High Milage (287,000) Maintenance

1646 Views 11 Replies 5 Participants Last post by jimmy175, Jan 16, 2021

BLXVCH

Discussion Starter · Jan 15, 2021

Hello, I have a 2007 LE, with 287k miles on the odo. It runs and drives great. Oil changes every 3K. No issues that I’ve found mechanically. But I bought this car at 283K. I did do an oil change, with traditional, coolant change, I also changed the water pump because it was leaking bad, and added a small amount of power steering fluid, because it was just under the fill line.

Tires, brakes, wheels, spark plugs, accessory belt, air filter, etc. are all good.

I’m still learning a lot about cars, but I can do a lot by myself already. I’m 18.

Is there anything else I should be keeping up on with this car. It’s still a good running car for the miles, and I wanna at least push it past the odo 299k, and beyond.

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jiantao

· #2 · Jan 15, 2021

Corollas are extremely reliable cars. Don't let the car overheat. If the radiator is original, watch for cracks along the top tank. I have a hunch the radiator has already been replaced at some point with your mileage.

I would stay on top of the fluids. Change the power steering fluid by siphoning out the reservoir and putting new fluid in. Very easy. Do it twice or 3x and all the fluid will pretty much be new. I think the '07 Corolla uses ATF in the PS system?

What is the condition of the transmission fluid? This is very important. I would recommend doing a drain/fill of the ATF. It's just like an oil change.

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Esso

· #3 · Jan 15, 2021

The ultimate maintenance: Clean all of the intake track.

Intake air box
MAF sensor
Intake Tube
Intake manifold
Intake runners

Check gaskets and hoses along these areas for wear.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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BLXVCH

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 15, 2021

jiantao said:
Corollas are extremely reliable cars. Don't let the car overheat. If the radiator is original, watch for cracks along the top tank. I have a hunch the radiator has already been replaced at some point with your mileage.

I would stay on top of the fluids. Change the power steering fluid by siphoning out the reservoir and putting new fluid in. Very easy. Do it twice or 3x and all the fluid will pretty much be new. I think the '07 Corolla uses ATF in the PS system?

What is the condition of the transmission fluid? This is very important. I would recommend doing a drain/fill of the ATF. It's just like an oil change.

Yes, I’m pretty sure it’s ATF for power steering. I checked the transmission fluid, it’s definitely original, or very old. It’s broken down and brownish black. I don’t know if it’s been far too long to mess with the fluid at this point. I did do this to another vehicle with no trans fluid changes in its life, and the trans went out weeks after doing it. I’m very cautious with it now.
I’m not entirely sure if the radiator was replaced, but I haven’t seen any damages or cracks.

I guess I’d like to see what you and others have experienced with changing the trans fluid with that many miles of it not being changed. Possibly more insight on how to change the power steering fluid as well.

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lgrape

· #5 · Jan 16, 2021

BLXVCH said:
Yes, I’m pretty sure it’s ATF for power steering. I checked the transmission fluid, it’s definitely original, or very old. It’s broken down and brownish black. I don’t know if it’s been far too long to mess with the fluid at this point. I did do this to another vehicle with no trans fluid changes in its life, and the trans went out weeks after doing it. I’m very cautious with it now.
I’m not entirely sure if the radiator was replaced, but I haven’t seen any damages or cracks.

I guess I’d like to see what you and others have experienced with changing the trans fluid with that many miles of it not being changed. Possibly more insight on how to change the power steering fluid as well.

On the car that the trans went out, did you just change the fluid or have it flushed at a shop?

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BLXVCH

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jan 16, 2021

lgrape said:
On the car that the trans went out, did you just change the fluid or have it flushed at a shop?

I changed it. But it was a Chevy trailblazer. Those transmissions are well known for issues. It wasn’t ever flushed, but the filter was badly clogged, so I had no choice at that time to change it. But, I know that doesn’t mean it’ll be the same with this car or others. I’ve just had bad history with transmissions in the past, after messing with fluids.

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jiantao

· #7 · Jan 16, 2021

BLXVCH said:
Yes, I’m pretty sure it’s ATF for power steering. I checked the transmission fluid, it’s definitely original, or very old. It’s broken down and brownish black. I don’t know if it’s been far too long to mess with the fluid at this point. I did do this to another vehicle with no trans fluid changes in its life, and the trans went out weeks after doing it. I’m very cautious with it now.
I’m not entirely sure if the radiator was replaced, but I haven’t seen any damages or cracks.

I guess I’d like to see what you and others have experienced with changing the trans fluid with that many miles of it not being changed. Possibly more insight on how to change the power steering fluid as well.

What kind of car did the trans go out shortly after you serviced it? All you had done was a drain and fill?

With transmission fluid that old that's currently in the Corolla, it's lost all of its protective properties and is very dirty. It won't adequately cool the transmission if you ever stress it enough (i.e. driving up a steep incline with a full load of passengers and cargo on a hot day for an extended period of time). The old fluid is also likely wearing out the transmission internals quicker than new fluid would.

You don't want to shock the transmission with all new fluid, since that could dislodge some debris or the friction properties of all new fluid might be too different from what the transmission has been relying on. It could over-clean some of the internal buildup, leading to clogged filters and screens, starving the transmission of adequate fluid flow. I would recommend introducing new fluid into the transmission slowly. My recommendation would be doing a single drain and fill, which only replaces about 1/3 of the fluid. This shouldn't affect the transmission too much, since 2/3 of the fluid is still old. Drive a few thousand miles, and then consider doing it again.

The power steering fluid exchange is really, really easy. Don't worry about getting a little bit of air in the system, the power steering fluid circulates (you'll see an "in" hose and an "out" hose from the reservoir) and the air will purge itself. For simplicity, I've always just siphoned out as much from the reservoir as I could (which is probably about half of the whole PS system capacity) and diluted the new fluid in that way.

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jiantao

· #8 · Jan 16, 2021

BLXVCH said:
I changed it. But it was a Chevy trailblazer. Those transmissions are well known for issues. It wasn’t ever flushed, but the filter was badly clogged, so I had no choice at that time to change it. But, I know that doesn’t mean it’ll be the same with this car or others. I’ve just had bad history with transmissions in the past, after messing with fluids.

Many American makes have transmissions that create a lot of debris and have ATF filters that ought to be replaced. The filter badly clogged, likely meant that the transmission was on its last legs, anyway. I wouldn't be so sure that the ATF exchange is what killed it.

I wouldn't change the filter on the Corolla until you do 2 or 3 drains and fills with a few thousand miles of driving in between. They don't really get too dirty. Although, with your high mileage, maybe changing it after 2 drains/fills is a good idea.

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lgrape

· #9 · Jan 16, 2021

I bought a used 2013 corolla with 100K on the odo but the fluid was pretty dirty. Not sure if the odo was rolled back but the car was pretty clean. I disconnected the rubber line to the trans cooler and used a hose mender to attach a long piece of clear tubing run into a empty jug. I was able to run the engine and pump fluid out as I was pouring new fluid in. Took about 2 gallons of new ATF for it to run clear.

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jiantao

· #10 · Jan 16, 2021

lgrape said:
I bought a used 2013 corolla with 100K on the odo but the fluid was pretty dirty. Not sure if the odo was rolled back but the car was pretty clean. I disconnected the rubber line to the trans cooler and used a hose mender to attach a long piece of clear tubing run into a empty jug. I was able to run the engine and pump fluid out as I was pouring new fluid in. Took about 2 gallons of new ATF for it to run clear.

I wouldn't suspect the odometer being rolled back on the basis of transmission fluid. 100K is a long time for ATF, I'm not surprised it was dirty. I found out that my Camry had a transmission fluid change at 29K miles by the original owner shortly before the second owner purchased it. The second owner never changed it again, and sold the car to me at 131K. The transmission fluid was pretty dirty too (dark/brown, but not black) but I figured I'd leave it alone if the car shifted fine. I ended up changing it at 138K, so the car went 109K without a change. It's normal for the ATF to be dirty by that point.

Your method is pretty good to exchange all the fluid. Just to stay on the safe side, I wouldn't advise OP use this method on a 287K mile transmission. If it were my car, I'd rather slowly introduce the new fluid in.

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BLXVCH

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jan 16, 2021

I think after the tips you guys have given me, I’ll probably do a drain and fill, to get about 1/3 of a change. Then maybe progress after a couple thousand miles. The transmission is still running good right now, so I don’t plan on over working it with a full change or anything like that. Thank you guys for the help.

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jimmy175

· #12 · Jan 16, 2021

BLXVCH said:
I guess I’d like to see what you and others have experienced with changing the trans fluid with that many miles of it not being changed. Possibly more insight on how to change the power steering fluid as well.

I did a basic drain-and-fill and filter replacement on my Matrix around 245,000 Km (152,000 miles) with no problems. As far as I know, that fluid was original.

As for the power steering, there is a DIY thread on here about flushing the entire system, but it's easy enough to empty just the reservoir and replace with new fluid, and much like a drain/fill with the transmission fluid, it'll be changing enough fluid to make a difference. All you need is a turkey baster (that doesn't need to go back to the kitchen) or a big syringe that can suck up the power steering fluid from the reservoir. The turkey baster I use has a little needle-like attachment that is narrow enough to reach the bottom of the reservoir. Once you have the reservoir as empty as you can get it, just refill with new ATF (I used leftover Valvoline Maxlife from the transmission drain and fill).

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