I own a 2009 Toyota Corolla LE 1.8 since February 2017. My Mom purchased this car back in 2009 and she kept the maintenance up to date and always took the car to the Toyota dealer for everything. I bought this car from her and it was in perfect condition until 6 months ago my mechanic told me that my car was burning too much oil and he told me about Toyota Corolla vehicles burning too much oil and he told me that had I driven my car one more day with the oil level being too low my engine would have given up. I always changed the oil every 3,000 miles even though it is recommended to change the oil every 5,000 miles. My engine is a 2ZR-FE which I just found out that it is not covered by the Toyota recall. I used to have a 1998 Toyota Corolla CE that never gave me any problems at all and never left me stranded and I drove that car going up the hills a lot since my mother lives in a mountain range area here in California and that car never showed signs of having any mechanical issues. When I sold that 1998 Toyota Corolla CE it had 265,000 miles and you would not believe that it took me less than 24 hours to sell it and there was sort like an auction outside my apartment when four guys were making going at it to buy the car from me and I never understood why at that time. Today I regret my decision of selling that car because my 2009 Toyota Corolla only has 137,000 miles and I took it to the mechanic today to see what could be done regarding the excessive oil consumption and he discovered that my car has two defective cylinders and I noticed two weeks ago that my car was loosing power and that the acceleration was too slow and it wasn’t responding like before and the engine shook when coming to a stop. I though that it was an electrical problem or that it required a new gas pump, but that wasn’t the case, it was the two defective cylinders causing the problem. I will contact the nearest Toyota dealership to see what their response is regarding their defects on the excessive oil consumption of their Corolla engines even thought I am aware that my engine model is not covered, but it has a defect that in my opinion Toyota must fix since they manufactured that car. Now those two defective cylinders are causing my car to consume more fuel. According to my mechanic it will cost me between $1,700 - $2,000 to get another engine for my car and $3,500 - $4,000 for a rebuilt engine. I am afraid of purchasing another engine because I am sure I will face the same problem that I am facing right now with my car. I will give my best shot to make Toyota fix the defect in my car’s engine or this will be my last Toyota vehicle for sure if they refuse to fix their manufacturing defect. Too bad that Toyota has decided to ruin their reliability on their cars after manufacturing reliable cars in the past. I have owned a 1977 Toyota Celica and a 1998 Toyota Corolla in the past and I thought that when I purchased a 2009 Toyota Corolla that everything will be better, but I could see by experience that not everything that glitters is gold. Another problem that I have had with my 2009 Toyota Corolla is the ignition coils and the alternator. I never had those problems when I had the 1998 Toyota Corolla. Shame on you Toyota.
If this was my car, and is in as good of condition as you say.
I’d spend the $4000 for a rebuilt engine and plan on getting another 10 years and 137,000 miles.
Where else are you going to get a well maintained car with a rebuilt engine for $4000 ?
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I will be blunt:
YOU caused the damage by NOT checking your oil level routinely. All internal combustion engines consume oil, some may go 5000 miles and consume less than a quart, others may consume a quart or more in 1000 miles.
Running the car with low oil contributed to the damage.
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