Toyota Corolla Power Issue

MrRipley

Hi Folks,

Hoping for some of your advice please!

I bought a Toyota Corolla 1.4 VVTi 2001 5 door in March of last year. Since then I have travelled 21000 miles in it so it's been pretty reliable (touch wood).

It drinks a lot of oil, the garage has said this is normal for a VVTi engine at high mileage (currently at 163000) so I check it every 2 days.

The main issue I have is its loss of power going up inclines, I could be doing 85mph on the dual carriageway and when there's a bit of a hill it could drop to as low as 65mph.
On larger hills, I have to keep changing gears, for example in 3rd gear going 35mph at 4000rpm, change to 4th gear at doing roughly 40mph but drops to 2600rpm so I have to go back to 3rd gear.

Last year I had replaced engine wise:

no3 ignition coil due to misfire
then 2 months later
no2 ignition coil, all the spark plugs and new oil.

It has since June last year had it's engine light continually on (garage said no issue).
Just passed its MOT needing only a lightbulb and front brakes last fortnight.

Does it simply need no1 and no4 ignition coils replaced?
Would a full service help?

Apologies for such a long post (and lack of mechanical experience)!
I look forward to your replies

Richard53

If the car is using oil, a thinner oil won't help.


Has the car always felt underpowered, or is it a recent thing? A 1.4 is going to struggle keeping 85 mph on a long incline in any case. But if you've noticed a decline in performance during your ownership, at that mileage and using a lot of oil, I'd be suspecting general engine wear, especially if there is a lot of blue smoke from the exhaust.

thescouselander

Sounds broken to me. Maybe you should take it to a different garage for a second opinion.

MrRipley

Thanks for the replies!
I've since ownership been using a fully synthetic oil 5w 30 for high mileage cars (sainsbury's own brand).
It's always felt underpowered but I suspect that's due to my last car having been an Audi A4 2.4 V6 1999.

No blue smoke luckily. Put 2 litres of oil in this morning which helps.
Will keep an eye on my heavy foot!

It seems to rumble a fair bit at traffic lights whilst stationary.
How would I know if my car is misfiring?

AdrianC

MrRipley wrote: »

It has since June last year had it's engine light continually on (garage said no issue).

If there wasn't an issue, the engine management light wouldn't be telling you that there are fault codes.

Does it simply need no1 and no4 ignition coils replaced?

I don't know, I've not read the fault codes out.

MrRipley wrote: »

I've since ownership been using ... 5w 30

Too thin. A search suggests that 5w40 is correct for your engine. A thinner oil will tend to leak or burn more readily than one that's the correct viscosity.

Put 2 litres of oil in this morning which helps.

It seems to rumble a fair bit at traffic lights whilst stationary.

Two litres of oil is WAY down on where it should be - usually there's less than a litre between the "max" and "min" mark on the dipstick. How often are you checking the level using the dipstick? Take it out, wipe it, put it back in, take it out, read the level...? You do know that the oil light is not "It's time to check the level and top up", but "The oil pressure's dangerously low". If that's because the level's low, then it's telling you that the pump is circulating air instead of oil...

<thinks> If it's been burning substantial amounts of oil, I wonder if the cat's fairly well blocked? That'd certainly strangle the engine's breathing, and reduce the power.

EdGasket

Use a thicker grade oil e.g. 10w40 to reduce the oil use.

Get an OBD2 code reader from amazon or ebay for around £10 - £20; plug it in the diagnostic socket, turn ignition on and read the codes. Then you will know if the car has detected any problem.

daveyjp

Is 35mph in 3rd really 4,000 rpm?

facade

You will probably find that the oil you are burning is clogging the catalyst.
Eventually the catalyst blocks completely and it won't rev at all.
If it gradually gets worse, swap the catalyst.

EDIT Just seen Adrian said the same thing :cool:

Alt

Have you also noticed any issues with generally accelerating even when driving on flat roads? Does it take longer to accelerate than it used to?


If the EML light is on then maybe the car is in 'limp' mode? Struggling with maintaining a speed specially on an incline is exactly what has been my experience with car in limp mode




Alt

MrRipley

AdrianC
Thanks for the advice.
I'll look into changing from 5w 30 to 5w 40. To start using this new oil I'd imagine that a mechanic will need to do this as part of an oil change service?

The oil light has only been on once, the day after I bought it.
I check the oil properly every 2 days so at its worse, it'll be on the min end of the stick. I follow the process you outlined whilst checking it.

MrRipley

Edgasket
I didn't realise an OBD2 reader was so cheap, will be ordering one when I get home tonight!