Celica Forums General Discussion General Who killed Celi

A little background, I bought a used 2k Celica gts 36.7k mi, seems to run ok. Only mod I can tell is a CAI.

After one week of driving it I got a CEL while one the highway, multi misfire. they did the TSB for changing the ECU & injectors.

One week later I don't get a CEL but it sounds like it is misfiring and so I take it down to Toyota and tell them I don't think it is running right. Just prior to getting to Toyota the car did seem to run better. Mech takes it for a spin (6 mi), comes back and says everything is running perfect and they send me on my way...

One week later I get a CEL, misfire #2, Again as I get to Toyota the CEL goes out and they basically tell me without tearing down the engine they can't do much about it.

So I continue to drive it... Starts at times seem real hard! RPMs coming to a stop would drop to 500 or so, not die but come close. This got worse over time. Mostly city driving at this point.

Around the 7th week on a Sunday I took it for a drive on the highway, about 4 hours between 50 and 90 mph. Seem to run good during the trip. I get back and stop to put gas in it and when I get back in and it will not start. I eventually got it started but not very easy! I take it home, which is just around the corner and let it sit for about and hour. Try to start it and it starts, a few cranks but starts... CEL comes on.

Next day idles are real rough! Coming to stops I had to feather the pedal a bit until stopped or it seem to die. Next day it got worse, and by the third it flat out died at ever stop going to work, which is about 7 miles and less than 10 lights.

At noon I take it in to Toyota and right away they start talking bent valves, and I broke... I also mention that while going into 4th it didn't seem to want to go very smoothly. Had done this every since I had it.

When they tore it down they found all the valves were bent and zero compression in 2/3 and low in 1/4. The decide to replace the valves, springs, rings, etc... basic overhaul. Oh and the water pump died there even though the temp never did move above normal when I had it.

The transmission, they open up and find it is in shambles and decide to rebuild it too! I can count the times I hit lift in it and every time I paid special attention when shifting from 3rd - 4th because of all the miss-shifts I have read about. So I am pretty sure I didn't miss-shift. I screwed up 2nd a few times by letting the clutch out to quick, couldn't get it into 1st while at stop a few times and 4th I couldn't get it into many times without slightly grinding, almost like a burp. And yes I had my clutch to the floor.

The repair was all covered under 5yr/60k mi power Tran warranty, thank god! I also bought the ext warranty 4yr/40k mi which makes me good for 9yr/100k mi. They bitched every step of the way, and I just stayed calm every time they said You broke it: I wanted to just lay into them but that wouldnt have helped me at all!

All the signs of a miss-shifted car huh!

I hear of others racing the hell out of their car and no problems at all... It's just the miss-shift that will bring you down.

Maybe after the breaking period I will feel more at ease but right now I am almost afraid to hit lift in it, afraid to break it.

My question is do you think this car was slightly miss-shifted by the previous owner or raced a lot and the more I drove it the worse it got? I put 2k miles on it, half on the highway. I'm 40 and not a nube to driving. I have owned many cars and most were manual.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated

Stein

i think the previous owner before you did a lot of racing and from judging at all the problems in the car, he's one stupid driver. Just keep calm though St9, your car will be back to normal

yeah they seemed to have found the problem and taken care of it, i think once its broken in again your celica will be like new

Hey st9 my car is in the shop with broken valves too! water-pump is leaking, head gasket is leaking, one piston is fryed, and i need a totally new clutch so i opted for the trd Performance clutch. The previous guy must have mis-shifted in your car pretty badly, but not bad enought it showed until you started driving it. Mis-shifted in my car and the next day the car was shaking like crazy from the broken valves! Anyways it's a good thing to check up on the previous owners of cars especially sports cars since they are likely to be abused. It's cool that your covered under the 60,000 powertrain warranty, lucky for me too. Anyways how much was it to get the extended warranty, for 100,000 warranty?

yup.. i say previous owner drove it into the ground from the sound of it

About 1,400

With all the work so far it has totaled at least $8k.

I figure by the time I hit 100k, if I still own the car all the ext warranty work will have more than paid for itself at $350yr/$35 per 1000 miles. Just a small job cost between $350-$600 and if I only have 1 a year I will be ahead.

Talk to the mofo and tell him wtf's wrong, and why did he sell you a lemon?! Id be pissed off like hell if i were you

mee too man, id go fuck up his shit

Already been there! I work with three lawyers and they gladly help me out. I am sure that is why they are fixing it free of charge. Othersize I would be heeading to court and the angle we were going to use would have paid out tripple damages/lawyer fees (Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act). I am sure they figured fix it or pay 4x the cost!

don't buy a used car from someone who drive fast

I did a carfax and with some paperwork that I found in the car. The car was leased to an private insurance company and all maint was done and nothing bad at all.

Who ever had it I believe f%$&ed it up and turned it in. Since it wasn't too noticeable I suspect Toyota would not have know about it unless they popped the head.

imo: They may have used it for a company car which may have been passed around to people that most likely didn't know how to drive it. and that is how the transmission got hosed, and the engine due to people pushing it all the time and at some point maybe miss-shifting, not a bad 11k rpm miss-shift but enough to do damage.

That is my theory anyways...