6G Celicas Forums

Someone told me that if you had to replace the clutch in this car you would have to pull the motor out. The Toyota dealer said this was a good car to get and get rid of. What gives?

I like mine...

Pretty easy to work on despite the engine bay being as cramped as it gets.

those can be total rust buckets... i'd be worried about the bodykit pieces falling off as the rust starts around the holes on the exterior where the body kit attaches to. but otherwise not hard to maintain mechanically and are very reliable. i had a st164 as my first car and got me through 4 years of ownership without major issues. they are quite luxurious for an 80's car too.. everything is electronic. the only thing i really hated about it is the long throw shifting.

This post has been edited by azian_advanced: Jan 16, 2011 - 3:02 AM

Have either of you encountered any complications when replacing the clutch?

i had the clutch replaced once but my dad and my uncle (toyota mechanic) did it for me. but it was a fwd st164 so the motor didn't need to be pulled out.

Alltracs are fun.......
















If you're masochistic.

I've heard that you are able to just remove the transaxle to replace the clutch, but I have never seen it being done. I think its easier to just remove the whole engine and trans and replace it outside the car. Then you can do other maintenance work too. Because it seems as if you have to do the missile silo method to get the trans to go back on. I have become a pro at it now.

^^^ Correct. I've tried pulling just the transaxle out to replace the clutch in mine and found that it is much easier to pull the engine out of the car. It may just be me though, b/c I also found it easier to pull the engine set out of my 6g to replace the clutch as well.

Seeing as how I currently own 2 alltracs and 2 GTs I've got plenty of experience pulling the engines out of these cars. It took me 2.5 hours to get the motor out of the 6g a few weeks ago and it takes about the same to get the motors out of my ATs despite lacking in the space department. lol

EDIT: As far as maintenance goes, its like any 20 year old car, things will need to get fixed. If you buy one that has NO rust, expect to be replacing suspension components, engine mounts, etc. Lucky for me, I bought mine from a friend that spent the previous 5 years going through the car and taking care of most of that stuff.

Long story short, if you find one that has been well maintained and keep up on the regular maintenance, it'll be as reliable as any other Toyota.

My 88 AT was my buddy's DD for ~5 years w/obsessive maintenance and ran perfectly (until he popped the motor and sold it to me)
My 90 AT has been the wifey's DD for the last 3 years with a JDM 3s swap. (this car is rusting apart, but we picked up the '88 so that I can do a full rebuild on the '90)

This post has been edited by bloodMoney: Jan 18, 2011 - 12:56 PM