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Toyota Corolla Basic Maintenance Questions

566 messages,  Last post on Jul 22, 2012 at 5:05 PM

You are in the Toyota Corolla Forum.

What is this discussion about? Toyota Corolla, Sedan

Messages Page 18 of 57

#167 of 566 Wheel alignment by sears by poliva2

Jul 18, 2005 (5:25 am)

Hi
 Im new to this board, so here it goes.. Today, I went to Sears to get the tires on my 1999 Toyota Corolla changed . The technician said im going to need a Wheel Alignment, So I agreed. The car dries like a dream. No pulling and it drives straight as an arrow. Now i go online, and im blown away to see how many complaints and reports of fraud that were aimed at Sears, My question is , will this wheel alignment cause problems down the road? The technician gave me a printed before and after summary report on the alignment. it seems like its in the specified range. I would like to share it with this board for your advise... Please help!!

#168 of 566 poliva2 by tundradude

Jul 18, 2005 (8:33 pm)

Everytime you get a set of tires, you need an alignment to ensure that the tires will have a long life. After a wheel alignment, the car goes straight down the road. Tires wear out faster when they pull significantly one way or another. The car must have been really bad before the alignment was done.
 
Who cares what anyone else thinks about the Sears brand, when your particular Sears tire place did it correctly for you.
 
Enjoy your new tires!

#169 of 566 um by capitano

Jul 19, 2005 (11:16 am)

You don't always need an alignment. If your car drifts to one side or you have uneven tire wear you could need an alignment. Or you could just need to check your tire pressure.
 
Getting an alignment won't hurt anything other than your pocketbook. A car with new tires could be driving like a dream just because of the new tires, or it could be due to the alignment. Without actual measurement data taken at the source it is hard to say.
 
Gotta watch what these places "recommend" these days.

#170 of 566 alignment by tundradude

Jul 19, 2005 (5:26 pm)

There's people that don't know what an alignment is. The same goes for keeping a tire pressure guage in the car. The steering wheel could be upside down and someone would still drive it in that condition.
 
Sometimes you need some help in life.
 
After seeing some roads in this country, I don't know how some people even keep their cars in any sort of alignment. I just got back from a big camping trip in VT and its amazing how some states are much better than others in their "road conditions".

#171 of 566 01 Corolla: 36,000 mile maintenance by jen8

Jul 20, 2005 (10:41 am)

Just had my usual 6 mo. oil change and mechanic suggested I have the coolant flushed. Can I put this off and go to 50K on an 01 Corolla?
He also pointed out that the tires need to be replaced soon - am I disillusioned to think they should have lasted longer? Does Michelin/Toyota not put 60K tires on the new cars? Do I need to go Michelin on the replacements?

#172 of 566 Re: 01 Corolla: 36,000 mile maintenance [jen8] by capitano

Jul 20, 2005 (1:09 pm)

Replying to: jen8 (Jul 20, 2005 10:41 am)
Generally, I don't listen to the service advisors at the desks. They are much more salesman than mechanic. If an actual wrench turner makes the recommendation, I pay more attention. I would use the service guide that came with the car for service decisions. If the book calls for a flush at 36k or so, I'd do it. Be careful with the distinction between extreme conditions and normal conditions. Most people have vague notions of extreme conditions to be racing and off road use. But actually daily city driving in heavy traffic with lots of idle time at lights and stop and go is extreme conditions.
 
Check the tires on the car for a UTQG number that should be something like 300 A B. The number is the treadwear compared to some baseline standard. If yours isn't in the neighborhood of 500 or higher, it's not a 60,000 mile tire. If you haven't rotated the tires regularly, you'll get more wear on the fronts. Is the mechanic telling you to get a new set of 4 or just 2?

#173 of 566 tire by tundradude

Jul 21, 2005 (3:48 pm)

Generally, Toyota will put the cheapest tire but average quality they can put on the car unless you get like a optional tire/wheel package. However, the more you spend on the car, the higher the probablity of getting decent tires. An Avalon will have nicer tires than say a Echo.
 
I know my new xB has those GoodYear "somethings" with average ratings. I noticed that those same tires were on my Dad's new Corolla S as well.

#174 of 566 oil change question(s)-- by sunilb

Jul 25, 2005 (9:59 am)

Thinking of attempting my first oil change on our '94 Corolla... questions:
  
1- can I use a Mityvac pump to get the oil out? I know it works on several different makes/models, not sure about our car.
2- where is the filter located? I'm guessing that it's underneath so I may need jacks and perhaps I should bypass the mityvac and just drain the oil out...? [prefer to go with mityvac since I have another car that I can use it with and the filter is accessible from the engine bay]
3- is it okay to switch to synthetic for this car? primary motivation is to reduce frequency of oil changes (from 3K miles to 7.5K miles).
  
Thanks.

#175 of 566 Corolla 99 starting problem by rm_car

Jul 26, 2005 (11:26 am)

Hi,
I have Corolla 99 44K mileage some how last couple of days I hear kit-kit sound while starting and it fails to start in first attempt. It did start affter a few tries.
Not sure what the problem is. I can switch on my lights etc not sure if its battery or starter or what? How to figure out.
Please help. Thanks in advance.

#176 of 566 Re: Corolla 99 starting problem [rm_car] by beernut

Jul 26, 2005 (12:31 pm)

Replying to: rm_car (Jul 26, 2005 11:26 am)
Could be a bad battery after six years - or maybe bad (loose) battery post connections or ground to block. Have a trusted mechanic load test it.
 
A non-trusted mechanic will sell you a battery whether you need it or not.

Messages Page 18 of 57

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