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CarComplaints.com Notes: There must have been something in the water at the plant where they built the eighth generation Corollas, especially the 1998 and 1999 model years.

Outside of airbag problems being reported to NHTSA, this is about as dependable a car as you’ll find. But good luck finding one; owners say they want a new car, but can’t justify trading in their Corolla because the darn thing just keeps rolling.

1.5

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
117,500 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

1998 Toyota Corolla engine problems

engine problem

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1998 Toyota Corolla Owner Comments

problem #2

May 012018

Corolla

  • 235,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

This complaint is about a gps device that attaches to the car through the obdii port. Manufacturered by agnik corporation sold under the brand name vyncs. The device, when installed, has caused intermittent stalling of the vehicle at low speed such approaching a stop or idling in gear at a stop. This was realized to be caused by the device after about 1 week of experiencing intermittent stalling. When the device was removed from the car, the stalling issue dissapeared. I have retained the device for submission to the NHTSA for testing. When I brought this issue to the manufacturer attention they ceased communication with me, disabled the gps service, and closed my account, whereby I could no longer extract any historical communications from them. Additional attempts to contact them through techsupport@agnik.com have been unanswered. Agnik does not publish an address or phone number.

- Nixa, MO, USA

problem #1

Dec 312000

Corolla

  • miles
The engine consumes oil at an alarming rate since I purchased the car 15 years ago. Told a Toyota shop foreman me about this problem and he told me that Toyota doesn't want to admit any fault. He said they made the pistons too small and the rings too big. He is a close friend who knows I take care of my cars extremely well. He said to just keep nursing the car like I do. And for 15 years I have been nursing my car every week I check the oil. If it is a slight bit low I will add oil to the full line. This is the only way to make the car last, if I let it go and didn't check the oil, there would be nothing left in the crankcase, the engine would probably seize up because of lack of oil. I noticed this condition with the engine when I bought the car 15 years ago used. The car was a year and half old. I called Toyota about it back then in the year of 2000 and they denied any problem or recall like they still do today. Since then, I have confronted other Toyota Corolla owners with the same year as mine give a take a year or two and they have all stated that yes there oil was extremely low also. One stranger I walked up to in the parking lot said to me "yes, I add oil to it every week." So to sum things up. I feel that Toyota should compensate owners like me who have faithfully added oil to the engine every week for the past 15 years that I have owned that car. Toyota should be sued for not being honest about their oil burning engines for the 1998 to 2002 Corolla model year. There is no oil leaking under the car at all and all of the gaskets on the engine are dry with no leaks. The interior of the tailpipe has alot of black soot indicating oil consumption within the engine.

- Haverhill, MA, USA

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