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[2000corollaaz]

Originally Posted by Tavel

I'm surprised no one said the obvious...what about a bad knock sensor?

the corolla's engine has a 10:1 compression ratio and would blow itself apart if the computer wasn't constantly adjusting ignition timing. That pulls outstanding power and efficiency out of the engine...but you'll catch it knocking all the time as the computer tries to find the right timing.

yours seems to be knocking ALL the time, maybe the sensor is bad. it's a $200 part, so I would check out all of the cheap easy stuff first. Or maybe your cousin can test the knock sensor, I don't know his capabilities.

I'll agree with bitter on the oil consumption though, that is unreasonable. 0.5-1.0qt's per 3000 miles is about normal. you're about double the normal rate.

as far as higher octane fuel, that's a band aid. Your car should run exactly the same on regular as on premium. if it doesn't, that again points to bad electronics in my mind.

and I just want to point out to everyone that city driving is not satan's wrath on engines. people always look at "wear per mile", when they should really look at "wear per operation hour". hour to hour, highway and city driving cause similar wear...just you get a lot more miles out of highway driving.

all of my cars have had nearly 100% city driving for their entire lifespan, and none burn oil or anything else. one of my cars is at 220,000 and ticking. Of course, people look at the classic city drivers, like taxi drivers and pizza guys, as reference to what city driving does to cars. but they drive HARD, ALL day. they would destroy their cars driving like that on the highway too!



edit: i should note that I also have a 2000 corolla, 5spd manual though. (138,000 miles, good stuff).

Yeah, I mentioned that up in the first post(knock sensor), but wasn't sure if that could be it? But that was my original thought. Well, we are taking it in next friday or saturday and I'll let you know how it goes. I'll be sure to tell him to check the knock sensor now that you mentioned it as well.

Thanks,
Mike