They say it's hard to kill a Toyota motor from the 90s, an era where they put tons of money into over-engineering engines just to humiliate the domestic market. I wasn't aware what this meant until I bought a very clean, but very neglected '92 Celica GT with a 5 speed last April.
From the early 90s on, the standard 4 cylinder in the Camry and Celica was the iron block 2.2l 5S-FE. My 92 Celica had one of the most neglected 5S-FEs you could imagine. It had been making a ticking noise the entire time the previous owner had it, because the owner before him evidently ran it out or oil until it started making noise. I proceeded to drive it 200 miles home before it finally spun a rod bearing. (If I was smart I would've put heavyweight oil in it and it would've been fine for longer). When it spun the bearing at 3k RPM on the highway it made an awful knock like a jackhammer, sent smoke out the exhaust and I could literally hear chunks of metal falling into the oil pan and going out the exhaust. It died and coasted to a stop. (I would later find chunks of metal over an inch in diameter in the oil pan after pulling the motor). in that moment I knew for certain it was dead. On a whim I tried cranking it over. The fucking thing started right up and idled literally with chunks of rod and piston missing. Just out of spite it was like no, fuck you, I'm not ready to die yet. I proceeded to drive it to its final resting place, and then drive it up the ramps where I pulled the engine. I guess us mere mortals cannot kill an iron block Camry engine, perhaps it takes an act of god.
What's the consensus on the best overall motor ever made by Toyota, in terms of reliability, durability, and day-to-day usability, and why?
My first thoughts would be the 3rz-fe, 1fz-fe, and 2uz-fe, at least as far as the gas engines go. I can't comment too much on the diesels.
Hey all!
I'm on my first car, a 98 Camry CE 4DR 2.2, and I'm having a bit of a weird issue with it I never experienced when learning to drive on other vehicles.
Once in a while, while at a complete stop with the brake depressed as to not roll, the car will start softly and rhythmically make a noise, louder and louder:
"Bavrmm bavrmm baVrmm baVrmm BAVRMM BAVRMM"
All the while, it feels like the car is lurching forward or backwards against the breaks depending the gear I'm in, and the RPMs jump from around 800 to 1.2, the needle just going up and down while the sound gets louder and louder.
Usually, the only thing that fixes this is to start rolling; I tried the ol' IT tech that's dear to my heart and tried turning it off and on again, but it kept doing the same thing after turning it on. The only thing that fixes it so far is to catch a light before it gets frighteningly powerful and get going to sort of kick the engine back into normal rhythm, I guess?
I apologize as I know this is a crappy af description and all that, but at this point on a '98 170K I guess my question is less regarding a precise diagnostic and more of a "Will the car explode if I don't bring this in or is it most likely fine?".
Thanks in advance and again, apologies for the painful post.
This is a killer feature because it allows you to run the climate control and electronics indefinitely off very little gas. All Toyota hybrids do this, but I haven't been able to find much information on what other hybrids do this.
The Ford Escape appears to do this. But I hear the Honda CR-V turns the engine on whenever the heat or A/C is in use.
Does anyone know any other hybrids that do this? Thank you!
I have a 2012 RAV 4 that needs the engine rebuilt. I'm looking for a mechanic to do so and would appreciate a good warranty to back up their work. I would love if they specialized in Toyotas, but it's not a requirement. Does anyone have an recommendations?
I’m a complete noob on car mods and anything that has to do with it, but now that I have my first car, I’m starting to really get into it.
My celica is just a stock 2000 celica I believe. The only “mod” the previous owner did on the car was removing the spoiler, painting the breaks in blue and putting color fade mats which I already threw in the garbage lmao. I’ve searched a lot and saw people saying the best engines for a Celica are the 2zz-ge and the 3s-gte.
What are the ups and downs of each? If someone could help me choose one for the future I would appreciate it.
(Sorry in advance for any misspellings or bad wording, english isn’t my first language)
Thanks!
