6G Celicas Forums

Smaay, do you mean the thread where you describe your engine rebuild (an awesome post)? You have 21 pages of posts so it's hard for me to guess exactly which one you mean.

Cheers Bitter for the tip on the connector release thing; there's no way I would have found that otherwise.

I'll assume that white stuff on the connector isn't significant though I might jam some blu-tac in there when I stick it back together to reduce the chance of it coming apart while the engine is running.

A few more questions have come up:

7. What tool should I be using to tighten the water pump pulley bolts? I made a custom tool out of a bike repair tool by filing it down to fit (see below) because the gap between the pulley and the car inner wall is only about 20mm which is too small for a socket set. I tried my 12-point spanner but it started to strip the heads of the bolts. The tool I made isn't really sufficient to tighten the bolts to the required 10Nm.


8. Where is the jack location that is meant to be in the centre of the engine bay? I took a photo of the underside of the car (viewed from the front of the car) and I can't relate it to Toyota's idea of the jacking point location.


9. Regarding the forward side jacking points, am I meant to support the car on the thin ridges of steel (with the two notches in), or is anywhere on the underside of the car near the jacking points okay? I'm trying to use axle stands to support the car on these jacking points so have to use bits of wood between the car and the ridges to not damage them. This doesn't seem right.

9. Assuming my current timing belt is set up correctly, can I just Tippex on the position of the belt teeth relative to the engine and cogs and belt, then transfer them to the new belt teeth? I'm lazy and this seems like a quick way to do things. :-}

10. Does it matter which way round I put the new belt on? I can't see any marks on it or comments in the Chilton manual but friends have warned me about putting it on the wrong way.

11. What are the wheel nut sizes on the Celica? I've tried 20mm and 21mm with no luck on either and also tried imperial.

12. Where is the definitive source for torque settings when tightening bolts? The Chilton manual gives conflicting values on different pages for how much to tighten the right engine insulator nuts for example. I have a collection of PDFs with names like "B emission application.pdf" but I've been over all of them and can't find torque settings.

Muchos grasias.

My timing belt is due for replacement in terms of the years it's done but not the miles. Thought it would be sensible to have a go myself and try and save some cash. I'm following the Chilton Manual plus this guide How To Replace Your Timing Belt on these forums.

I'm having a mammoth struggle getting rusted up nuts/bolts off hard to reach places such as the 10mm nuts on the water pump pulley and those on the fuse box. Why does Toyota use crappy unplated steel bolts or am I dealing with someone's aftermarket bolt replacement attempt?

Still, I'm slowly getting there and replacing bolts with new ones as I go along. Grateful if someone could help me out with some issues.

1. How do you split apart the grey cable harness things in the engine bay? They have a slot in them that looks like you should stick a flat bladed screw driver in then they will split in two but I just can't get them to do that.

2. I've totally undone the pivot bolt on the alternator, and in addition undone the adjustment bolt quite a lot and also loosened the lock bolt; should the alternator be incredibly tightly fitted onto its mount where the pivot bolt goes? I've had to use a hammer to get it do move the alternator off the pivot bolt attachment but this doesn't seem a good idea. This pic shows more (I know the pivot bolt is still in it - this pic was taken before I removed the bolt and gave it a hammering).


3. As I need to remove the alternator in order to continue to the timing belt, how do I detach the wire in the picture below from the engine block? The wire needs to be detached because it also attaches to the alternator which I need to remove. I'm guessing it's a sensor of some kind, I've tried using pliers but they won't pull it out easily and I'm concerned about breaking it.


4. I detached another connector that was plugged into the alternator and it looked like it had white lithium grease in. Do I need to put grease back in it when I eventually plug it back into the alternator.


5. Is this bit of plastic anything to do with my car?!!? I found it nearby and was worried about it.


Many thanks from a concerned newbie mechanic.

Yes, that's the problem; I don't think they were assembled with grease. Anyway, got the car back. It cost £275 inc. VAT, labour and parts to replace both front discs and pads. As a consolation, I got them to place the old pads and discs in a bag for me to take home. I've had a look at them, and the discs look worn by the same amount, and there is no visible warping. All this is contrary to what I was told at the garage but you live and learn - the old pads/discs were non-genuine Toyota parts which is why I think they were so keen to replace them. I was in a rush to fix this as I need the car every day at this time of year, and had I read the posts above in time, I might have had a go myself. When this current set of pads/discs wear out I'll have a set to replace them with already at least.

By the way, the car didn't pull to one side before.

The wobbling/burning smell happened again today. I stopped the car and had a smell. The front right wheel arch stank. Further inspection showed the front right disc to be scorching hot - the alloy wheel itself was pretty hot too from the heat conduction. The front left disc in comparison was warm to the touch but not burning hot.

I took the car to Mr. T.

Verdict: "the front right pad was not greased" and as a result the (non-officially Toyota) pad was not retracting properly when I took my foot off the brake. This caused the disc to heat up and warp and cause the vibrations. He presented me with a bill for £175 parts and £125 labour to replace both front discs and pads. When I was presented with this bill, I asked if he could just re-grease the pads. He said "the damage has been done" whatever that means. Does he mean the disc is warped beyond repair? I put the car up on jacks and rotated the front right wheel - the disc seemed pretty flat because the gap between pad and disc stayed the same while it rotated. :-S

Any thoughts on Mr. T's verdict? Should I just re-grease them myself? Cheers.

Hmm, it's just as though the whole car is wobbling up and down like driving over cobbles. It's not a violent wobbling but definitely noticeable. Bit disconcerting. There's also that weird burning caramel smell. Someone told me it might be a warped front disc rubbing against the pads. I'll forward the tips to Mr. T so thanks.

Updates will follow when I find out what it was.

After 20 minutes driving on country roads at 60mph I've gone into a town area to drive at 30mph and after 2 or 3 minutes the car has started wobbling/vibrating up and down on perfectly flat roads. The wobble even occurs when I have the clutch pedal full down (i.e. gear not engaged at all). This is accompanied by a burning smell which is coming from the front of the car (don't know where exactly).

This has happened 3 times over the last 6 weeks. After the car's been allowed to sit still for a few minutes the car drives fine again. I don't have a worn out clutch as I've tried accelerating hard in 5th gear and the revs don't jump.

I've had Mr. T take it for a test drive and have a look over it and no problems were found. Any ideas? Don't know if it's related, but there is a rattling sound under the bonnet that I get when the engine is cold.
Cheers,
Dave.