Just bought a 2010 Corolla S

[BrownBox88]

Anything I need to know? This is me and my wife's first toyota purchase. I noticed the oil filler cap says 5w-20, but I've been hearing toyota back spec'd it to use 0w20 also. Car has 27k miles and is a certified used car. I've been thinking of a maintenance plan since we bought it but I'm undecided.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I wouldn`t go down in oil weight. Stick with the 5W. SWEET car!

 

[Quest]

either 5W20, 5W30 or 0W20 should serve this baby well.

Q.

 

[Doog]

A good off the shelf 5w20 synthetic from Walmart will do fine. Change oil every 5000 miles. DO NOT do extended oil changes or your warranty is toast. You can usually get Denso oil filters for it from Rock Auto for about $3 each. Drain/fill coolant and replace with Toyota long life pink premixed every 50,000. Flush trans every 50,000 with WS ATF. Drain fill power steering reservoir with TIV or DexIII ATF. Flush brake fluid with DOT3/4 with every pad change. Clean PCV every 50,000. Change air filter and clean MAF sensor every 20,000 .
You can easily expect to get 200,000 miles from that car. Do start a maintenance log and keep mileage & receipts for your certified warranty documentation.

 

[BrownBox88]

Just noticed an oil change reminder sticker on the window. It says 07/14/2012. That's so far from now and she drives 20 miles each one way to work. So about 50 miles a day, all highway, some stop and ago. Before she went into Reserve status with the Navy, I've been babying my Mitsubishi's since I bought them, I mean by keeping it clean, making sure they're warmed up before even shifting into gear. Now they ALL BURN OIL (sometimes smokes a lot) because she's the crank up, drive off, let's floor it while the engine is stone cold type since she's usually late to her civilian job.

 

[badger05]

I just bought the exact same car about 2 weeks ago from an individual who wanted to upgrade to a truck. 2010 Corolla S with 12,000 miles. Plan on keeping it for a long time. Might do a drain/fill on the transmission when the weather gets better up here just to see the condition of the fluid. There was some posts on here recently about the WS fluid being shot by about 30k.

My oil filler cap and manual both say 5w-20 or 0w-20.

 

[CharBaby]

Just from that one single picture, she looks like a sweetie! The owners manual(OM) should get you by for a lifetime. They're not prefect but, they do run for a long time. How long would you plan on keeping the car???

I can almost drive my cars for 20 years up north but due to the winter salt, I have only been able to go about 17-18 years max but well into the 200K's of miles. And one car even went over 300K.

With good maintenance, you can at least do what I did. With great maintenance, I would say that you can drive this Corolla for over 30 years as a daily driver(DD) if you wanted to.

The folks that I know only got rid of Corolla's for reason being:

*the car was old/rusty
*didn't like it anymore/too OLD
*liked the way other cars drove better
*250K-300K miles

I have known >100 people with Corolla's over my life and I have never known one single person that had problems with a Corolla. Many folks bought them already with over 100K miles on'em.

IMHO, just from those whom I have had the pleasure of knowing, I'd say that the Corolla is the single most reliable car on the planet. They're(or use to be) an ammazing car. A bit boaring to drive(as are most Toyota's) but, ammazing just the same!

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: BrownBox88
Just noticed an oil change reminder sticker on the window. It says 07/14/2012. That's so far from now and she drives 20 miles each one way to work. So about 50 miles a day, all highway, some stop and ago. Before she went into Reserve status with the Navy, I've been babying my Mitsubishi's since I bought them, I mean by keeping it clean, making sure they're warmed up before even shifting into gear. Now they ALL BURN OIL (sometimes smokes a lot) because she's the crank up, drive off, let's floor it while the engine is stone cold type since she's usually late to her civilian job.


My wife does the same. Use Pennzoil Platinum or Mobil1 5w20...it will pump up in that engine in 5 seconds and keep it clean as a whistle. If you use a good synthetic her habits won't hurt it.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Nice car.
5W20 every 5000 miles
OR
0W20 every 10000 miles
Your choice. My take is Toyota 0W20 is no brainer unless you see oil consumption and need to switch to XW30 oil.

Ring wear on cold engine is a function of low temp and condensing combustion byproducts and has little to do with oil. My wife does the same thing. Fortunately, we are both in mild climate. And it takes a while to back up from a garage, so that slows my wife down some.

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: badger05
Might do a drain/fill on the transmission when the weather gets better up here just to see the condition of the fluid. There was some posts on here recently about the WS fluid being shot by about 30k.

I do a flush at 50k on all of my Toyotas with the WS. By 50k the fluid is almost as black as used motor oil. It is still good according to Toyota and is rated to go 100k so I doubt 30k is accurate. But at 50k it is visibly dirty. Plus flushing at 50k keeps the transmissions shifting like new.

 

[qr25de]

Originally Posted By: Doog
Originally Posted By: badger05
Might do a drain/fill on the transmission when the weather gets better up here just to see the condition of the fluid. There was some posts on here recently about the WS fluid being shot by about 30k.

I do a flush at 50k on all of my Toyotas with the WS. By 50k the fluid is almost as black as used motor oil. It is still good according to Toyota and is rated to go 100k so I doubt 30k is accurate. But at 50k it is visibly dirty. Plus flushing at 50k keeps the transmissions shifting like new.


Oh you mean ATF. WS just means World Standard so there are a lot of "world standard" fluids in the ... world.

 

[i812]

Seems like a waste of money running synthetic for a 5000 mile OCI. Plently of Dino or Synthetic blend oils that can handle 5000 mile OCI's with no problems. Congrats on the purchase and good luck!

 

[BrownBox88]

Thank you for the replies.

We plan on keeping it til the wheels fall off, as I have with all previous vehicles(use to own volvo bricks). Anyone know if the 1.8L is a sludger? I've been reading posts about newer Toyota engines being known sludgers or was that just in the V6 line up? As far as oil changes, I think I'm gonna just take it to the dealer since its not even a mile from us. They have a dino oil special for $25 which includes tire rotation and some inspection thing. I'm against oil changes at the dealership because I like doing things like that myself, kinda feel like I'm violating a BITOG ten commandment. It'll make the wife feel better since she will drive it the most.

 

[addyguy]

Engines isn't a sludger.

I'd keep it simple - 5W-20 every 5k miles.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

You don't need 0W-20 in Florida. I would probably skip the 5W-20 too - instead use a thin-side 5W-30 in that Florida heat - when the warranty expires.

Just me thou.... what I would do.

 

[tig1]

I would use a quality 0-20 synthetic. It doesn't matter if you live in Florida, Illinois, or Alaska, a quality 0-20 synthetic will be great for your engine.

 

[HerrStig]

Check for an larger oil filter for that engine. Camry 4 cyls with spin ons used to spec a Purolator 14476, now the 14477 is used which is a bit larger. Toyota Nation is a great site with model specific info. BTW I learned a while ago that the front hub on older Corollas (not sure about something as new as a 2010 though) is common with the Camry AND the ES300. You can upgrade front calipers and rotors to the V6 Camry/ES300/Avalon
version as a bolt on. If and when the time comes many years down the road that you need to deal with worn calipers the cost of the bigger rebuilts is just a few bucks more than the stock rebuilts. Bigger brakes, always good. You would need 15 inch rims at least, though.

 

[BrownBox88]

Originally Posted By: tig1
I would use a quality 0-20 synthetic. It doesn't matter if you live in Florida, Illinois, or Alaska, a quality 0-20 synthetic will be great for your engine.


I've been thinking about using 0w20. Would there be any fuel economy loss/gains between 5w20 and 0w20? In the dealership, they had a huge pop up billboard about genuine toyota synthetic 0w20, stating better fuel economy. But I doubt there would be any HUGE differences between the two.

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

If you have the 1.8, it uses a cartridge filter. I'm sure they see plenty of them, but I would be nervous about letting a quick lube place change this filter. Replacement elements from Toyota are probably cheaper than the Fram on store shelves, and they come with a new plug washer. The filter cap requires a 64mm 14-flat wrench. (Search TOY640)

I got a 2010 Vibe (1.8 with 4-speed auto) at similar mileage. A trans pan drain is easy with the drain plug, and good insurance in my estimation. The 4-speed takes between 2.5 and 3 quarts of WS.

I have been using Pennzoil or Quaker State 5W-20 at 5000 miles.

It looks like you found a nice one. Good luck.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: i812
Seems like a waste of money running synthetic for a 5000 mile OCI. Plently of Dino or Synthetic blend oils that can handle 5000 mile OCI's with no problems. Congrats on the purchase and good luck!


Newer toyotas are rated at 10,000 miles OCI on synthetic 0W20. I thought 2010 Corolla was the same. If the 5,000 mile OCI limitation is in effect like in earlier toyotas, then I agree with you.