toyota.com should have the full maintenance menu somewhere on their site... as for prices, they vary from city to state... even country.

 

you don't really need any of those yet.. cept a routine oil change

 

well the car gets driven about 3000 miles a month, i dont really take good care of it either since its beater, i only do routine maintence, like oil changes, tire rotation, and a few other things every now and then when toyota suggests it (whatever it is, its always been under $100)

so you say not to change the other fluids now? then at what mileage should i change it at?

and to the other guy, i live in Los Angeles, CA. im just looking for a website that sells stuff for cheap, dont care to pick up stuff from a store.. online with shipping is gold.

 

should we follow the recommended maintenance from a dealership? besides from what is written in the manual. thanks

 

Do you mean the maintenance they add in with to increase their profits? Stick with what's in the manual and you'll be fine.

 

^ thanks for the info bro..

i havent stepped into the dealer for the list i made.. the list i made is what i would do to my other cars (e46 M3, C5 Corvette)..with those 2 cars, i NEVER go by the reccomended schedule. Im always ahead (ie: oil change on the M3 is 15k miles, I do it at 7500.. spark plugs on the Corvette at 100k, I changed them at 50k and they looked like sheit)..

I suppose an oil change and a tranny fluid change is enough. My tanny fluid is brownish, I believe it should be redish..

 

Oh okay. Sorry, I had blended two previous posts; I didn't realize (read) that your list was one that you typically did to your other cars, and not one a dealer provided. My apologies for the dealer comments.

I previously had a '97 Cadillac with the Northstar. I finally changed the OE plugs at 148k miles, and they looks fine. A little worn, but still very serviceable. New plugs didn't make a lick of difference in driveability or economy, not that there was an issue with either prior. I just changed them out "just cuz".

 

Oh okay. Sorry, I had blended two previous posts; I didn't realize (read) that your list was one that you typically did to your other cars, and not one a dealer provided. My apologies for the dealer comments.

I previously had a '97 Cadillac with the Northstar. I finally changed the OE plugs at 148k miles, and they looks fine. A little worn, but still very serviceable. New plugs didn't make a lick of difference in driveability or economy, not that there was an issue with either prior. I just changed them out "just cuz".

The transaxle fluid is still original in that car also (my brother now owns it). With 160k+ miles on it, it shifts great still. As you probably know, the color of a lubricant doesn't indicate its condition at all.

With the Corolla, the factory plugs are NGK or Denso iridium plugs, very high quality pieces. Changing them now would absolutely be a waste (unless there's a mechanical problem with the car that caused them to go bad). I'd probably do the transaxle fluid "just cuz", though I doubt you'll see any difference. If the car runs fine now, it probably will for another 50-60k easy, not changing anything out.

 

Here is what I live by for my car

1) engine air filter - replaced first one at 40k
2) fuel filter - non serviceable
3) in-cabin filter - hadn't touched it yet
4) engine oil change - every 3k
5) tranny oil change - every 30k(drain and refill)
6) rear diff oil change - not applicable
7) coolant change - factory fill coolant has a 10 year or 100k life.
8) brake fluid change - dealer's love this to line their wallets
9) spark plugs - every 100k
10) clean MAF and TB - hadn't touched mine yet. If it aint broke don't fix it.

 

yeah those are great intervals

you can swap out a fuel filter every liek 12 or 24k miles...
and iknow the engine filter is recommended every 12k.
and plugs are all dependent on what kind are in there.. coppers go for 20-30k
plaitnums go for liek 50 or somethign and then iridiums go like 100 or so.

what are the stock plugs in these corollas? i have a thread asking...

 

oh wow. i didnt know the fuel filters arent changeable... how does that make any sense... where are they located?
and im surprised theyre iridium plugs.. i had no idea... or did not expect that.


i just drive a corolla aroudn when im home.. i have a 97 subaru otherwise..

 

good info here guys.. thanks a lot. looks like i wont be needing to waste all my money.. just a $30 oil and filter change (im assuming i should stay with the factory weight...which is...uhh someone help me out here) and a tranny fluid drain/refill (can i get a part number and cheapest online retailer to order from?) thanks

 

If it were me and I drove 3K a month, *I* would:
change dino oil every 5-6K, or run a synthetic (val synpower, M1) minimum 10-12K with a uoa to confirm all is well with a M1 filter changed every oci.
-amsoil i would do minimum 15K with a uoa to confirm you can and maybe even further with amsoil filter or M1 filter.

tranny oil changes every 30K is what I have seen most recommended for a safe interval, but most people dont put on the amount of miles you do, so if *I* were putting on the miles you do, *I* would go minimum 50K intervals with amsoil tranny fluid

*I* would drain/refill the radiator every 2 years max. It is just cheap preventive maintenance to always have fresh fluid/fresh additives in there. For $20-40 a year or every two years, again for me, cheap preventive maintenenace and will never have coolant related issues.

*I* would siphon /refill PS fluid resevoir once a year. Same thing, cheap preventive maintenance. $9 bottle of good tranny fluid(amsoil is what I use) will last a long time and seriously, takes less than 5 minutes to do. Again fresh fluid/fresh additives. No PS problems.

That is what *I* would do and that is what *I* do.

Now that I have a 3 mile round trip commute instead of 62 miles round trip, I am going to stick with 5K/6 month intervals on oil changes (although i do have amsoil 0W20 in there with just over 3K in 6 months (gonna take a sample and send it in to see if I can go longer) and drain/refill my Amsoil manual transmission and transaxle gear lube every 3years/30K

 

if i understand correctly, if i want to start using synthetic, i should use some sort of english flush first. regular oil + synthetic = no good

ill probably start using Mobil 1 if anything.. i really dont care about this car, its 2 years old but looks 20 years old. its a beater.

 

that is not necessary, you can go back and forth with dino and syn, no worries.

Back in the early days, if you used dino for many, many miles there *may* be some varnish (dont want to use sludge) on seals and using syn would clean up those areas some and you *could* have leaks, but not necessarily so

 

which syn oil should i use? mobil 1? whats our weight again?

also, for the tranny fluid, can someone provide me with a part# and the amount needed? thanks!

 

If I were going to use a synthetic oil, I'd use Castrol Syntec 0W-30. Otherwise known as "German Castrol". It's an incredibly robust oil (probably moreso than something like Mobil 1 or Valvoline SynPower or Pennzoil Platinum), and would go for 10,000 miles easy.

Why are you going to spend the money on synthetic if you "don't really care about this car"? Any good conventional oil is going to protect it just as well as synthetic (with reasonable change intervals) and you're going to likely end up spending less as well.

 

+1 on the German Castrol Syntec, I'm currently using it and the car runs as smooth as butter.

It's not an energy conserving oil so you might notice that your fuel economy will go down a bit during city driving.

 

Speaking of GC, check out my UOA of it. http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1195361&fpart=1

I should note that I do not use it in the dead of winter, as it is a bit thick and there was some gas mileage loss. Also, I only buy it when it is on sale, as it is originally $7 a qt at AZ and pepboys. Autozone just had a deal about 3 weeks ago for 5 qts of GC and a K&N filter for $28.

 

Mike, how much of an economy loss did you see, and are you auto or manual?