6G Celicas Forums

What I need to know is how to get at that part-- In a convertible, there is a single gigantic molded plastic piece that covers the entire back half of the interior... including that quarter window. How do I remove it?

After some hardcore searching around here I found these:

http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=21396
http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=26360

Now, if I could just figure out how to get that freaking huge piece of plastic off so I can get at it all...

Oh, hell yeah. Bumping this thread because I need to fix one of my quarter windows... freaking thing's falling off and the garage says it'll be $900 in labor to fix it.

Found it:

http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showto...4&st=0&p=145438

It's actually not the door that you need to remove. You need to pry up the molding around the shifter and the rear window switches, disconnect the appropriate switch, open the switch casing, and there should be two round metal contacts that will probably be burned black. Use a file or steel wool to clean off the carbon scoring.

Then reassemble everything and see if it works. I'm going to try to see if I can find that other thread.

This happens to me periodically. If you feel up to it, you can take the switch apart, clean the carbon off the contacts, and then put it back in. It should then work again for a few months. I posted about this before and a couple of 'vert owners said it worked for them. Hope it helps!

Edit: I'm going to need to do this again soon, maybe I'll take pics and make a how-to. It seems that this is a fairly common problem.

My cruise button is kind of finicky... it seems the housing is kind of loose somehow so the button doesn't "click" when I press it. However, if I squeeze the housing around the button (front to back) when I press it, it works just fine.

*edit*
The thing with being able to raise and lower the windows when the car is off and the keys are out is actually a feature on some Toyotas. I don't remember how long it lasts after you turn off the car, but once you open the door it should quit doing that.

Anyone here go to UConn and drive either a really nice looking silver GT hatchback or a black debadged hatchback with kinda faded paint? With mine included there's 3 6Gs that live in the lot I park in.

Doesn't seem to fit the description of any regulars, but worth a shot, eh?

I still think it's the weather somehow. Atmospheric pressure, humidity, temperature, moon phases, something...

Yep. I didn't use STP, but I found a different oil treatment with Stop Leak. Sure enough, it worked for about 2 days and then the smoke was back. Sigh.

celicaboston1983 - I didn't get any smoke this morning either. Seeing as how we're (theoretically) in the same part of the state I almost want to think that the weather or the atmosphere has some sort of effect on it. Weird...

I'll have to look into that stop leak stuff.

Ok, so I just got back from the dealer, and they basically confirmed what everyone here says: It's the valve seals. Don't worry about it, it's a common quirk and you probably aren't burning a lot of oil. It turns out that even a tiny drop of oil that may have leaked in to a cylinder before startup can make a pretty big cloud of smoke, so we're probably not burning a noticeable amount between oil changes.

The maintenance guy I talked to knew what I was talking about right away, and was very familiar with the problem. He said that if he went out and started one of the used Camrys on the lot they would usually do the same thing. He also said he used to have an older Celica... '86 I think he said... that did the same thing and aside from the superficial puff of smoke it didn't give him any trouble.

Their advice to me: Keep an eye on it, but don't worry about it. It would be an outrageous amount of labor to have the valve seals replaced. It happens to almost everyone with a 5s-fe engine, it doesn't burn enough oil to worry about, and it doesn't affect how the car runs.

Hope that helped.

I'm having the same problem, so I'm going to have a Toyota dealership look at it and tell me what they think the problem is. I'll report here if they can fix the problem and how much it costs.

If I was going to replace the whole engine, why not go with the 3sge or 3sgte? Honestly I don't have the money to replace the entire engine, so that's just speculation.

You think it might not be valve stem seals? I get a big puff of blue smoke every morning when I leave for work and every evening when I come home from work. Also, it might just be my imagination, but it seems to be getting worse (the cloud is getting bigger.) I haven't -noticed- any smoke at other times, but I might not be vigilant enough.

Eh... it probably doesn't "need" a rebuild... I just didn't know what to do to fix the problem.

My car has had some sort of weather stripping there since I bought it... Just a line of black rubbery foam stuff between the hood and the front. I'm not sure if it's stock or not.

What's the advantage of these particular struts? I might be interested.

Holy cow, this thread took off while I wasn't looking....

Yeah, there was definitely about 5 quarts in there when I drained it, and that was after I'd been driving it for maybe 2500 miles or so, and the smoking on startup only happened maybe a month before the oil change (I wanted to catch it right at 90,000 miles so I could keep track of the 3000s.) The manual says only to put in 4 quarts, which is why I was suspicious. I just use regular motor oil, but I change it religiously every 3000 miles.

Well, everyone says it's not broken, but I don't like the idea of burning oil every time I start my car. After putting in 4 quarts of oil maybe 500 miles ago, the dipstick reads dangerously low. If it's a fix I can do easily, I'd rather do that than have to constantly feed it oil.

Heh. Then again, changing the oil and the plug wires was a challenge for me...

*edit: Yeah, I was one of those people who posted about blue smoke on startup.

How easy is it to just "take off the valve cover and replace the valve cover seals and valve seals?"

From what I hear, that's several hundred dollars' worth of labor over a very inexpensive part. Is it a simple task?

Thanks.

When I changed my oil for the first time, I noticed that while the manual says to put in something like 4 quarts, I actually drained about 5 quarts of existing oil. After 3000 miles, could that much extra oil damage something... like, oh, I don't know... the valve seals? I know you guys say the valve seals are a common problem, but it's a problem the car didn't have at the time I bought it, and I've only put about 3000 miles on it since then (most of which was during the time it had too much oil.)

Comments? Questions? Concerns? Donations?

Thanks.

Thanks for all the advice... I guess I'll be paying a visit to the local garage to get that compression test done, among other things.

Replacing the valve seals really isn't that expensive? I wouldn't trust myself to do it myself. On other topics people were complaining that it would be something like $800 labor for a $10 part.

Thanks.

Ok, so the blue smoke on startup is the valve seals. Here's a question:

Do the valve seals get replaced when an engine is rebuilt? It sure looks like just replacing the seals is almost the same cost as completely rebuilding the engine. If that's the case, I might seriously consider it.

The car has 90,000 miles on it and it puffs blue smoke when I start it. What are the benefits of rebuilding the engine? If it's going to be rebuilt, are there any improved parts I should use? Keep in mind that I "don't know cat piss" about how to take apart an engine, so I'd be having it done professionally and paying through the nose for labor.

Some might say I should swap the engine. My concern with that is I would want to switch the AT to MT (more money), and I don't know what putting a ridiculous amount of power into my car without changing anything else would do to it. That and I'm paranoid so I'd want to rebuild the new engine anyway before putting it in. I really can't afford this option.

Let's assume I have $1500 maximum for this project. In any case, I must replace the valve seals somehow. Should I rebuild while I'm at it, rebuild with improvements, just replace the valve seals, or shut up because I don't know what I'm talking about?

Thanks!

When I start the engine, I get a belch of blue smoke from the tailpipe. It doesn't continue when I start driving, but it does seem to be pretty consistent when I leave my car for a few hours and then start it.

The only abnormal thing I know of is that the dealer put in one too many quarts of oil when they did the oil change, and I have since changed the oil myself, using the right amount.

Any ideas?

Thanks.