2000 Celica GT

>almost 200,000 miles

To many for me

OP, 7th gen Celica's are awesome cars... I bought one three years ago, and the damn thing is the most reliable car I've EVER owned. I used to daily drive it 100 miles/day to/from work. Now I DD it about 60 miles a day as of six months ago.

As someone else pointed out, the early 7th gens had an issue with high mileage oil use, due to piston ring blowby, IIRC.

With that said, I bought mine with 60k on it, and now have almost 130k on it. I change the oil religiously at 3k, I have changed the plugs once. I feed it good midgrade gas, and it .. just .. runs. Never skips a beat, whether its 100 degrees or -30 degrees. Rain, snow (with snow tires), whatever. It gets me to work every day.

With all that said, its certainly not the fastest car in the world. Dont expect it to be some race car... BUT, they handle GREAT, the look GREAT, they run GREAT, and they are reliable as heck.

195k is a bit high on mileage if you're concerned about the possibility of oil usage, but if you run into that situation, you could always have the engine re-ringed, or throw a lower mileage 1ZZ under the hood. Or, better yet, if you have that issue, swap a 2ZZ in!! Perfect time to do it, and its basically plug and play.

OP, I'd probably buy the car FWIW.

Have fun.

Slow, pigfat, poor handling econobox pretending to be a sports car. Its retarded ownerbase will fanboy it to death but if you want a reliable car look elsewhere, a reliable sports car and get a miata

Thanks for this post.
Inspired me, I'm getting it next week.

Also, how much would it cost to get the engine re-ringed?

How can it not be reliable? It's basically a modded corolla

I mean if I wanted reliable I'd get an econobox and a reliable sports car then a reliable sports car. An econobox pretending to be a sports car is just disgusting to me (on that note what the fuck is Honda doing with the current Civic )

The new Civic doesn't look half bad

Does anyone know how much it would cost to get the engine re-ringed?

like those previous anons said, due to its mileage you should check for oil burn since some 1zzfe's are doomed to start doing that once they reach a certain mileage. that being said, if you baby that engine you can easily squeeze another 100k-200k miles out of it before it needs a replacement or a rebuild

as for the car itself, don't listen to the boyracers and busriders who give this car so much undeserved hate. it's reliable, practical, easy/cheap to fix if anything breaks, great on gas, takes high revs without protest due to it being DOHC, and doesn't understeer around a tight corner like most fwd shitboxes do.

I love my GT, and I have no doubt you'll love yours. best of luck, OP

shoot yourself in the face

>like those previous anons said, due to its mileage you should check for oil burn since some 1zzfe's are doomed to start doing that once they reach a certain mileage. that being said, if you baby that engine you can easily squeeze another 100k-200k miles out of it before it needs a replacement or a rebuild

The CAT is going to get clogged before the engine goes, assuming you keep the levels fed.

CAT?

catalytic converter.

All of that oil slipping by the rings has to go somewhere.

Making appointment tomorrow to stop by the dealer next weekend and finally buy it.
I'll probably post something. But I am feeling confident I'll like it.
Thank you user

As many anons have said, its a great car. I have a GT as well and though mine had some idling issues when I first bought it, Ive managed to work that out.

As for re-ringing the engine, Im about to do that myself. Along with a bottom end rebuild for unrelated reasons.
If you just hone the cylinders and put new rings on(after extensive cleaning) + head gasket by yourself at home, you're looking at roughly ~$150-200 if that depending on where you source parts. Also a good day of work or two.
A shop will easily charge you ~$700-upwards of $1200.

Lol. Mine eats a quart every 300-350 miles or so. Anytime the VVT kicks in it looks like I'm rolling coal almost.
But I havent had any cat or O2 codes. Thank you Seafoam.
Mine is a 2001.

Do the 03-05 models burn oil like the 2000-2001?

The first car I ever bought new was an 01 GT (yes I'm damn near elderly), I loved that car. The GT's are under powered, especially if its an auto but it handles pretty well and is fantastic on gas.

no

I got quoted over $2000

I want to do it myself but I am a mechanical retard

I'd like to do it myself. But don't want to fuck it up.

I mean, Ive been working on cars for a little bit. This will be my biggest undertaking so far, but it has to be done. And Im not gonna get fucked by a shop. Just do your research.
I have to take the bottom end apart to replace the rods(one broke and took a wristpin with it) and possibly crank anyway. So im gonna do the rings and hone or bore/sleeve the block if I have to.
Either way, its a good two day job for me.

I can follow a procedure just fine, but my main concern would be troubleshooting if something goes wrong.

< This

It would be my first major repair too. And I am just learning about cars still.

You'll have to make sure you rev up your engine

I'm planning on replacing the engine for a 2ZZ, they seem to be at around $2K, how much would it cost to install?

bptg

>swap a 2ZZ in

would the GT's stock 5 speed transmission be able to handle the added hp and torque without falling apart?

I have a buddy who had an RSX-S. he tuned it to make around 50 more horsepower, and his transmission broke after about a month because it couldn't handle it. I'm scared the same thing might happen to my celica GT if I swap in a 2ZZ

Just get a GT-S then.

Or transmission kit?

retard

>3/5
Reality
>2/10

toyotas attempt at making something for honda fanboys

even as a toyota/lexus fanboy i'm not that impressed, always seemed like a factory ricemobile to me

Rice mobile is good mobile

...

Im really glad that my comments helped someone make a decision... Finally feel like posting occasionally is worth it...

Its a great car. You will enjoy it... They handle great. Really. They do. And they go plenty fast for most days... And damn, they are gorgeous cars.

Interiors are nice too... Had three cars on my list when I ended up with my Celica. What beat out one of the others hands down was the interior. My Celica is my DD... I spend about 8 hours a week staring at the inside of my car. I need to enjoy that.

As far as cost on re-ringing... I'll get ahold of one of my friends and get them to quote out the job via Mitchell or whatever they are using nowadays. That'll give you a general idea.

If I don't get the quote on here before this thread dies, I'll start a new thread with a pic of my silver 7th gen Celica, and will include the cost they give me.

>under $3000
Goddamn you're poor.

One of my buddies and I swapped a 2ZZ into his MR2... Originally was a 1ZZ w/ 5 speed. We swapped in the entire 2ZZ w/ 6 speed that he had purchased from one of the typical JDM engine importers...

If you do end up going with a 2ZZ swap, make it easier for yourself... Just pay the few extra hundred bucks and get the 2ZZ + transmission + ECU + harness. You're looking at about 1,500 or so... At least that's the deal my buddy got...

We swapped it in a weekend. Then, it took me another couple weekends to get some bugs worked out of the engine management system. Also, keep in mind that when you swap the ECU, you end up with a JDM ECU that doesn't like to talk 'normal' OBDII... Get yourself one of those 25 dollar BAFX dongles to read your codes.

I think the problem with mating a 2ZZ up to a 5 speed tranny is that the gearing is off from what is optimal for the 2ZZ engine. Their torque curves are different. From what I have heard, though, they do bolt up and it does work.

To your point though, I guess there could be longevity issues. Would at very least need a better clutch than stock for 1ZZ.

Enjoy!

this is by far the most straightforward, detailed answer I've gotten to the question, I will definitely refer to this when the time comes to do the swap. many thanks!

I am.