I have a 2002 Celica GTS auto with 2ZZ engine, logging 308K miles so far, still runs smooth and strong. I still cruise at high speed on weekly long trips, no problems, never got stranded in all 18 years. The GTS is the last sports car designed from the ground up by Tioyota. It's an excellent high-performance.Grand Touring car, very quick response engine, steering, braking, but very stable in high-speed freeway cruising. It's a lot of fun to drive. Guys who drive high-performance Porcche, BMW, MBZ are all impressed by its good handling and stability at high speed. They commented that they feel like wanting to race every time they drive my GTS. It's also a very versatile system design with a large hatch back and fold down rear seats. I use it like a pick up truck to move large pieces of furniture and long beams of wood, like 18-ft long, for projects. They all fit in and can be carried by this car. The styling is aesthetic, resembling a F/A-18 with flowing sharp edges. The Celica Gts is a fun, tough and versatile little car. I have no desire to replace it anytime in the near future. Will try to set a record of 1 million miles with the original engine and xmission. Someday it will be a collector car worth some good money.
I abused it for about 2 years, 40K miles, ran on cheap LL 87 Octane when gas was expensive, did no oil change, only top off, ran high speed until low oil warning lit up. .Engine was still running fine at high speed, but gradually had rough idle, vibrated and sputtered at low speed. Compression was low in cyl 1 and was high but uneven in the other cylinders. The shops said running high speed wirh low oil may have worn out piston rings ect, , engine had to be replaced.
I tried to clean out cylinders and valves with oil changes and various chemicals like STP and Sea Foams ect. None worked. Finally I flushed the engine with Motor Medic Gunk ($5 Walmart). Added half a bottle in the oil, idled the car 10 minutes then drained out. The oil was black and thick like a slurry. Did it twice. Both times drained oil was black and thick. Apparently a lot of the hardened residues in the valves and pistons were dissolved. Compression went up and even across all cylinders. Engine ran smooth and strong at idle and all speeds just about like new. I highly recommend flushing engine with Motor Medic Gunk about every 20K miles. May also solve high oil consumption problem in the 1Zz engine with stuck rings, gummed up valves ect.
Car ran great throughout the 308K miles except the following maintenance and repairs:
1 Radiator had a small leak at about 250K after I revved up to 7K RPM to check lift. Bought an OEM DENSO radiator in eBay for about $100 and installed it myself. Replaced thermostat and burped all air out of cooling system quickly and easily. I am not a mechanic but most repairs and maintenance with this car have been easy and safe with guides in forums and a few tools I have.
2 Engine mounts were wrecked due to engine shaking. Replaced with after market main rear mounts twice, 1 top hydraulic mount, 1 transmission mount and a few front engine mounts. All were done by shops except front mount which was easy. Rebuilt mounts with polyurethane hardness 75 for reuse. Work great.
3. Engine leaked oit, stained the driveway, ate about 1 quart every 5K miles. Replaced crank seal, cleaned engine and used dye but could not find and fix the leak. After wasting a lot of time and effort guessing where the leaks came from, eventually had the engine degreased and the shop found leaks at front timing cover seal. It was a big shop job, removing all pulleys and jiggle engine up and down to take out the front cover, taken the shop 9.5 hours. Shops in Socal had quoted $1,000 labor but I had a good shop do it for $250. Engine was clean, no more leaks. For oil leaks you should degrease engine then put car on lift to find and fix all leaks at the same time. Otherwise it would cost a lot of time, major headache and lots of money.
4 Replaced a couple ignition coils after 200K miles. After market coils all fail within 10K miles, including major brands like Bosch China. Only DENSO coils last hundreds thousands miles. Buy coils directly from DENSO web site for about $35. Denso plugs lasted over 200K, still had no problems.
5 Replaced the EGR carbon canister on top of the gas tank, $100 used in eBay, fixed the P0440's EGR CELs.
6 Replaced the DENSO O2 Sensor 2 after the CAT, fixed the P0420 CAT Ineff CEL. This CEL is a bg headache. PM me for the fix.
7 Replaced DENSO Mass Airflow Sensor, $20 used eBay. Original MAS looked good and electrically tested good at 200K miles but was functionally defective, causing P0171 CEL lean intake and engine to bog down in quick acceleration. Swapped in a known-good MAS from another Toyota and figured out original MAS was bad. Solved engine rev up and P0171 problem.
8. at about 220K, ran over curb, bent the front strut. Car was wobbling,. Replaced with a pair of KYB adjustable gas struts. Runs great ever since.
9 Replaced a couple $20 pairs of rear hatch struts after market sold in eBay. Work great. dealers sell OEM struts $250 a pair that keeps failing after 2 years or so.
10 Security system with engine immobilizer went into valet mode which I could not reprogrammed. Replaced with a $70 unit with longer range and louder horn hehe.
11 About 4 sets of tires. Currently have new Yokohama 205-50 ZR16 with 80K miles treadwear. Dont know if they will last that long. One of my favorites was Sumitomo ZR tires, great handling, even wear. long trad wear, low cost, low maintenance. Buy them in Walmart of Tire Rack.
12 Bent a few OEM wheels running over cubs at high speed. car was wobbling and shaking. Tire shop sent them out to heat treat and reshape. Worked great.
13 Free unlimited 4 wheel alignment policy at Firestone $200, worth 10 times the money with over a dozen alignments in 18 years,recommended.
14 4 or 5 battery bought in dealer with prorated 7-year warranty, recommended.
15 Replaced a couple serpentine belts.myself every few years when excessive cracks are found on the ribbed side. It broke once on the road and over heated the engine. I limped 5 miles, turning off engine when overheat, to a secure spot to put in a new belt, pretty easy but you need a 19 mm flat, shallow close end socket with a long breaker bar to release the timing chain tensioner to put the belt in. Good Year Gator Back belt seems the quietest and toughest.
16 Repair shop jacked up the engine to replace rear engine mount, damaged the coolant hose at the top of the block. Coolant was leaking but could not find where since it only leaked when driving. Drove at high speed complete out of coolant. Engine was over heating, Crank shaft bearing was knocking loudly. Limped to a gas station, Turned off engine when temp went into overbeat, added coolant, drove home and replaced a broken hose. Car ran smooth again, no problem. Now you see the abuses my car went through and still survived.
17 Flushed auto transmission at 250K. You can do it yourself with a transmission flush fluid. Transmiision is smooth like silkl. Also flushed out and replaced power steering fluid. Steering was quicker and smoother.
18 Flushed radiator, replaced with Toyota red coolant and distilled water every 100K miles, worked great.
19 Used 5-30 oil, alternately synthetic or organic. Costco has the best and lowest priced synthetic oils, Walmart is next.
20 Bought all OEM front and rear brake pads at dealer. Inspect and replace them when worn down. Aftermarket ceramic pads have good grips but wear out fast and produce lots of dust, dirtying the wheels, not worth cleaning time. Bled out brake fluid gradually at every change of pads, replacing with new DOT 4 fluid. Don't try to flush out all brake fluid at one time as you may add air into fluid lines and screw up the ABS. Any good tips on brake pads, let me know.
21 Bought large lots of oil, air and cabin filters from local Toyota dealer at low wholesale prices.
22 LED head bulbs, low and high beams, don't work well with projector lenses, and are way too dim. I am replacing with HID Zenon bulbs soon. Any good tips let me know. The rear and brake light bulbs, turn signals and all other smaller bulbs were replaced with LEDs, work well.
23 A few minor collisions, with damages to hood, front and rear bumper, were repainted.
The car is very reliable and cheap to operate, never caused me any problems or headache. OTOH my neighbors have a lot of major performance and safety problems with their BMWs, MBZs, Porcshe, GMs, Jaquars, Audi, Volvos ect again and again, which dealers could not fix, wasting a lot of time, efforts and headache
Mechanically my Celica GTS is in great shape after 308K miles, compression is high on all cylinders, emission is good, steering straight and firm, brakes good and tight, no rust or corrosion anywhere. I have no complaint about this car. The way it's running, the engine should last for maybe 700K miles, at which time I will attempt to swap in an used 2ZZ JDM engine (about $1500) at home with a friend help. He's not as smart and handy as I am, but he has good muscles and lots of good shop tools hehe. Should be able to remove the engine with a pulley attached to a strong beam in the garage.
While used Honda Accord 2.5L I4 engines are sold for $200 - 300, the 2ZZ engine uses Titanium components, so used engines are more expensive in the market.
