Need Some Recommendationds For My 2004 Corolla Le - Toyota Corolla, Chevy Prizm (1998-2008)

I drive my 2004 Corolla LE to daily about 120 miles. I get around 34mpg combined(80%highway+20% city).. I drive around 75mph on the highway.

# Please suggest me should i change oil every 3000 or 5000 miles..3000 miles is approximately done in 6-7 weeks.

#What should i do to get 38mpg as some owners get on the highway?

thanks

racket

what kind of oil do you currently use?

what psi are your tires at?

could you drive 65-70 instead of 75?

3000 miles per oil change is definitely more than needed. I would change it somewhere between 4000 and 5000 miles. Since you do a lot of highway, close to 5000 is probably fine.

If you really want to change your oil less frequently, you should switch to synthetic oil. that will be good for about 10,000 miles... a little less if you want to be conservative. You can have your used oil analyzed and see just how much more life is left in it.

Get better mileage by slowing down and overinflating your tires by a couple of pounds.

Driving ~75MPH with some mixed driving and getting 34MPG is excellent. Some may get more, but many are around where you are at or less.

At that speed, air resistance becomes a huge factor in decreasing fuel economy. So much that Bridgestone and Goodyear both did several in-house testing and found that driving from 75MPH vs 55MPH uses up to 40% more fuel. That is huge. Even dropping the speed 5MPH to 70MPH will help fuel economy up to 10% to 12% in fuel. At the 10% savings - now your talking 37-38MPG.

As for oil changes - that much sustained high speed driving, I would highly recommend full synthetic motor oils at 5K intervals or longer (need UOA to be sure). Much less chance of oil burning off with good protection and solvency characteristics. When I switched to them - I immediately saw a couple of MPG better fuel economy consistently. If you prefer to stick with conventional oils - then stick with the more aggressive 3K drain interval. 5K is a touch too long for highspeed driving - better safe than sorry.

As for tire pressures - really depends on driving conditions. At that speed, incorrect tire pressure will not the be largest factor - but plumping them up with a bit more air will probably net you a few MPG.

As for tire pressures - really depends on driving conditions. At that speed, incorrect tire pressure will not the be largest factor - but plumping them up with a bit more air will probably net you a few MPG.

With higher tire pressure your stopping distance will increase, also handling of the steering will be reduced.

I would not increase the tire pressure above the 32psi, but I would slow down to increase fuel efficiency.

Sould have added that it would also have to do with the tires used on the car. Most of my cars, I run the pressure sometimes as high as 50PSI front, 44PSI rear - depending on what I want to do (these were on the original Goodyear Integrity tires). If the tire carcass is well made - I will see better stopping distance and reduced steering effort with this setup. When I scrapped the tire for beter skins - they did not show any abnormal wear patterns. Do that to a similar market Michelin or BFG - and this will wear the center down quickly.

Current Goodyear RS-A and Yokohama H4S tires are running about 10PSI above the "placard" pressure (~40PSI). That doesn't mean that is ideal for everyone, just works better for me and my driving conditions.

As mentioned - speed is the big fuel economy killer - dropping back 5MPH or 10MPH will have more gains than any pressure modification you can do to your tires.

you know i used to run my avids real high like that (36psi) but traction was horrible on them especially in the rain. ive dropped the front to 29-30 and rear to about 27 and its ALOT more stable and has more traction in the wet and snow. turns were alot sharper due to the tire rolling over less but traction throughout the turn was much much less.

Thanks all

I am now changing over to synthetic oil maybe mobil1..

and increase tire pressure to 32psi(which was 30 earlier).

Last week when it was snowing/raining in Massachusetts I got about 400 miles in 12.2 gallons(32.5mpg)..This week when weather is much milder I am getting around 35mpg.

Bikeman982

Is synthetic oil so much better than regular oil that it is worth the extra cost? How much of an increase in oil change intervals does it make? What is the recommended brands/types that can be used on the Corolla?? I am also thinking of switching over and wondering if it would be worth it in price and time and performance. Any strong convictions here??

I'm at the opposite pole with regard to miles driven per week. My Corolla can rack up as few as 30 miles in a week's worth of commuting to/from work and whatever errand-running I do on the way home. I drive so little, I'm actually going to buy a nice "town bike" and ride it to work on good days, just to avoid having to subject my Corolla to the severe effects of short-trip driving. I then plan on making deliberately long "Sunday drives" just to make sure the engine is properly "exercised."

I am using Mobil 1 synthetic oil and following a 3-month and/or 3,000 mile change cycle simply because my use of my Corolla is what I'd call "super severe." If I were making a more normal commute of even as few as 15 - 20 miles one-way, I'd most likely consider reverting back to plain 'ole dino oil, but keep the 3,000 mile drain interval.

As far as fuel economy goes, I'm pretty much stuck at the low end of "city" mileage, but I do observe a major increase to 39 - 42 MPG on occasional long trips. I keep my Goodyear Assurance TripleTred tires inflated to 35 PSI (cold) and have no handling issues whatsoever -- they're great on whatever road conditions they encounter.

I concur with all the advice you've been given so far, and don't really having anything useful to add, except to re-emphasize the obvious: driving slower will have the greatest impact on your fuel economy. I never exceed 70 MPH on my long trips. Whenever I've been able to keep it pegged at 65 MPG, I've observed highway mileage as high as 43 MPG - with an automatic transmission. The only problem is, on today's highways, 65 MPH is too fast for the right lane and too slow for the left lane, so I end up varying just enough to force an average of 70.

Also keep in mind it's not just speed, but driving style which dictates overall fuel economy. If you like to drive hard and fast, it will cost you MPG. I drive very smooth and gentle at all times, and rarely see my tachometer register over 2500 RPM. I'll occasionally get frisky and run up to 3300 or so in the lower ranges before the auto trans upshifts, but whenever I do, I can swear I see the gas gauge needle drop perceptibly. So, it's just a matter of trade-offs. In that range between 65 and 75 mph, you're taking your biggest hit on fuel economy, IMO.

friendly_jacek

Driving ~75MPH with some mixed driving and getting 34MPG is excellent. Some may get more, but many are around where you are at or less.
At that speed, air resistance becomes a huge factor in decreasing fuel economy. So much that Bridgestone and Goodyear both did several in-house testing and found that driving from 75MPH vs 55MPH uses up to 40% more fuel. That is huge. Even dropping the speed 5MPH to 70MPH will help fuel economy up to 10% to 12% in fuel. At the 10% savings - now your talking 37-38MPG.
As for oil changes - that much sustained high speed driving, I would highly recommend full synthetic motor oils at 5K intervals or longer (need UOA to be sure). Much less chance of oil burning off with good protection and solvency characteristics. When I switched to them - I immediately saw a couple of MPG better fuel economy consistently. If you prefer to stick with conventional oils - then stick with the more aggressive 3K drain interval. 5K is a touch too long for highspeed driving - better safe than sorry.
As for tire pressures - really depends on driving conditions. At that speed, incorrect tire pressure will not the be largest factor - but plumping them up with a bit more air will probably net you a few MPG.

Fish, I enjoy reading your posts as you are a very knowledgeable person. However, I have to disagree with you on this one. Highway driving, unless at excessive speed and at excessive ambient temperature, is the easiest service for oil. Nothing kills oil quicker as driving short distances with cold engine/oil. In that situation, oil accumulates water from condensation, unburned fuel and byproducts, and sulfuric acid from sulfur from fuel. Eventually gelling occures. This type of service is the only excuse to do 3000 miles changes.

On the other hand, highway driving at constant speed with nicely warmed up oil is the best case scenario with contaminans evaporating instantly. Older oils were notorious for sharing down one grade with this type of use, but not anymore with API SM oils.

With his use of car, it would be foolish to change oil at anything less than 5000 miles/6 months scheme, with any oil he chooses to use.

I did oil analysis at 5000 miles with SL dino 10W30 oil and was pleased with the results.

On the