2001 Celica GT Engine Blown .

[DOCTORBILL]

My daughter (21) bought a used 4 cylinder 2001 Toyota Celica GT with 80,000 miles on it
for $6000 from a private party in Seattle.
Beautiful looking vehicle.


The damned thing used oil - a quart every 3 days.
The previous owner never mentioned that fact......

Now the engine blew the #4 connecting rod bearing on the crankshaft and the car is dead meat.
Crankshaft bearings destroyed. Metal everywhere in the pan.

Replace the engine or junk the car.
Replacement engine $2100 - Labor another $2600 - for the same garbage engine !
It would be stupid to throw good money after bad.

I found out from the mechanic who examined it that this was 'normal' for Toyota's around 1999 thru 2001 !

Looking around on the Internet, I see that this was a badly designed Toyota Engine.

Is there a replacement engine that can fit in that year Celica GT that is a GOOD engine ?
i.e. without having to modify the mounts and transmission, etc ?

DoctorBill

[Brian R.]

Replace the engine with the same one that's in it. It is not "normal" for those years. Your mechanic is wrong.

[DOCTORBILL]

No - he is not wrong.

Do some Googling about Toyota Celica engines of around 1999 - 2001.
Look for excessive oil consumption problems in the Celica and Corolla.

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/dir.../.ee9aa50/1440
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...ta_engine.html
http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/foru...howtopic=75536
http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-c3595_ds48572
http://www.newcelica.org/forums/showthread.php?t=237924

The above are links from just a few minutes of Googling.

Toyota used to have a good reputation.
I guess that is a thing of the past...

DoctorBill

[Brian R.]

The fact that a few people on internet make complaints because they didn't change their oil often enough or some other lack of maintenance does not make it a general problem or fact. The many people who had no problem do not post. The posts you cite are meaningless. I can prove anything by searching for supporting thought on the internet.

See the first post in the FAQ thread in the Camry forum.

[DOCTORBILL]

If a damned good mechanic tells me, unasked, that these particular years of Celica's had
bad engines and I can find Internet Forums and Consumer Complaint sites that tell of problems
indentical to what the mechanic said, then I believe it.

I looked at your suggestion (written by you):
"See the first post in the FAQ thread in the Camry forum."
It shows me that Toyota has ignored ongoing general problems and only relented under heavy
criticism and bad publicity to the 'Sludge' problem.

Apparently this unnatural oil consumption and bad oil rings problem was and is being stonewalled.
Nice.

All this and a bad reputation, to those who see and hear of these problems, could be alleviated
simply by doing the right thing and fixing them up front w/o the pressure of public opinion.
Extracting out the last penny of profit can cost a corporation it's good reputation - dumb management practice.

Thanks anyway for posting a reply.

DoctorBill