Help, oil change and tire rotation - now she isn't the same!

First, check to make sure all of your lug nuts are properly tightened. Also, check the oil level on the dipstick to make sure your car wasn't over-filled. To me it sounds like your lugs are loose, if this is the case you need to tighten them IMMEDIATELY! If they are loose you are in danger of losing a wheel while driving. Needless to say, this would pose a safety hazard.

 

Always check the oil level yourself before driving away from any oil change. Doing that can catch some grievous errors before they cause expensive or inconvenient harm. In this case go check it to see whether they overfilled the oil (I agree, getting a half-bottle back sounds like they did not, but it's easy to confirm).

If you usually inflate your tires above Toyota's recommended 35 PSI, check them also. Service techs often default to the recommended pressure, but sometimes they get it wrong.

It may be that one or more wheels are out of alignment which can cause asymmetrical wear on those tires. If so after they are rotated they can feel different. You can look and might notice whether the wear looks different on the inner and outer edges of the tread of each tire, or ask a dealer or tire shop to check the alignment of all wheels.

[Yow! Yes, what blazer wrote about lug nuts! Something that icky didn't occur to me.]

 

who did the service?

 

Is it possible the service tech parked the car with the parking brake engaged?

 

Due to the oil's expansion when hot, the oil level may read a bit higher when the ICE is warm. I would bet there's not much of a difference though.

... Brad

 

The manual says to check it when the engine is warm.

 

Did it get real hot recently and you are using the AC more? Could be coincidence. AC will affect your mpg especially for city driving, runs off your traction battery so you may have more engine input for acceleration. Probably not 10 mpg less though. Also the oil change places always lower my tire pressure even if I tell them not to. I only have 40/38. I change my own oil if the garage floor isn't freezing. Like others said, if you need an allignment and you rotate tires, that could cause even lower mpg too. I think the dealer always provides one free alignment if you request it.

 

When you get an update from Fern's doc, please post it. I hope they find the problem and get her up and running soon.

 

I'm glad to here Fern checks out OK with the docs. Perhaps it is just a bit of anxious parenting on your part.

It could be that you've forgotten the effects of A/C, or that you've left the fan on too high, but I think a bigger culprit is the time and length of your drives. I have a very short commute, and it is a killer in the winter and if I use A/C. I usually avoid heat and A/C by keeping the car in the garage and just living with 10 minutes of non-perfect climate in the car. Even if I turned on heat or A/C, it wouldn't really be comfy for almost 10 minutes anyway!