98 Corolla questions

Be aware that this will be a 1ZZFE engine. I dont know how many of these cars have this problem but when Toyota manudactured them they made the pistons a little to small for the engines and just used oversized rings to compensate. Well when the cars got around 40,000 miles they started to use oil. You would not see smoke, no visible leaks, but just oil dissappearing at a fast pace. My wifes car is a 99 and uses a quart about every 150-200 miles. I am going to do an engine overhaul on it with new pistons that are correct size plus rings.

Now if you dont believe me and think I am just a single unlucky case get on the net and type in "Toyota Corolla oil consumption". And you will see there are a lot of people with this problem. Toyota says that 1 quart for every 1,000 miles is normal. But they are just trying to cover there rear ends.

And yes they do have a timing chain. I know because I just put a timing chain kit on hers while I replaced valve stem seals.

How about stainless steel exhaust?

I am not sure about the exhaust. I will have to wait till I get off of work to check that out. I dont think it is stainless exaust though.

From the factory I believe all '98-'02 Corollas come with a single-tone body paint. It looks like that particular Corolla in the pic was painted two-tone the same way as the same gen Camry. It could also be an indicator that the Corolla may have been involved in an accident which you're gonna have to check on with the owner.

Other than the oil burning problem that was already mentioned, there are no other major issues to keep in mind when buying a '98 Corolla. You might get 1 or 2 burnt out bulbs in the instrument cluster and tailights, or a squealing serpentine belt under the hood, but that's what typically comes with a 10-year old car.

What should be the compression rating on this engine? (around 200 psi? per cyl.) This might help to see if it burns oil. What about exhaust?
Thanks Tina