Toyota Celica = No Go No Mo', Almost Dead Options

[BlackCelicaGT94]

So its happened. My Car is about 90 percent done-zo. On Friday I was driving and blew a radiator hose. For those of you who have seen that tubgirl website yeah thats what it looked like all over my hood and windshield. So I replaced that and thought itd be fine. Nope its deciding that overheating everytime I drive is the cool thing to do. My dads warned me for a year that I would need a new engine because mines getting tired but I didnt listen and didnt save any money. Now the car is pretty much going to kill over and I wont be able to fix it. It wouldnt be much to get a new 5sfe. Probably 300 bucks but then my dad would have to build it up and thatd take a while cuz hes a 60 year old man but hey you cant beat FREE mechanical labor. :-) So im hoping maybe just maybe before the engine dies that I can get outta debt and look at new cars. Probably wont happen but hey its a nice dream. An older Lexus IS300 is sounding pretty tempting

So anyways yeah I doubt ill be making it around to any shows this year in my car. :-(

I guess thats what happens though when you have 230,000 miles on the car and you have personally put 145,000 on in 4.5 years.

[Silver94CelicaOw...]

From the outside, the 3SFE and 5SFE look pretty similar. On the inside, they are quite a bit different. The 5SFE has a much beefier crank, much heavier rods, and totally different displacement....plus it requires the ECU and wiring from the 3SFE to run so it would be a pain.......and for a significant downgrade in valuable torque at that.
It's not a direct swap, you're better off finding a used 5SFE on here, CelicaTech, MR2OC, etc. I quote those sites because junkyards like to get upwards of $800-1600 for a high mileage used 5SFE and members swapping are always looking to get rid of 5SFE's.


I think the best place to start however would be to fix the problem of overheating. Like Stef said, start by inspecting the water pump, thermostat, fluid levels, new hoses, etc that could be causing a problem. Just because it has high mileage isn't really grounds for replacement. That engine could last another day, or another 100,000 miles for all we know.....theres really no way to know until it happens.
I'd fix the problem first and save your money for down the road when you actually need to replace the motor or if you want to sell it and buy something newer.