6G Celicas Forums

I'm back B%$#@s!

I just couldn't help myself, I needed to be able row through gears again; needed a project, something to do, something to cruise with w/ friends in the summer.

Somebody had posted a car on here it was a clean southern car that sale didn't happen & it just got me hooked, I needed to get back in another Celica.

I had been searching the car sales sites & found this on Jan. 18 on Craigslist in Denver, CO (had only been on there for a few days). Contacted the seller, blah, blah, blah. Flew out Feb. 3rd to pick it up. It's mine. BIG thanks to richee3 (a.k.a. Daniel) otherwise I would still be without a 6th gen.

Had an absolute blast. Beat the crap out of the car the first few hours of ownership, drove to Colorado Springs, up Pikes Peak (it's a must for any automotive enthusiast). Car rides well, even a 100mph (Denver area Colorado drivers are the worst).

So the cooling issue... Bought the car on Saturday no problems at all, really nice outside about 57degrees. Drove down to Colorado Springs then up & down Pikes Peak no issues. You can hear the fans come on when the car is at operating temp. I mean NO issues at all, we beat the piss out of the car (is smooth at 100mph). I leave Sunday morning, about 30min outside of Denver the car overheats! WTF! I pull over & check, see that the only place coolant is coming out of is the overflow tank, but the fans aren't running, weird. Check fuses, good, swap some relays, nothing. Eventually Daniel tells me unplug the radiator temp sensor, all is good, fans work, so relays are ok. Put some coolant in (not very much was lost) & on my way. I notice that the car is running a little warm but I keep going. Fill up w/ gas at Julesburg, CO get back on the road & the car seems to run a little warmer even than before, WTF. So I'm messing w/ the heater trying different things to get the temp down, I notice that when heat is turned to full cold that the temp gauge spikes, it didn't do that before. I suspect the thermostat. I get to North Platte, NE. Pull into an O'Reillys, pop over the hood and look, no leaks, but the lower radiator hose is cold! Put a new thermostat in bleed the system. Plug the fans back in & they turn on correctly, lower radiator hose gets hot. Ok cool, I get on my way temp gauge is good going down there the road. A while down the road I pull into a rest stop to check... no leaks, temp is good, but the lower radiator hose is still cold! WTF! I'm like well car hasn't blow up yet, I continue with my journey. I get home park in the garage, pop the hood lower hose still cold. I let the car run for a few minutes & the hose gets warm & the fans kick on. [Copied from our PM cheela, lol]

The car hasn't overheated yet so I'm believing the thermostat was the fix but...

Now the clutch is toasted, go figure. I've been baby-ing it when driving cause especially after 3k rpms you could feel it. But I was driving it to work 2 weeks ago on a Wednesday morning in lovely traffic, go to give it some throttle (maybe a 1/2, I dunno) in 5th & she shoots to 5k rpms & really goes no where, lol, sorry traffic. That smell is really nasty, haha.

Here is the Flickr album ... I'll try and embed photos w/ captions and/ or details later.

This post has been edited by navseal345: May 24, 2020 - 10:54 AM

I really appreciate the offer but I'm going to have to decline it. Mental capacity to want to have a project is basically none.

On Friday I had to replace the right side washer nozzle because the barb the the hose pushes onto had turned to crumbly bits. Also blew out the left side. Both nozzles work good now.
The driver's door was really squeaky when opening/ closing it, so I sprayed it down.

Sounds stupid but I washed/ cleaned/ took steel wool to the car key. It was pretty discussing & that's one thing I didn't clean when I bought the car.


Going back to the major issue I had...
I swear I still can feel some kind of RPM fluctuation while driving, although its not to noticable. And a few times since I've put the crank sensor in it's had an extended crank but fires right up. Not to worried about it as long as the car don't let me down on a road trip, LOL.

Needs new muffler bearings.

I wouldn't doubt it.

Had to change out some brake light fluid. Didn't make mess, so that made me happy.

Really wanted to drive the Celica the past few days but the roads are still covered in salt & potholes. Even tho the car isn't perfect would still like to keep it clean. Maybe I'm using that as a excuse, LOL.

Same man, same. We keep having a few scattered 50 or 60 degree days but they're bracketed by rain/snow/freezing temps so everything is salted so bad it's like driving around on gravel roads in some places.

Facebook reminded me... February 3rd/ 4th 2018 is 5year anniversary. Exciting I know.

I might pull it out of the garage since it's supposed to be warm & drive it around. If I remember how to drive a manual, lol. Been sitting since mid-December with a battery tendy on it.

This post has been edited by navseal345: Feb 4, 2023 - 1:02 AM

Almost warm enough here, 40 degrees. Roads however are so salted much that my Mazda can do burnouts from stop signs on the powdered road salt.

Don't do it, the salt be too much. We're about to jump back up to 40's for two days then drop again in MN. Snow and ice is still there.

To late. Drive it to work today & I'll probably do it tomorrow & Wednesday.

I can hear it rusting in my nightmares now, thanks!

Well it is parked next to my truck that's a rusty POS.

Bed sides over the wheels and the cab rocker panels? How they constructed those flares over the wheels on the bed is just ludicrously stupid, the layers of steel are almost built to rust out. I've seen some people drill big holes into them and paint the insides but leave the holes open so they can drain out and get washed out regularly.

Rocker panels are the worst. Bed is in ok shape.

For as much and as often as rocker panels rot on cars you'd think we'd have advanced to the point that they'd be bolt on or plastic.

I'll be interesting on all these aluminum cars in a few years.

So... Had a P0115 (Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor 1 Circuit) pop up, So that's just dandy.

At least for now I have another POS to drive.

Finally got around to fixing the Celica. Ended up being the coolant temp. sensor for the ECU. Unplugged it & ECU read -40°, then jumped the connector & it read 284,°. Also put an ohm meter on the old sensor & nothing.

I swear this is the sweet spot year for cars. Most of the time super simple to diagnose.

Also tightened up the cruise control cable. It would accel & decel like maybe 4mph from set speed. Hope that fixes it & I didn't f*ck it up.

I think that's all for now.

Hell yeah, I hope that's it. Gotta get back out this way to see the Bison over at Buffalo Rock across the river.

This post has been edited by Bitter: Sep 20, 2023 - 11:21 PM