6G Celicas Forums

So i figured this deserved a new thread. Heres the issue. my 94 celica gt 2.2 engine died. I called Got-jdm.com and asked for the same engine. They sent it to me. THe wire harnesses didnt match up, nor did the exhaust manifold, and throttle body set up. These all had to be changed. The engines otherwise look almost identical. The only differences i have found are the oil pans have a somewhat different shape, and the dipstic is longer on the new jdm engine. So i called the company and i was told these differences were due to the fact that japan has different emissions and the harness would be shorter due to the steering wheel being on the other side in japan. I was told to use this new engine as a long block. So i did. Switched it all over, Hooked it all up, and sure enough, the spark became inconsistent. It only sparks some of the time. At one point it would turn off and on without a problem. lately it barely runs at all. So i changed the distributer, cap, rotor, wires, coil, plugs, checked my grounds, checked my wires. All are fine. Yesterday when i changed the coil, I had a spark plug out to check the spark as i tried starting the car. Got spark, car started. so i shut the car off, put the new plug in, and the car lost its spark. i now come to find out that japan didnt get the 5sfe engine, they only got the 3sfe. which is a similar engine. But i was told to switch over my wire harness. So now it looks like i have a 3sfe engine, with a 5sfe wire harness, intake manifold, throttle set up, exhaust manifold, and computer. All the other parts were the same (distributor, coild.....) but since the plugs were different on the harness. THe computers must have been different. SO.... my question is, with the 5sfe components on the 3 sfe engine, will my 5sfe ecu work? or could it cause an inconsistent spark? If not, what are my options? The guy at got-jdm.com told me if they accidently sent me the wrong engine, after telling me numerous times it was right, and to switch everything over, that i would need to put everything back to the way it was and ship it back for my money back. Im not happy aboout this, ive spent over a month on this car and i really just want to get it running, I dont have another car

i dont know enough about the 3S-FE, but if the injectors are the same size, and you are using all 5S-FE accessoris and manifolds, it might be able to run the car.

hmm....well i hope that is that is the case. THen im back to my spark option. Why would i onyl get spark some of the time

odds are you have a 5s. is it throwing any codes? did you check the ignition box on the coil. http://www.camrystuff.com/manuals/Gen3/ig.pdf this might help you out

hmm... this company is going to be hearing from me if that is the case. If i do in fact have the 5s, then it must not be jdm

this is a great writeup, thank you very much

get me the engine serial number.... there was NO 94 gt in japan.... it would be an ss-i, the singapore celica GT had a 3s-ge which you dont have...

pics would make this really easy. as many as u can get


the 3s-fe has smaller displacement, lower compression and pretty nasty emissions restriction, a 5s ECU shouldn't be capable of working with a 3s-fe

This post has been edited by Mstoochn: Dec 2, 2009 - 4:35 PM

where are the serial numbers?


these are pictures of the new engine after i had put it together. It has the 5sfe motor mount on the left, wire harness, intake and exhaust manifold,throttle body set up and a few other odds and ends.

This post has been edited by Gtguy22: Dec 3, 2009 - 12:21 PM

the only picture i have of the new engine before it was switched over. Not sure exactly why i didnt take more. Had too much faith in it i guess

that is a 5sfe the 3s is only 2liter

ok thats a start. But why then were the plugs on the newer engines wiring harness different than the old wire harness(the one i currently have on the new engine) and by different i mean there were fewer plugs on the old one and the connector clips were different.
Secondly if this is a 5sfe, then it must not be a jdm

lastly, if this is a 5sfe, and the computer should work, wtf is going on with the spark?

conundrum. You guys are the best though, its nice to have people share their knowlege to help other people out

just because the 5s was not in the celica doesn't mean they didnt have the 5s in the jdm. double check all of you connections and make sure they are clean also recheck and clean any grounding points with some sandpaper.

From what he told me Paul it came from a jdm 94 gt which makes no sense cuz jdm only offered ssi ssii and ssiii no gt tags Singapore had the gt coupe and lift back only with the 3sge. So who is giving who the wrong info. Lol 2200 on the original tb will giv it away or the position of the 3s distributor

the intake manifold that came with the new engine did in fact say 2200. I have tried cleaning the ground, and have checked the connections

actually the 5S-FE was JDM, just not high performance JDM. japan gets and uses a fair number of the same engines we see stateside, just because something is JDM does not mean its any better.

^^ My thoughts exactly. Whether or not the motor purchased is a JDM engine is of no relevance, so long as it's a 5S-FE. Inconsistent spark, all I can think of to tell you is check your wires and make sure you have everything running in the right firing order from the distributor to the spark plugs. I can see how it might be easy to get those mixed up when everything got switched over.

only reason im concerned if it is jdm or not, is because I know those engines are low milage engines. I could have probably bought a junkyard engine with 100k on it for half the price, but i wanted to do it right the first time. Your right though, my only real concern is that it is in fact a 5sfe, and getting a solid spark. Curious though why some people say japan did have the 5sfe and some say they didnt

This post has been edited by Gtguy22: Dec 3, 2009 - 11:27 PM

3sfe looks exactly the same externally. only the displacement is different.

This post has been edited by trdproven: Dec 3, 2009 - 11:41 PM

specificly speaking of the CELICA, 94-99 japan didn't have the 5s-fe. only 3s models. *headache*

AHHHHHHHH, ok. So Million dollar question. Will the computer for the 5sfe engine of another car other than a celica, work with the computer of a celica?