2003 Toyota Corolla >110,000 miles high idle

Blue smoke? White smoke?

Hmm. I have not noticed any smoke...

Will take a look

Does your heating system appear to be working fine?

change your oil. and filter.

NOW.

then, is your check engine light on?

sounds sensor related...

Will change oil tomorrow when deposit clears bank.

No lights are on. Heater works just fine . does not over heat, does not take too long..etc.etc.

I did try to look for smoke. unfortunately it was very cold so the small puffs I saw could very well have just been heat from the car and nothing more. But the puffs began right away before the car could have gotten TOO warm, but they did not linger like most smoke from a car does.

So.. safe to say I think, no smoking car.

Go to Lambs to get your oil changed. The one next to the Walmart on 71.

It's only like $20 and they rotate your tires for free.

Get there early.

Oh yeah! they do!
Gosh.. thats another thing I need. Tires.
Mine are pretty low. I can feel the slip when I am driving in the rain.
Im one of those super slow drivers when it is raining... not because I am worried about the weather, but because I know I can lose traction.

there is a Lambs not far from here too. Just on Slaughter by HEB at Manchaca.

change your own oil for gods sake. Dont pay someone to do it its so simple a two year old could do it.
You will need two 4 litre (2 x gall plastic icecream containers). a shifting spaner, ring spanner or socket wrench. undo the sump plug, drain the oil. Put the sump plug back in and tighten (not too much!).
Dont lose the copper washer on the sump plug.
refill with oil. 3.7 quarts (3.5 liters) (bit more if a new filter is installed)

To change the oil filter you will need a filter wrench. which is a circular band with a handle on it.


Heres a walk through
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/03/29/autoblog-maintenance-101-oil-change/

Not sure what is causing the oil problem unless you havn't changed it for a long time.
The idle thing does sound like the choke is sticking on. Back in the good old days a bit of WD40 sprayed arounf the carby would probably fix that. not so sure what to do these days.

"a shifting spaner, ring spanner"...

translation please.

(this is amurrica)

I'll let you guess which one is the shifter

ahh.

a crescent wrench, and a double box end wrench.

thankee...

thats a shifter and a ringie!
wanna make sumpin of it?

if I did, I would use an air ratchet, and a 6-point deep socket...

(i have a tool fetish, you know)

i have an impact driver that might suit a certain part of your body.

Cost of 4 quarts of oil: $8-$10
Cost of oil filter: $4-$5

Tools to change the oil, crawling around on the ground in the cold, wet weather, ramp to drive the car up on so you won't hurt you back, finding a place to accept the used oil, cleanup time, scraped knuckles.

or

oil and filter changed while you sit and read a book for half an hour, with a free hot cuppa
free tire rotation
Drive off into the sunset

$20

cake, or death.

1) Open hood.
2) Look at engine, pull on a couple of wires.
3) Close hood.
4) Smack top of hood.

Try that. Actually, I don't know what it is. But dammit woman, change your oil! When's the last time you did that?

you coulda pretty much stopped at this point and changed the oil. whatever else, your car seriously needs an oil change. cheapest way of keeping a car healthy - regular regular oil changes (at least that generation of vehicles)

I did make sure the oil was changed.
Trust me, I pay more attention to my car then I should. Which is why I am surprised that it is low on oil and that it is gunky. It has not looked like that before.
Oil gets 'dark' from use, but not like that. And my car has never ever burned almost 2 quarts. Generally about 1/2 a quart or less. It has always done that so I never thought it was an issue. 2 quarts?? thats happening in the last 7,000 miles. About when I change my oil.
Now that it is technically older, I will drop down to less than 5,000 oil changes. Especially with the sight of this gunk.


Even with the oil change, my engine still feels a bit rough.

Im going to have my oil changed every 2,000 at least 3 times to help clear out that build up.. if that is what will do it?

And chai has a big point.
Of all people, I love love love love love love love to be able to do something with my car. Love it beyond normal human behavior )
But, before now I lived in an apartment and no room to do so. Now, no tools to do so and no disposal system other then 30 miles away. By the time I pay for all of that my oil change cost is over 25.00.
At Quicky Lube right now, 14.99 oil + filter. 20.00 with tire rotation some other places AND both inspect all fluids and my brakes.

Im leaning to the lazy with this one

The spark plugs, wires, cap and other things are to be done by me though. I refuse to pay shop prices for simple stuff like that. Including labor, one place quoted me almost 400 dollars including parts to do just those things. I about died laughing.
I understand that is how shops stay in business and pay their employees, but there are enough people out there afraid to open their own hoods that they can make their money on. not me