So it looks like I might have to let the Celica go sometime soon. The problem is, that I need to replace the head gasket, that's going to be a good $1k-$1.5k from somewhere reputable it seems.

So I am asking your guys' opinions. Do you think it is worth it to keep the Celica and put more money into fixing it up or maybe time to move on to another car? Keeping in mind that the car IS 13 years old and may have other problems I havn't come across yet.

I realize it'll probably be more of a biased opinion on this forum, but I'm just really confused right now what I should do.

depends what the car means to you man, If you are willing to put the $ into it, and whatever else it may need, the car will continue to last and treat you good.. things break, it is it's nature, nothing lasts forever.

If you feel it'd be more worth your time and money to move on to a more recent car no one is gonna hate you, 1.5k is alot towards a newer car.

Good luck whichever way you decide to go.

Send the head off to get decked and do it yourself. Go get on pstoc and shoot Rix86 a PM and see how much he'll charge. He's a certified toyota tech. He's super awesome and will let you get in there and help and he'll teach you as you go, or you can just drop it off at his house and pick it up when he's done.


Don't spend $1,000+ Call/PM Rick and let him do it for 3-400.

Yeah, I'll probably pm Rix and see if he's willing to help out with this/ how much he'd charge since I've heard he's really knowlegable.


IDK, I love the Celica to death, but have been looking at some newer and more conventional cars recently too.

Well if you don't want to fix it you should sell it to me on the cheap. My girlfriend wants a blurple vert.

I had to vote no.. The Celica is a good car and all, and they look great. The vert just makes it even more fun. But it's a 13 year old car, and things are really gonna start breaking on it before too long if not from wear and tear, then just from age alone. $1500 is a good down payment on a newer car, and there's a lot available. I hate to say it, but I think it might be time to move on. If this happened to my car, I wouldn't hesitate to buy something different. That's just my opinion though.

I'll let you know if I do decide to sell the car. It'd be nice to know it'd still be in good hands if you or another member got it.




My thoughts exactly. Excellent cars, but they are gaining age and are more likely to break.

just buy a beams!!!

Seriously, I would LOVE a 3sge Red top BEAMS, but the problem with living in the city is the laws that prevent you from doing any type of swap (especially in these cars which never came with the 3sge over here in the states.

And like I said, I'm not sure what else may or may not be wrong with the car.

leave town, why not spend in a rebuilt engine and put it in yourself

Sounds easier than it is lol

i would just move on...

Simple fact of the matter is, every single piece of your car is 13 years old. You will notice ball joints, bushings, and every other small piece of your car wear out. replacing them all will cost several times the value of your car.

From my perspective of owning the celica for 5+ years. If something major goes out, its time to call it quits.

well here is the deal, the car is old true.

in my case, i love it a lot. I never did any auto work until i got this car and this website, i have learned a lot.

I have learned so much that i am not interested in buying new cars anymore.

I had never changed a clutch, and i did it

I have never swapped an engine, and i will do it. ( yes is difficult, but i want to accomplish something)

Very soon the celi will no longer be dd, but a toy.

I want to keep it no matter what.

But if you are in a position that cannot continue to drop money in it, i would say sell it. but you will regret it...

I agree with the fact that our cars are getting old...sadly.

I'm not worried about my mileage, but I'm a bit hesitant about age. The fact that it's an auto also makes me hesitant about potentially buying performance parts because well, it's an auto. I could do a 3S-GTE swap, or maybe go 7A-FTE in the future and then do a manual swap at that point, but what if the rest of the car is just too old by then?



If you feel like selling, then maybe I can't blame you...

Well I'm going to wait on a local toyota owner's/ certified mechanic's opnion on the car whenever I can find a time that works out so he can take a look at it. If it's too bad, I may just give up, but if it's just the head gasket then I will probably just replace that since he said he could do it for a lot cheaper than I was quoted by other places.

The past few days have been hell trying to figure out what exactly I'm going to do. I test drove a 2010 Corolla S yesterday just to see my options and yeah, it's decent, but I still prefer the 13yr old Celica. I'll let you guys know what's going to come of the Bluevert when I've finally decided for sure what I want to do.

Thanks for all your opinions.

Matt,

Your more than welcome to come down to Tacoma and we can put in a new head gasket. I've never done it on the celica but have on several other cars/bikes. All you would need to buy is the parts. Worst case senario is we find something else wrong with it while we are in there and it has to sit in my shop for a couple of days.

Oh, and I work for beer.

Thanks Scott, I'll keep that in mind. Although I don't know how I'd be able to get it down to Tacoma

Oh is it not driveable right now? We could rent a uhaul trailer and pull it down here maybe.

If you use it as a trade, wouldn't it have to be fixed?
Could you save some $ if you get another car or would pmnts & insurance limit that?
What I'm getting at is maybe you can get the new car & work on the Celica whenever time & $ allow-that way you keep the Celica AND have a new car. ; ) I know-easier said than done!!
Good luck in you endevour!!

How far north are you? I've got a handful of free tows with AAA, but I'm not sure if there is a mileage limit to it.

I looked up the price for a uhaul car dolly: $45 per day

why dont you just get another engine,,,,
if you cant get a 3S or a Beams
just get another 5s
im pretty sure you can score one really cheap

I say take scott up on the beer for work job and replace the head gasket. Worst case scenario really is that you replace the head gasket and something else IS wrong with it - you haven't really sunk much $$ into it other than beer and parts $$, and you can probably sell it for a little more w/out a blown h.g. than you could w/a blown h.g. if it comes down to it. I'm sure you could sell it for enough to get a decent down payment together on a new car.

Test drive a tC if you like 'em - they're pretty fun cars to drive and have a little more pep than the Corolla does. Once you do I/E/H they respond really well and are a LOT of fun to drive.

Actually, I talked to a dealership about that and they said I could trade it in still. Not worth as much, but still something.




It's about 40-50 miles from where I am in Seattle and Tacoma. I used to work down there, and that was a heck of a commute (at least for me).



That's not too bad. Do you have a truck that can tow a dolly though? I'm not positive I could find some one willing to lend their truck. I'll definitely let you know if Rick doesn't get back to me.



I looked into this also. One of the local 5th gen owners recently got a brand new 5s from some shop nearby for about $1k, but apparently it didn't come with any cams. So that's kind of iffy to me.



I'd love to get a TC. Been looking at them for a long time, but they are still a little more pricey than I'd like to spend.

My economics teacher told me today that they're bringing back the CASH FOR CLUNKERS deal. Look into it if you're interested, I thought that he was kidding around but he was serious. The government said that they were happy with the results from before and they wanted to bring it back for a short amount of time again. Oh, and if you're planning on spending $1000, why not just save a little more and drop in a 3S??? Just my $.02 Whatever you do and whatever you get, hope it works out well for yuh!


-Ryan

Meh, I heard someone talking about how the "cash for clunkers" thing wound up screwing them over or something like that. Great idea in theory, but dealerships will try to scandal whatever they can out of you.

Celica styling > tC styling, although the standars options are nice,

The uhual place is two blocks from my house. I'm pretty sure my F-150 would pull it. I could rent it here and come up and get it sometime.

That'd be great. I can pay you back for the gas too. Do you still have my cell#?

Hey Matt,

Can I call you McLovin from now on?

Yea I still have it. I've got plans for this weekend but I could for sure do it a week from Sunday, have the whold day free. Next week might work too. I could come up in the evening. I'm not sure if the rental on the trailer goes up if I keep it overnight. They might just charge by 24 hrs from when I pick it up. I can call and find out.

the 2 wheel dolly rental is 24hr from the time you rent it, $45. at least thats how it is over here...

Cash for Clunkers wouldn't work on a Celica, since it was based on fuel economy. You get more money depending on how much percentage your fuel economy goes up in the new car from your old car. You could trade the Celica in with Cash for Clunkers, but you'd have to get a Prius to get anything out of it.




I definitely agree that the Celica looks worlds better than the tC. I'm just not fond of their styling.


Best of luck to you when you get everything apart! I hope nothing else is wrong with it.

RocketScott--Man,that is just awsome of you to help a friend like that!! In your Honor I will have a Long Island!!
Friends like you keep this hobby / interest worth trying!!
If I had a truck & lived around there I would definitly let you guys use it & I would pay the gas!
Best of luck to you guys & I hope this works out!!

Basically. Not to say that the 6GC is the most beautiful car out there, but it is definitely nicer-looking than 98% of what I see every day. It just seems like the 6GC was sculpted to be beautiful...like the creases that go over each side of the hood; I never noticed, but that line continues over the whole body, right until the end of the liftgate.

Thanks man. Matt's a good guy and I hate to see him having trouble with his car especially when I have a shop and can help him out. I remember when I first started working on cars and bikes I had a lot of people helping me out. I'm just trying to pay it forward.

Matt- I haven't called around yet about the head gasket. I imagine we'll need more than just that. Maybe someone makes a "top end gasket set" It's usually the head gasket and everything else you have to remove to get to it.

Damn, what a rouph month it's been with this car, but guess what? She's back to running good again!!

Thanks to Scott for helping me tow the car and Rick for fixing it!

We figured out a few interesting things about the motor too, like the fact that this isn't the original 5sfe for my celi...So I have no clue how many miles it has on it (could explain a blown head gasket at 125k on the body). Oh well, she's back and hopefully running strong for a long time to come

Glad to see your car is back on the road. I would, however keep in mind that your car is 13 years old. If you already paid it off then she is bringing you money by getting you to and from work etc. Repairs, however come with territory especially on older cars.
Generally speaking a $400/month car payment will get you a new car if you get a loan from a bank or probably $330 if you get 0apr from dealer. But then again it all depends on your income and immediate needs.

My next car is a evo probably 06-08 models and only because looking forward I see a potential of spending money on my celi. Between all the celi's I had over the years 250K miles seems to mark the time when I start putting significant amount of money doing fixer upper things. My celi is about to hit 222K and while nothing is wrong yet I am already thinking ahead. Purchasing a $25K 4-5 year car will probably last me for another 15 years or so.

Gee sometimes I wish it was possible to buy a brand new "old" 6gc just like mopar. Those guys have it easy, they can build themselves a cuda or similar type car for a fraction of the price of a real thing.

Awesome news Matt. How much did Rick charge, if you don't mind sharing...

Came out to a little over $500 after paying for parts and labor. But with that, he also took care of quite a few other things that needed to be dealt with, so I can't complain.

You seriously don't appreciate what you have until you are without it for a while. Driving around a Civic for a month has given me much more appreciation for the Celica again

stop selling that lip and slap it on!

I'm not sure I still want to go that route. Depending if Dustin gets back to me, I may just get a spoiler from him and then the "body kit" will really be complete

btw, I like how people are still voting even after the car has been fixed lol (well not totally, got to put in the new radiator, but I'm working on that)

Great to hear.

Personally, that's also my fear with my car...I'm more concerned with age than mileage (I hit 78k yesterday! ), but the car is 13 years old now.

Good luck in the future man!

Glad to hear it's back up and running! If you were going to have to pay a mechanic to do all the work, and get robbed, I was thinking get rid of it, but given the deal you got, I'm glad to see it's still around. Here's to it staying around another 13 years!

Yeah, I was not about to pay $1,500 to the dealership for a new head gasket. Thankfully there are other Toyota owners around the area with more experience than myself and are willing to help out.

Quoted for truth.

Geez Swiss... 78 thousand? You have nothing at all to worry about. Not a thing. Most of us are now pushing 200K or more so that is something to worry about. At 78 you should have changed your timing belt, changed your rotors and breaks and shocks but only if necessary.

As far as I can tell your little celi probably has at least another 15 years of life in it.

fix it, you will def. regret getting rid of it. even when it comes down to a new car i still love my 6th gen the most out of any car ive owned, even my 2000 celica, which is much more "advanced" in my opinion

How's the car Matt?

Did the new radiator go in OK?

I'll be back up in Seattle on Tuesday night and will probably be staying there for the rest of the week.

Got the radiator in, the only problem I'm having is getting the clamps back on for the hoses. Other than that, it just needs radiator fluid and she should be ready to go.