I drive a 1996 Corolla with the 1.6L 4AFE motor and the A131L 3-speed automatic transmission, just over 189,000 miles. Corollas are known to get great gas mileage, but mine only gets around 22 mpg in the city, and maybe 25 mph on the highway, if I'm lucky. The spark plugs have been changed and the air filter is fairly new and isn't clogged up. I don't want to put a whole bunch of money into it, but if there's something cheap that I can do to get better mpg, I'd love to know about it. Hopefully it's not the catalytic converter. I have gotten a code for it in the past, but it hasn't come back after I used a bottle of Cataclean.
TLDR: 1996 Corolla is only getting 22/25 mpg.
Clean the MAF sensor.
Did you always get this mpg or it just recently dropped?
@yaser
I got it just over a year ago, and it's always been that low, AFAIK. I planned to clean it when I change my oil next week.
Is this recent? If it's been there a while I would suggest try looking into the o2 sensor and cleaning out the MAF or anything else easy to get to. Since the spark plugs were changed, is that when the bad mileage appeared? If it was before then also check injectors and evap. If it's any solace to you you get more milage than my project e30 bmw LOL
@bruceree
I am very particular about keeping my tires at manufacturer specification (30 PSI). Strangely, I didn't notice a considerable drop in mpg using the AC, and I try to stay at the speed limit or maybe 5-10 above on the highway. I've thought about changing my fuel filter, but it's a bit of a pain on this particular model.
Deleted last part since it was already answered. Felt redundant, I also wanted to add fuel filter. If it is getting clogged. It could be cause for it as it would happen slowly enough over time to cause an issue.
Gas mileage tends to drop as the engine gets older. The engine loses it's efficiency as the components wear out and when carbon build-up increases in the cylinders. It's totally normal. I'd say 22/25 mpg is pretty good for a car that old. According to Google, the gas mileage for a NEW 1996 Corolla is 31/35 mpg, but keep in mind that it says "up to". Most of the time they are not "real-world" numbers...they are calculated.
@razmig Bartassian mentioned good points. You can also fill up your tank with high high octane gas, if your car gets better mpg, you most likely have carbon built up in your engine.
I would do a system flush which consists of cleaning out the carbon from the throttle body and old built up gas from the fuel lines
