Celica Forums General Discussion General New lift bolts but still weak lift

Hey everyone, newbie here, I know this has been discussed so so much here in the forums but I’m sort of lost. Just bought Celica last week and for the most part it was pretty well cared for, however it definitely needed some maintenance done. First thing I noticed when really getting on the car was how quiet/weak lift was, it worked but not like I’ve seen on some of the YouTube videos. So I ordered the lift bolts and valve cover gasket from MWR and while waiting on those to arrive I went ahead and cleaned the OCV for the lift and it was surprisingly clean. I also went ahead and done a fresh oil change, with new air filter, cleaned the throttle body, new Denso IK20 plugs, fuel system clean, cleaned the MAF. My parts came in today and to my surprise at 176,000 miles the factory bolts were not broken! I went ahead and replaced them with the new ones and got the car back together and took it for a ride hoping all that would make a difference, but the car still seems slow and the lift is so quiet you can’t even here it on video. Yes the car is fully warmed up before attempting lift, I also notice that once I hit about 60 the car really seems like it’s struggling, almost like your towing something behind you. Any other advice on to what I can do or check? I really like the car but I’m starting to worry that maybe the engine is just worn out, I hope not and that would be a last resort. Car runs and drives fine under normal conditions but just doesn’t have that kick in the pants like others I’ve been in. Sorry for the long post and thanks!

Hey!

Who did you buy the car from? Do you know how many previous owners? Do you have a cold air intake/short ram/exhaust on the car? Automatic or manual?

Answer those for me if you can, that'll help us help you.

Bought the car from a local guy, 2 owner car and it’s bone stock, 6spd.

Good to know. The reason you may not be getting the sound you're looking for is because it's bone stock. In many of those videos you see, the owner often has an intake of sorts and/or some exhaust work done, which changes sound drastically.

Also, what RPM are you shifting at?

I’m shifting right around 8200, and what I mean by quiet is it’s almost like it doesn’t kick in. The only real way I can tell is by watching the rpm needle jump a little.

Are you able to post a video?

I tried but it’s not letting me post one.

You can try uploading it on youtube and sharing the link here.

I hit the limiter on this pull so just mind that

As you can see once I get to about 65 it’s almost like it hits a wall.

My 02 gts has 379k miles and still hitting lift at 6k. Never been changed. You'll know you're hitting lift if the rpm needle shoots from 6k to limiter almost twice as fast than from idle to 6k. In your case 6.2k

I know how the lift works, but in my case after riding in 2 GTS Celicas it does not pull as hard nor does it hit as hard. I’m not saying it’s not working cause it is, it’s just weak feeling. I’ve done a laundry list of maintenance in the past 2 days thinking it would resolve the issue but to avail. I’ve replaced the lift bolts(mine were not broken) cleaned OCV screen, cleaned MAF sensor, cleaned throttle body, removed butterfly valve and replace with new filter, brand new Denso IK20 plugs, new valve cover gasket, fresh Amsoil fully synthetic oil change, cleaned PCV valve and reset ecu. Like I said and hopefully you can see in the video above once it hits 60-65 mph it’s like it falls on it’s face.

The car runs perfect under normal driving conditions and doesn’t smoke, knock, or tick and uses “0” oil. No check engine lights or anything, not sure what else to do. Unfortunately I can not test the MAF or coil packs cause I don’t have anything like that if they were going out. I run 93 octane and use a bottle of Lucas cleaned every other 3-4 fill ups.

I watched your video but could not see the tach needle at all. The video doesn't help much. Would be nice to show tach needle instead of the speedometer.

See if this is better, sorry for the angle of my phone!

Your lift is very suttle. I just did some pulls this evening and the needle shoots very fast to redline. You can feel the car catapults you for a quick second. Only few videos on youtube ive seen show the hard drastic lift and alot of suttle lift similar to yours. Could be just the model year.

Idk...could be, it just sucks cause I feel like something is wrong! Did you notice in the video how it seems to slow down above 60?

You might want to clean or replace your MAF sensor. They're about $80 or cheaper if you go generic brand.

Like I stated above in my earlier post, I’ve already cleaned the MAF. Car literally just got a full tune up, I would test the MAF but I don’t have a way to do it unfortunately. I did think about replacing it with a new one.