel competent to use one of these, you could check your idle speed.

albertmdh · 09-09-2005, 03:23 PM

I measure mileage the usual way, set the trip-meter at fill up, divide gallons of gas that go into the tank next time into miles since fill-up. 60mpg was recorded on a trip from fredericksburg VA to stricklersville PA in febuary I believe. I wont be happy until it's back upto at least 45 mpg.

toyotaspeed90 · 09-10-2005, 03:18 AM

88 is carb'd.... ie, no injectors..... find out if they did any 'tuning' to the carb

albertmdh · 09-10-2005, 09:40 AM

Thats good to know, not sure why i figured it was injected. How can I check?