Corolla cruising RPM comparison

AKhan87 · Apr 20, 2015

so we have 6 1zzfes in the family all with 4 speed transmission:

Cruising rpms @ 70 mpg
98 corolla le 2750
99 corolla ce 2500
01 corolla le 2500
00 celica gt 2700
01 celica gt 2700
01 celica gt 2700

Cruising rpms @ 80 mpg
98 corolla le 3050
99 corolla ce 2750
01 corolla le 2750
00 celica gt 3050
01 celica gt 3050
01 celica gt 3050

All have rebuilt motors with their ATF filter and fluids changed, fuel injectors cleaned, all the other maintenance items that I could think of.

My confusion is, why does the 98 corolla have higher cruising rpms then the 99 or 01? They have the same 4 speed transmissions

GenesisGuy70 · Apr 20, 2015

You risked a speed ticket to do this?

Or is 80mph legal in MO?

Clevy · Apr 20, 2015

Torque convertor lock up?

And did I read that right. The engines are all rebuilt. I thought toyota never needed them rebuilt because their engines ran forever.

Mr Nice · Apr 20, 2015

Are the tires the same size (height) ?

Example: 185/70-15 verses 195/70-15

geeman789 · Apr 20, 2015

Different tire size... gearing change year to year (trans. or final drive...) faulty speedometer (s) ...?

friendly_jacek · Apr 20, 2015

RE: I thought toyota never needed them rebuilt because their engines ran forever.

those years are all oil burners. regular people don't check oil, LOL.

OP: add me in. 03 corolla S, 3000 RPM @ 75 MPH (IIRC).

Koz1 · Apr 20, 2015

So many variables its amazing even with similar vehicles.
Tires, pressure inside and outside, tread depth, air filter, on and on and on...

Tegger · Apr 20, 2015

Originally Posted By: 01_celica_gt
They have the same 4 speed transmissions

Are you certain? What are the transmission part-numbers for all?

There are very many variants of the A-series 4-speed automatic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_A_transmission

According to that Wiki page, your six vehicles will have different versions of the A241 tranny. Different versions will very likely have different internal gear-ratios, which would account for the engine-speed differences you have observed.

Lolvoguy · Apr 20, 2015

Originally Posted By: Koz1
So many variables its amazing even with similar vehicles.
Tires, pressure inside and outside, tread depth, air filter, on and on and on...

temperature, wind speed, humidity, incline, weight of the driver and load etc

supton · Apr 20, 2015

All of these going by gps or dash readout? I have to wonder if a couple are dash related, programmed or just guage error. The Celica, I wonder if they used a deeper final drive to be more "sporty".

AKhan87 · Apr 20, 2015

Originally Posted By: Throt
You risked a speed ticket to do this?

Or is 80mph legal in MO?

traveling on our interstate highways, speed limit is 70-75 mph, and cops here are lenient for 1-10 mph over the speed limit, unlike IOWA, I got ticketed for 3 mph over the speed limit, which I can't complain about since I was technically speeding.

AKhan87 · Apr 20, 2015

Originally Posted By: Clevy
Torque convertor lock up?

I don't understand how that system works, you care to elaborate?

Originally Posted By: Clevy
And did I read that right. The engines are all rebuilt. I thought toyota never needed them rebuilt because their engines ran forever.
We have 360k, 280k, 260k, 210k, 145k, & 130k on these 1zz-fes that were rebuilt not long ago for oil burning, but since the rebuilt, no more oil loss, drilled additional oil return holes as Toyota did with the 05-08 1zz-fes, apart from that, these are ridiculously reliable engines from my experience at least.

AKhan87 · Apr 20, 2015

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Are the tires the same size (height) ?

Example: 185/70-15 verses 195/70-15

all the corollas have the same tire sizes, and all the celicas have the same tire sizes.

Height? I have installed OEM equivalent Kyb Complete Strut Assemblies in the corollas and Kyb Struts in the celicas, so the ride height should be the same, and no I didn't measure it but rather speculating.

AKhan87 · Apr 20, 2015

Originally Posted By: geeman789
Different tire size... gearing change year to year (trans. or final drive...) faulty speedometer (s) ...?

different gearing ratio would make sense, the speedometer part of the gauge cluster was compared to the gps speed aps and they seem all accurate and compared between the corollas on the highway at the same time to see any difference but found none (I did find out that our 06 Camry with OEM tire size is reading 5 mph over the actual speed limit)

AKhan87 · Apr 20, 2015

Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
RE: I thought toyota never needed them rebuilt because their engines ran forever.

those years are all oil burners. regular people don't check oil, LOL.

OP: add me in. 03 corolla S, 3000 RPM @ 75 MPH (IIRC).

I don't like the 03 corollas because they increased in weight without any changes to the engine to compensate for the added weight.

I took a 2008 Corolla S(60k miles on it) to Chicago and back, and averaged 32 mpg with 80mph cruising speed.
Also took a 2013 Corolla S rental(20k miles on it) to Chicago and back and averaged 31.5 mpg.
my 00-01 celicas get 34-36 mpg average.
98 corolla did 33 mpg average(with 260k miles on it)
the 99 & 01 corolla average 34-36 mpg average on that same trip.

AKhan87 · Apr 20, 2015

Originally Posted By: Tegger
Originally Posted By: 01_celica_gt
They have the same 4 speed transmissions

Are you certain? What are the transmission part-numbers for all?

There are very many variants of the A-series 4-speed automatic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_A_transmission

According to that Wiki page, your six vehicles will have different versions of the A241 tranny. Different versions will very likely have different internal gear-ratios, which would account for the engine-speed differences you have observed.
this might be right, my thought would be the difference in the transmission's final gear, but I wanted to see if there was any issue that you guys may know about.

yesthatsteve · Apr 21, 2015

I used to have a 2002 Prizm, 5-sp MT. It would do 2700 at 70 MPH.

friendly_jacek · Apr 21, 2015

Originally Posted By: 01_celica_gt

I don't like the 03 corollas because they increased in weight without any changes to the engine to compensate for the added weight.

yes, but the cabin (especially rear seats) and trunk are bigger and more comfortable in 03+, felt almost mid-size (felt as i don't have it anymore).

Originally Posted By: 01_celica_gt

I took a 2008 Corolla S(60k miles on it) to Chicago and back, and averaged 32 mpg with 80mph cruising speed.

yes, that's exactly what i got in the 03 @ 80mph. even a bit less when fully loaded and with heavy AC use.

SwampSurvivor · Apr 21, 2015

Gearing and tire size play a lot in this.

I can think of 3 or 4 gear ratios that came in Focus with the 2.0L Duratec engine and 5 speed manual transmission .. .that all had the same size tires.

HangFire · Apr 21, 2015

Also... not all tires of the same size, are the same size.

Corolla cruising RPM comparison

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