6G Celicas Forums

Oil change and tire rotation/balancing then went shopping with the fiance.

So I get home at 7 from work. No 1 here but me. So I go to the bsmnt to start on my other project and....
OMG!!! The sewer had backed up & .. , well nothing else needs be said!! Crap!! Literally.. Lol, but not realy Lol.... Just FML!!!..
I spent 1 1/2 hour cleaning, sanitizing & deodorizing!!
Gotta toss an 8x12 area carpet.
Oh well, at least nothing else got ruined...

Cleaned my car inside and out.

Well, today was an eventful day of much learning.

Firstly, I taught myself how to coat a driveway in oil. See, all you have to do is screw the filter on incorrectly, so that it doesn't seat well and pukes everywhere once the engine is started. I caught it in time so no damage, just wasted oil and a bruise on the ego.

But, I spent the rest of the day digging in rave2n's ST - managed to separate the transmission and various other things, so manual swap is soon to come. Thanks to Rob for a fine deal and help in this project. Also installed a GT front strut bar, which works nicely to tighten up the front, just as described. Fantastic upgrade.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Apr 16, 2012 - 8:22 AM

WOOO manual! What else do you need to complete it? Well other than the labor of doing it of course.

Yesterday I....

Had alot of toyata in my driveway!

Yesterday, I washed the car and claybarred it for good measure.

Went to start it and heard some lovely rod knock.

Today, I'm getting as much information as possible to decide what to do next. If anyone has a line on good '98-99 motors feel free to PM me.

Brian, did you change the oil yourself or have it done? It would suck if a shop caused you rod knock. Guess it sucks anyway, but you know what I mean. Best o' luck pal.



Currently sitting in the garage:

- C52
- clutch
- pressure plate
- starter
- passenger axle
- slave cylinder
- tranny mount
- ebay exhaust manifold (for teh powar)

Still to be removed:

- shifter assembly/cables
- flywheel
- various lines

So, what's left to purchase...

- driver's side axle (because mine is borked)
- manual ECU
- throwout bearing
- master cylinder
- shift boot, shift knob
- various bolts

I'm massively excited to get this going, I never thought I'd actually get a chance to convert. 'Twas pretty fun just getting the transmission off yesterday, fought with the rear motor mount for a while...mostly Rob pulling the sh!t out of the crossmember.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Apr 16, 2012 - 9:21 AM

Local Toyota dealership did the oil change.

Actually, I can answer that question: it's because you end up dumping 4.4 quarts of oil on the driveway. Regardless, I'm hoping they buy you a new engine as a result.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Apr 16, 2012 - 9:44 AM

Quick answer: lazy. Long answer: Visiting my folks and didn't bring my tools/etc. plus for what I paid for the oil change (32 bucks) it was cheaper than what doing it myself would cost (28 for oil + 5 for filter).

Fair enough. She must take precious oil, I'm fine with $20 for both filter and oil. Anyway, think the dealer had a hand or just random coincidence?

I think it was a random coincidence; I drove the car about 40 miles after the oil change so I figure if it was going to try and die it would have been between the time the oil was changed and parking it for the night.

As for oil, yup...precious Mobil1 synthetic with Toyota filters.

today i discovered oil leaking from my car again so tomorrow i will check it out and see whats up -.-

Anytime! Much more fully coated in grease days to come!

This post has been edited by rave2n: Apr 16, 2012 - 11:32 AM

Maybe they were lazy and didnt prime it.
Ive seen an oil change shop put the wrong oil filter on before( it was a standard thread instead of metric too). Stripped the threads forcing it to screw on and then seized the engine when all the oil spewed out as the guys wife was driving it.
I dont trust anybody else to touch my engine. The only way you know you got Mobile 1 instead of cheap Pennzoil is to pour it in yourself

Shop gets your car-
Uses improper procedure, technique(such as not filling the filter and priming the oil system)
=shop saves $5 labor
shop charges you for premium oil and puts in generic crap oil
=shop makes $30 and you will never know
Shop tells you 3000 mile oil change interval, Toyota specifies 7500 miles
=shop gets to screw you twice as often
Shotty work destroys your engine while its in its prime
=shop sells you $1500 shortblock and $2000 in labor installing it.

You can get the oil cheaper yourself and have the opportunity to see exactly what came out and what went in, plus the satisfaction of doing it yourself. The shops dont get mobil 1 any cheaper than the box stores, so they must be doing something somewhere in there to make money off of you, because when your in business your in it to make money.
Anyways, thats my personal take on it.

I would drain your oil into a *clean pan, like a stainless steel bowl or pot from the kitchen. See if you have any metal in there and pour it back in if it looks clean to you. A rod bearing going out is going to leave some trace metal in your oil, either chunks or a metallic shine when you look at the oil in the light

This post has been edited by Special_Edy: Apr 16, 2012 - 1:20 PM

Edy, you could be right about all of this really but the only glaring parts of your example that don't match with my oil change are that 1) the work was done at my local Toyota dealer (Rick Hendrick Toyota), 2) it was prior to the scheduled change mark (work done at 162k miles when the next service was scheduled for 162.5k miles - 7000 miles after the last change), 3) at the dealership they use Pennzoil - when I do the change myself I use Mobil 1.

At this point, the engine is not being rebuilt at the Toyota dealership; if it gets rebuilt it'll be elsewhere. I called them today to get a baseline quote and the 6 grand they ballparked is laughable at best.

I may drain the oil this evening.

Im not trying to rail on you and the dealership is usually the only place you can get halfway decent service done. Im just super cynical of anyone else doing work for me. Its impossible to get quality work done on anything nowadays, not just cars. Seems like everyone is out to screw me and make a quick buck.

I understand and I agree - oil change is something I normally do myself because of the ease of it (and I dislike random people working on my car).

It's always easier and more reassuring to do work (car, computer, etc.) yourself because at least then you know exactly what has or hasn't been done.

I can rebuild your motor Brian.