Engine 2001 corolla with BIG problems....

2001 corolla with BIG problems....

I have two friends who recently traded cars. The friend with the 2001 couldn't afford the payment and the friend with the 1995 wanted a new(er) one, so they just traded. Well, the 1995 has been flawless mechanically. The friend who owned the 2001 apparently couldn't afford to maintain it, either. It's a 2001 Corolla VE (or CE??) with the 3-spd auto. Yesterday was the 1st day I had to check it out briefly.

Engine was 2 qt low of oil with varnish and carbon deposits all over the dipstick (NOT GOOD)

Tranny was shifting REALLY rough.

There's no tach on it, but at WOT, it was shifting 1-2 @ around 33mph...redline in 1st is 45mph, so it's probably shifting @ 4500rpm at WOT (are we frying the clutch packs here??!)

I was horrified when I checked the tranny fluid. It wasn't low, but the fluid was kind of gray, almost black (NOT GOOD AT ALL!!!)

Think a flush would do it right, or are we talking about inevitable tranny failure, here??

Thanks,
Trav

Forgot - car has 71,000 miles on it and probably has never had ATF changed....

Is the differential separate on these cars?? What kind of fluid does it take, anyone know (tranny OR differential)???

Thanks again,
Trav

a quick way to clean the engine up a bit, u could drain the oil, put three quarts back in and one quart ATF (tranny fluid) in. drive it for about one hundred miles like that (drive very gently, like ur an old lady) then drain it again and put in the normal four quarts of oil. ATF has tons of detergents and does an amazing job cleaning stuff. course if u dont feel comfortable doin this then dont try it, but it should clean that thing right out

i have an 01 also and the evap soleniod just went bad... has 80,000 miles on it.

there is stuff called "sea foam". 240 owners rave about it. You put 1/3 in your gas tank, in your oil, and suck it through the vacuum hose. You keep reving it to 3k while it sucks it all in you may need 2 people. Then turn it off for 30min. Then drain your oil and add new oil. I forget if there is more but the directions are on the back

you can get this at napa.

well the engine u might wanna clean out... simple motor flush at local part store will do...

as for trasmisison that might give u trouble.... it could be simple or not simple...

first drain the oil from trasmission and open the pan... there should be one or two magnet covered with fine grains of metal... thats normal... but if u see chunks of metal all over the place.. bring it to the shop immediately.

if not jsut take the filter out, should be 3 10mm. let it drain more and put new filter in.

than check the oil cooler line... disconnect both of them and use pressurised air and blow into one... if something is stuck blw into the other side to clean it... it stuck in both side u need to get new oil cooler.

put everything back together and fill her up with new oil and while u are at it drain teh differencial oil and refill it with ATF.

oh and i think your trasmisison is "SLIPPING" so try Lucas trasmission treatment... its about 8 bucks and put one bottle in and add oil.

after that drive around for couple of days maybe a week. and check the oil again... if its dark bring it to the shop... there is internal problem... possiibly converter.

to rebuild the toyota 4 speed with overdirve is around 1500.... give or take few hundred. with warranty. (probably atar ound 1 year and 12.000mile

now engine... what color was oil again when u first checked it?
could u be more specific?

AND DON'T U DARE TOUCH THAT KICK DOWN CABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, adjusting the kickdown cable HAD crossed my mind. Reason: at WOT, I had thought that if the tranny was shifting too soon instead of shifting at around redline like it was suppose to, then it would destroy the clutch packs. Am I wrong - what are the stock shift points at WOT? Never had experience with a 3-spd auto Corolla, so I'm clueless as far as this goes?? Suggestions?? Redline in 1st is 45mph and redline in 2nd is 85mph, however it's shifting to 2nd at around 33mph and into 3rd at around 65mph - just doesn't seem right. :?

Engine oil was black. Not dark brown, but black like tar. There was gunk all over the dipstick, so these two factors make me think the oil was due to be changed LONG ago. Also - the 1ZZ engine has a pretty tight clearance b/w the piston ring and cylinder wall, so there isn't much blow-by meaning it's gonna take a LONG time to burn 2 qt. of oil. My '03 Corolla uses 1/2 qt every 7500 miles with HARD driving. I'm guess it's been around 15-20,0000 miles since the oil was changed....harsh, huh?

Keep the advice coming, folks.

Appreciate it lots,
Trav