Bad Mpg And Autobox Leak

[grandad corilla]

Seem to be having bad return on mpg, there's also a electrical discharge type of noise, pinging I think they call it on acceleration. I only fill up on the normal cheap unleaded from various stations. Also I seem to have a leak which I'm having to top up every month or so, but the car is only used for town driving less than 10 miles a day, What mpg should I be getting round town it's a 1.3 auto 3 door e11 corolla JT1 japanese model.

Also car has done almost 85k I think whats the best oil grade and brand to use, I was thinking of Valvoline max life 10/40 or Valvoline synpower full synthetic 5/30.

Thanks in advance.

[oldcodger]

Hi,

Hard to give specifics on mpg, with low miles town driving you could get down below 30mpg - what mpg are you getting ?

Oil , what grade has it been using ? if you drop down to a thinner synthetic oil you could have problems with heavy oil consumption.

Again how much oil is it using, I'm on 80+ and it does not use more than 1/2 lt per year/12k mlikes.

You say you have a leak but do you mean its burning oil or physically leaking out, from where ?

Electrical nosie, pinging ?? - you don't mean ' Pinking' a kind of metalic tinkling noise on acceleration ?

If so, try a higher octane fuel l and see if it lessens it, if so then you probably do have Pinking, pre-ignition.

[grandad corilla]

Hi Oldcodger,

Seem to get around 25 or so miles to gallon its a damn 3 speed automatic, unless I have to drive just under 2000rpms to get the thing moving, if I try to keep revs at 1500 I cause a que behind me, there's no overdrive button just L,2 and D for forward gears.

Last September I drained and refilled with Triple QX 5/30 Premium synthetic, not sure what it had in before, doesn't use any oil, level seems the same, I do roughly 4-5k a year and its all stop starts around town, just checked mileage it's 91k.

There's a leak from the automatic gearbox somewhere I have to top up a bit every couple of weeks, doesn't seem to be causing any problems with engaging all 3 forward gears and reverse, should or could I drop in something off t he shelf to seal the leak?

Yep that;'s the one pinking, I can try Shell V power nitro+, what about if I use a can of Forte, or can you advise if there is a better way of increasing octane to clean all the crap that's built up in the engine. Is there a way of completely curing pinking.

Thanks for replying there seems to be a lot of viewers but not enough repliers :-(

[oldcodger]

Hi,

Think 25mpg is not that bad for town driving in an auto ??

Can you see where the auto box oil is leaking out ? it could just be a washer on the drain plg or something similar.

Know nothing of auto boxes but cannot imagine there is an oil leak product for an auto box.

Would only every put in to it exactly what Toyota say to use.

Pinking can be caused by a faulty ECU system , or an air leak in the inlet manfold according to the modern books, plus of course the original old problem of faulty /or wrong type of spark plugs or carbon build up in the cylinders.

There used to be products on the market that you placed in directly into the cylinders though the spark plug holes, perhaps there are similar things around today; think the ones for adding to the petrol are really to prevent the build up rather than remove an existing layer.

I would get those basic items checked first, a decoke used to be the answer but do garages do such things these days ..??

Considering its age, mileage, being an auto and import, and such low milage perhaps a trade in for a more economic supermini type of car might be a good move.

As we know , might as well enjoy things now, cannot take it with us ! :D