What's wrong with my '90 GT?

Sabine77 · #1 08-31-2005, 11:34 AM

I've had my '90 Celica GT for just over two years. It has 190k miles but has been a reliable daily driver. It seems to be all stock.

The other day it started doing a little jerking thing when I accelerate. I added some Seafoam gas additive, but I'm wondering if it's possibly electrical instead of bad gas?

Any thoughts?

91 Celica St · #2 08-31-2005, 04:13 PM

in your opinion is the problem eminating from the tranney or the engine? cuz it could be eather

Sabine77 · #3 08-31-2005, 04:36 PM

I'm thinking the problem is the engine, not the tranny.

Edited to add: I should have said that the jerking motion doesn't happen exact moment when I'm starting to move from a stop, but rather any time I accelerate.

blakscorpion21 · #4 08-31-2005, 05:24 PM

mine is doin that too does it also do it a little when changing gears? i figured it was the trans cause i put in some trans fluid and it stopped for a while but then it cameback and trans fluid dont help anymore.

90GTCelica · #5 08-31-2005, 05:53 PM

Mine does it like when i go into second gear at low rpm... it actually helps when i give it gas though... when i let off the gas after changing gears is when it does it to me....

CactuarGirl · #6 08-31-2005, 09:56 PM

mine was doing that and my friend told me it was the head gasket. So I took it to my "toyota specialist" and it turned out to be just a hole in my intake. Now I'm not saying that that's the problem...but it's a cheaper solution. Does it act like it wants to stall out even though you have the timing right? When you said it does it when you accelerate like how fast are you usually going. Or is it just whenever you push on the gas?

Sabine77 · #7 09-01-2005, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blakscorpion21

mine is doin that too does it also do it a little when changing gears? i figured it was the trans cause i put in some trans fluid and it stopped for a while but then it cameback and trans fluid dont help anymore.

It does it sometimes when shifting, other times it shifts perfectly smoothly. The bobble seems to be completely unpredictable.

This is clearly a stupid question but here goes - when I look under my hood, I don't see a place for transmission fluid? Mine is a manual transmission.

Sabine77 · #8 09-01-2005, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CactuarGirl

mine was doing that and my friend told me it was the head gasket. So I took it to my "toyota specialist" and it turned out to be just a hole in my intake. Now I'm not saying that that's the problem...but it's a cheaper solution. Does it act like it wants to stall out even though you have the timing right? When you said it does it when you accelerate like how fast are you usually going. Or is it just whenever you push on the gas?

It doesn't act like it wants to stall - it's almost but not quite that bad. It can happen when I'm sitting at a stop light, although only a tiny bit. It seems to happen more often (or maybe just be more noticable) when I'm accelerating. I do a lot of in-town driving, so I notice it a lot when I'm in second gear. After putting the Seafoam in it I took it for a little drive and noticed it a lot at about 40mph.

blakscorpion21 · #9 09-01-2005, 09:38 AM

on mine there is a little orange handle that you pull out and put itn in there. its auto. though so it might be diffrent its just to the left of the fusebox.

91 Celica St · #10 09-01-2005, 02:51 PM

there is no dip stick for manual tranneys, its called a sealed transmission

theres 2 plugs on the side and bottem of the tranny, the big side one is the fill one, just keep adding fluid untill it starts to drip out...the bottem one is the drain one

barkroc2 · #11 09-01-2005, 10:29 PM

sounds like a bad spark to me. from a wire or plug or the distributor itself. i been through it and it was my distrib.

drunkpuppy · #12 09-02-2005, 02:08 AM

im with barkroc...it sounds like it could be an ignition problem. Did you recently change the wires or plugs, they may have been put back in out of sequence. Or it may be in need of a tune up (plugs, wires, dist cap, rotor) and check the timing. If you havent dont a tune up in a while id try that first. Its one of the cheaper parts of car maintence. Before you go and buy the parts though (assuming that you havent done this already), make sure that all your plug wires are tight and that your distributor cap isnt loose. Oh well...theres my 2cents. Best wishes.

Sabine77 · #13 09-02-2005, 07:20 AM

Thanks barkroc, puppy, and all who have replied. I have had the car for a hair over two years now and haven't done a tune-up - or even changed the poor spark plugs. That will be a cheap and easy way to start.

blakscorpion21 · #14 09-02-2005, 01:17 PM

mine has new plugs and new wires though maybe its the dist. ill have to check it later. now that i think about it that does seem like it might be the cause cause when i was putting on the new wires i had them crossed and it did something like that but it was much much worse than it is now.

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