Hard to believe that their gas can be that bad to cause the engine to behave in that manner, but anything is possible. My Corolla will pretty much run anything I pump into the tank - the Matrix, on the hand, is exceptionally picky about the gas. I attribute that to the 2ZZ-GE engine, more than anything else - this engine requires the use of high octane, premium gasoline. But I've noted that some gas stations (7 Eleven, Citgo, Marathon, BJ, Costco, Safeway) are generally not liked by the Matrix. Shell and BP run the best - Exxon, Philips and Sunoco sit in the middle.

Not just a little different, but a very noticeable in driveability and especially with overall fuel economy. With the suspect gas - my fuel economy can drop as low as 23-24MPG, with the gas that the car likes - it can be as high as 34-35MPG - HUGE difference. My 8th gen Corolla, I've convinced, will run on just about anything - but tends to return better fuel economy on higher grades (due to increasing compression from normal deposits).

Generally, the discount gas stations should be "fresher" gas, since they have a faster dispensing rate than a conventional gas station - due to discounted pricing for members. I would try and see what tanker truck they use when they refill the ground tanks - I've seen the exact same tanker fill ground tanks on both premium and discounted gas stations. Can't hurt to ask the truck driver at the time - some of the truckers will tell you what stations they fill up - some are tight lipped.

Thanks, Fish

Looks like it might be the ECU. It's at the dealer today.

This morning, the Corolla stalled after idling roughly. Restarted and auto tranny slammed into gear then car would not go over 20 mph. No tranny slip. Threw a check engine code.

Shut off for 45 seconds and restarted. Got to dealer who read code and determined might be a bad ECU. Tech will try driving it at dealership a few times to decide course of action.

I was wondering why the gas might be the culprit but, as you said, might be something else.

Will update when I pick it up later.

Interesting - let us know what the code came back for and what they did to the ECU - let's hope that the new Corolla doesn't have the tranny issues that some Camrys have.

Dealer just called. Said a temperature sensor failed confusing the ECM.

Glad they knew how to trace the root cause and not just throw parts at it.

Will give you the code if it's on the work order.

That's great - sounds like this dealership is on the ball. I'm glad to see that there are still some quality dealerships out there couple to a quality automobile.

Code was P2111 Throttle actuator control system stuck open.

Tech did thorough diagnosis and traced to temp sensor. Fans weren't triggering.

Great dealer.

Runs great now.

Wow - thanks for the head's up Bob. I agree - great dealership and technicians with solid training.

I remember this was an issue on the last generation of Camrys - but totally unrelated to the temperature sensor. That one entailed a newly redesigned throttle body and throttle body gasket. A temp sensor is good catch, it is a non-trivial diagnosis (trivial if you follow the Toyota guidelines, but more techs are too lazy to follow that), lots of work on the tech's part - technician gets a gold star for that one.

Yes, that dealer has always done first rate work.

I didn't realize how crappy my Corolla had been running. It's so much better now. Dealer told me to bring it in once a code was stored and the CEL lit up. Without that, they couldn't easily trace the rough idle when I came in January.

I'll definitely keep using Leith Toyota for my service needs.

Sent message to service manager and am including his reply.

Good Morning Mr. Levine,

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your compliments with me. I am delighted to hear about your excellent service experience with our dealership. I will certainly pass along your accolades to our team which I can assure you they will be most excited to receive them. Again thank you for your much appreciated feedback and thank you for choosing Leith Toyota!

Have a great day!

Rodney Britt

Leith Toyota

Service Manager

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Bob & Joyce Levine

Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 10:58 AM

To: rodney.britt@leithtoyota.com

Subject: Compliment For A Job Well Done

Had a very difficult to diagnose issue in my 08 Corolla and the following team members got it right for me:

Eric Baxter - Service Writer

Scott Staimpel, Technician

Service order date 3/09/09

The car had a rough idle issue for a few months but no check engine code until the day of the snow storm this January. Unfortunately, the code cleared before I got in to your shop since it was a weekend.

Well, on March 9, the car got very rough. I parked and it stalled. When it started again it lurched into gear and wouldn't go over 20 MPH. Shut it down and restarted so it would get out of "limp home" mode.

Eric got me in without an appointment. Your service team sent me home by shuttle and did a very thorough diagnosis finding the root cause to be the water temp sensor. Many shops would throw parts at the car and only solve the driveability problem by luck.

Your shuttle driver was friendly and efficient.

I am so pleased,