6G Celicas Forums

NGK every time.

Iridium and platinum are not needed in our cars. Just use V-Power.

NGK plugs can be found at just about any auto parts store.

The NGK wires can be found on Rockauto.com or maybe O'Reilly or Advance Auto Parts. I know Autozone doesn't carry them.

The Celi finally left me stranded after 10 years of me driving it and putting 160k on it (275k total). Basic rundown:

Died... (OBD1 7AFE, btw)
Checked for spark + fuel. No spark.
Tested ignition coil w/ multimeter, out of spec.
Replaced entire distributor after not finding a way to test the ICM ($265 @ Autozone). New dizzy was $130, pricematched to Rockauto.com, and included an ICM and ignition coil.
Alive again, but missing horribly at idle and when cruising. Runs like a beast at WOT. Black smoke from exhaust, using TONS of fuel.
Replaced plugs, wires, cap, and ign. rotor. Didn't help, same crap.
Checked timing w/ timing light. It's perfect. 10 deg. BTDC.
Ordered another dizzy from Autozone (of course they're all remanufactured), putting that on after work today to see what happens.

Anyone have any other suggestions? Friends have suggested a compression test, but losing a cylinder AND a dizzy @ the same time? Not likely. That, and it's still pulling like normal at WOT, which isn't going to happen with a dead cylinder. Plus, I don't have access to a compression tester and I'm not buying one to use once. ECM a possibility? The ECM is still advancing the timing when TE1 and E1 are jumpered, so I know it's still got at least some level of intelligence left. I'm at a loss.

I'm doing some dizzy work on my 7AFE. I guess a previous owner had trouble with it leaking and decided to solve the problem by using black RTV, instead of just replacing the o-ring on the dizzy shaft. That made it a little difficult to get off. Nothing a few taps with a hammer didn't fix. Could be a possibility?

Replaced cap, ignition rotor, and wires. Still misses when idling and cruising, and pulls hard and smooth at WOT. Timing check incoming...

Keep us updated. If this stuff will curb my 7AFE's thirst for oil, I'll be buying a can.

Wow. That is sex on wheels. Great job.

So what WAS the correct resistance that you found? I just replaced my coil today after my tests didn't match the haynes manual. I think it said like 7.5k-12.5k. I only tested 4.5k. This did get my car running, but it's missing like crazy for some reason.

Sorry to dig up old threads... search is a double-edged sword

Low pressure = high flow = oil is hot and thin. OR low. Keep that in mind. My pressure on a cold start will usually rise to about 40 and then start dropping if I'm low on oil.

High pressure = low flow = oil is cold and thick.

Think of pressure like the difference between drinking a Coke through a straw, and then drinking pancake syrup with the same straw. Thicker stuff requires more pressure to move.

Those pics don't look like the 7AFE, which is what I have. Cold start in hot weather gets me 60 psi, cold weather 65-70 psi and takes forever to reach that. Idle pressure at operating temp is 15-20 psi. Cruising pressure at 3,000 RPM at operating temp is around 35 psi. It usually drops a few psi with the A/C running. I assume this has something to do with changes in vacuum/PCV system when the A/C is on. From what I've read, and this is just a "universal" standard, is you want 10 psi for every 1,000 rpms the engine is turning. Obviously though, at operating temp you won't see that. I only hit around 40-45 psi at 6,000 RPM at operating temp.

So your pressure sounds fine

I'm having a similar problem with my 94 ST. Died last night while riding around and wouldn't start. Tested ignition coil resistance and it was out of spec. New distributor+coil+ICM+plugs are in and the car runs, but will NOT idle smooth. It revs like a champ, but misses when maintaining any RPM. Checking plug wire resistances and ignition timing tomorrow. Don't really understand how the ignition timing could be off, as the distributor in the 7AFE only goes in one way along with the ignition rotor. Unbolted distributor and turned it as far as it would go in both directions with no luck. I even tried turning the distributor lug that mates to the cam 180 deg. It will NOT go back in like that. I'll see what happens tomorrow and report back.

Also, how would the coolant temp sensor cause those symptoms? Never heard of that one.

The way it's idling is pretty much the same as it would with a vacuum leak. The boost gauge bounces up and down between 11 and 8 inHg vacuum. We couldn't find a leak anywhere, and the datalogger didn't pick up anything that would suggest one. The mechanic is suspecting that one of the cam gears jumped a tooth. He did some trickery with the O2 sensor to fool the voltages to make the car run around 10.8 A/F ratio, and it was purring like a kitten then. At that point we considered that he might have somehow gotten a full tank of pure E85 (stoich at around 9.8:1), but I don't think that's likely since there's no stations here that carry pure E85. I know a truck driver who hauls gas, and he told me that some stations are premixed with E85 and others have to be manually mixed by the driver. So I guess there is a possibility of forgetting to add the gasoline... We drained the gas, and it definitely had an odd smell. I dunno though. Might rip the timing cover off and see if the marks are lining up. Looks like it'll be a PITA though

Oh well. Compared to the Celica, everything is hard to work on IMHO =)

Looks like the only thing I accomplished from this post was feeding the trolls. Thanks for some sort of answer Nartanian.

Been trying to diagnose a problem on a friend's 2003 Dodge Neon SRT-4. I'll keep this short since we haven't been able to figure much out on this. Basically, the spark plugs are dry and white along with a very erratic idle. It will rev up and down at idle, struggling to run. It will eventually die if left running long enough. With testers and dataloggers, the O2 sensors read between 12.5 and 14.7 AFR. The car has an aftermarket Zeitronix wideband O2 sensor that also reads the same thing as the factory sensor. Even though the sensors are reading rich, there is no smell of gas from the exhaust and like I mentioned, the spark plugs are indicating a lean combustion chamber. O2 voltages are consistent with specs. A local mechanic/tuner/genius couldn't figure this out.

So the basic question I'm asking is: How do you have a lean condition in the engine, but a rich condition in the exhaust?

I changed my axles several years ago and had this same problem. The driver's side axle popped right out, but the passenger side took me, 2 other guys, a rope, and a very loud grunt. Nearly pulled the car off the jack stands.

Awesome post and very informative, but I'm also wondering the same thing...

Thanks for all the help. Now I'm not even sure if I'm gonna replace it or not. I jacked my car up tonight after work and took the fill plug out of the tranny, and fluid poured out. It wasn't a cold check, but it was being pretty generous with the fluid. I also wiped off what had leaked to the bottom of the differential case, and it was caked on there pretty hard. I'm guessing this leak has been going on for awhile, but it's way too slow for me to worry about it right now. Still good to know I can do this without taking the axle loose from the spindle.

Haven't posted here in ages. But that's cause the Celica hasn't really had any major problems. That's a good thing

Just wanted to know if anyone has ever tried to pull the driver side axle from the C52 tranny without unbolting it from the spindle? I have a busted tranny seal, and I know the pain of pulling an axle. Just hoping I can bypass all the hard stuff and get the axle out quickly to change the seal.

If not, I guess it's time to get dirty

Getting around 34-36 highway in my 94 ST with 220,000 miles.

I watched this documentary about 2 months ago and was pretty interested in it. I haven't done any research on it since, but I guess I'm bad at just taking people's word for it. I'm not religious myself, so I wasn't offended or affected by it. The points were still pretty interesting on the similarities of various "myths". I'm not trying to knock religion--I believe that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, including myself--but I have also thought that the religious organizations are just in it for the cash. What really got me was the points stated about 9/11 and things of that sort involving government. I've long believed that the government in this country is extremely corrupted with nothing but power and money hungry politicians that care about nothing more than themselves, and this documentary further reinforced that feeling. Another good documentary (if you don't mind Michael Moore) is Sicko. It deals mainly with health care, and will make you want to live somewhere else by the end of the movie.

The disturbing part about it is that we cannot band together to take back our country. I don't believe this government would ever allow a rebellion of that caliber. Civil war all over again. This country is divided, and I believe it always will be. Not to be a spoiler, but the fact was stated in Sicko that in countries such as France, Britain, etc., the government is afraid of the people. They have mass protest and get what they want. In America, the people are afraid of the government. You just don't see hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people gathering to protest or suggest a law, and that's why we, the people, will never be in control of this country. Not much of a democracy going on here if you ask me. And with the current political candidates, who really cares if it's a democracy or not? I can't criticize, because I am not registered to vote and I'm not planning on it. Right now, I'm more comfortable with being the one that doesn't vote for the wrong candidate and then regret it later on (George Dubya, anyone?). I don't do enough research on candidates to know who to vote for.

Worked 8a-7p. Autozone FTW.

Long time since I've updated this thread. Bumpity bump!

I've checked all vacs and all leaks are sealed. T-VIS system is properly connected. I've tried a different fuel pressure regulator and replaced the factory coil with a MSD Blaster and also a new distributor cap. Hmm, what else... Ah, here's the juicy stuff. I sprayed some B12 into the intake while it was running and it kept it running as long as I sprayed short bursts into it (not for too long though, 1 min. or so). So I don't have a spark problem. Took the damper off the fuel rail, broke a seal in the process and after reinstalling the damper without the copper seal, it squirted fuel. So, it's also getting pressure. The weird thing is that the fuel pump won't prime when the key is turned on - it's completely silent. It IS pumping though. I bought the car, so it's officially mine now!

But geez, it's frustrating...

Looking for a passenger low beam assembly ASAP!

PM'd

Something just occurred to me. I noticed that when I rev the engine it will only get to about 4500 rpm before it starts to cut out. This is also (from what I've researched) the rpm that T-VIS opens up. Hmm..... Any thoughts?

I will inspect the T-VIS system and VSV when I go replace the coil and whatnot.

Soon I'm going to install a new coil and check the fuel pressure. Not sure if that's gonna get me anywhere but it's worth a shot.

Also going to hook the timing light up to it and see what happens to it when it dies. The timing light should keep firing even as it's stalling, so this way I'll know if it's an ignition or a fuel cutoff. It has to be one of the two.



I'm hoping that's not what it is. The previous owner hasn't done anything to cause an electrical problem, to my knowledge. He bought it, boosted it for a little while until the turbo blew a seal, removed the turbo setup and parked it. Everyone that I know has had their hands on it before me and they say that it wasn't acting up at all when he parked it.

I put new spark plugs and a new rotor in it already, and the contacts on the cap look good. The plugs that aren't used are short, they won't move very far out of the fender well so whatever it was that was plugged in was mounted around that area. I haven't found anything that isn't plugged in and I briefly checked the solenoid for the TVIS yesterday and didn't find anything obviously wrong. I've found a couple of vacuum lines that were broken and I replaced those. I'm still searching for more. That car has so many vacuum connections... blah. The coil doesn't look too bad but a new one wouldn't hurt I suppose. It's starting to frustrate me. It never hesitates to start but why it won't stay running is beyond me.