Toyota Corolla 1988

Toyota Corolla 1988 Q&As

Check out real-world situations relating to the Toyota Corolla here, particularly what our experts have to say about them.

• Can I use RON 95 or ethanol blend fuel in a 2022 Toyota Camry hybrid engine?

  Even though your car has a hybrid driveline, the bit that runs on petrol uses the same technology as any other Toyota petrol engine. So E10 is fine according to Toyota, although it also says 10 per cent (hence E10) is the highest percentage of ethanol you should consider using. Likewise, 95 RON petrol presents no problems.

  Show more Show less
• My 2013 Toyota Corolla won't go over 40km/h

  If the car won’t accelerate beyond 40km/h, it could be because it has gone into limp-home mode in order to protect itself from further damage. If so, that’s possibly because there’s a major problem somewhere in the driveline. But the chainsaw noise is pretty worrying, too, and suggests that something is rubbing on something else that shouldn’t be.

  The best advice is to not drive the car any farther until it’s been checked by a mechanic. Continuing to drive it risks doing more damage to whatever is already wrong with it.

  Show more Show less
• My 2018 Toyota Corolla has a broken camshaft despite being well serviced

  The Corolla of this vintage has a fine reputation as a vehicle unlikely to fail in such a spectacular way. Assuming, as you say, the servicing has been by the book and the car has not been abused, used to tow massive loads, or operated as a rally car, then the suspicion is that the crankshaft of this particular example may have contained a casting or material fault from day one. This wouldn’t be visible to the people who assembled the engine, but could lead to such a failure after a period of time.

  I’d be inclined to talk to Toyota Australia’s customer service department to see if there’s any financial or mechanical help on offer to repair your vehicle. Even though your vehicle is out of warranty, you might find Toyota will be as horrified as you at such a major failure at such low kilometres and will do something about it. Assuming that a manufacturing flaw is, indeed, the cause of the failure.

  If you don’t get anywhere but wish to pursue it, an independent examination by an appropriate engineer might be able to pin-point the cause of the failure, at which point you might have another bargaining chip. Certainly a broken crankshaft at 62,000km is neither normal nor acceptable.

  Show more Show less
• Can the spare wheel from another Corolla fit the 2019 ZR Hybrid?

  The space-saver from a non-hybrid Corolla should fit your car, provided it’s from a model from the same generation of Corolla. Don’t forget, though, you’ll also need the correct jack and wheel brace to change a tyre by the side of the road.

  The bigger question perhaps, is where you’d store the spare tyre and tools on a Corolla Hybrid. The reason the hybrid model doesn’t have a spare tyre in the first place is that the hybrid’s batteries take up an awful lot of space under the boot floor, where the tyre would otherwise live. Meantime, having a tyre and tools rattling around loose in the hatch area is not only an inconvenience but, in a crash, could be potentially lethal.

  Show more Show less