I thought Toyotas Last forever? Options

[nitemare]

I just sold my Celica 95 GT Convetible. Man, was I so happy to let it go! Its been fun in the beginning, but the last few years have been nothing but problems. Never was in an accident. Always cared for, regular maintenance performed. GOD himself could not keep this car going. I sold it at 145K miles, got it at 60K miles. Lets see, the list of things that broke:

1 - 5th Gear broke while driving. Needed to replace manual transmission
2 - 2 Power steering pumps. The 2nd one in there when I sold it always whined when it was cold- Im sure that would have broke soon again
3 - COnvertible top - Dont get me started on this disaster. Replaced both motors that move the top up and down, TWICE!! $200 a pop each.. And when I sold it one of the motors began to go again
4 - Power windows - Back small panels - they would go down - but not up! Replaced both motors. Now, when car was sold- the 1 window stopped going up (again). That was the breaking point
5 - Air hose - Ripped. Replaced it with an Air intake.
6 - Struts - Had to replace all 4 due to a thumping noise whenever hitting a bump
7 - Car never drove without the steering wheel not shaking. Replaced tires 2x (all 4). Always had a shimmy at 60+
8 - Car always burned oil! So bad had to put cardboard in the garage to prevent staining
9 - Power issue - Car would not want to turn back on!! Had to have gas attendants push my car out of gas station so I can pop the clutch and start it. Car would always be dead and had to jump it about every 2 weeks if not drive. Went through 2 alternators and 2 batteries and still same problem when sold. I even disconnected the entire radio, pulled fuse. Nobody could find out why power was drained all time
10 - Radiator. Time of sale, 2nd radiator was already leaking
11- Convertible top glass window smashed into pieces while top was going down. Replaced it with plastic window. Non stop leaking in back after that.

Im sure there is more, but dont even want to bother with it. Ill tell ya, when it was not in the shop, it was fun. But overall this was my 2nd worst reliable car, ever!!! Only my Subaru XT turbo 1987 was worse. This celica was built like garbage!!

This post has been edited by nitemare: Jul 13, 2008 - 8:30 AM

[bseaman_5]

You complain a lot. Cars aren't perfect never will be no matter how much or how little you spend. Cars aren't perfect and never will be

[nitemare]

Im Sure all my repairs are not 'normal' maintenance to say the least.

Cmon, Gears breaking? Power steering pumps TWO of them going? Power window motors and Top motors going? No way...This car, especially the convertible model was made poorly imo. These are not normal for things to go so many times.

[Euphoria]

Youve just been very very unlucky, most people on this site have got many thousand km's out of there celicas with hardly any problems and just remember it makes things worse if you are constantly starting the car and turning it off and if your driving is agressive, if it is city driving, if you service every 5000km (3000miles) many things can make a car not be as reliable, but on these engines which are in the camry you should have little to no problems as theyre economy engine.

But you can always pick up lemons, Fiat is an example of having a bad name for reliability ect but my dad has had fiats for years, some had problems others had no problems.

[bseaman_5]

I'd say bad luck. . And the fact that its a convertable. . I have a GT and love it, it leaks slowly but I replaced the valve cover gasket and that slowed the leak considerably! Other than that, really no complaints, and old cars you should expect oil leaks. All that other stuff, I'm sorry that just sucks!

[nitemare]

Speaking about leaks, my convertible top had always leaked. Forgot to mention, while bring top down, I heard a loud smash. That would be the glass window shattering while top going down. Cmon, what the heck causes that? Anyway, replaced the glass with a plastic window. Replaced the entire top. Still leaked. Always drove around with 6'' of water in the bag where the top rests. Had to use cups to empty water probably once every month. Bad luck? Or badly made?

If I knew these celica's were not 'truely' made by Toyota. Rather, made by ASC after top was cut off, I would have never bought it.

[chucho]

well its gone so you dont have to worry about it any longer. good luck w/ your next vehicle

[delusionz]

Sounds like you bought a lemon and it sucked your money in

[Euphoria]

I don't think there is one solid convertible that doesnt leak, so many have this problem.

[Jdog1385]

it's 2008 and your car is from 1995. unfortunately our cars are not abrams tanks.

[goferris]

i think you cursed it with your screen name
sorry you've had bad luck with your car. my car is rounding 150k miles and the only thing i've really had to replace is the radiator. there are some other slight quirks but nothing too serious.

there will always be lemons. no matter what type of car it is. sounds like you got very unlucky with this one.

[nitemare]

Replaced the radiator too. Time of sale, the 2nd radiator was already leaking. Getting on third time replacements, its time to dump it. It sounds like my car must be the exception. Well, the main thing was I got it sold. I see lots of cars here in better shape and not able to sell. I probably held onto it too long thinking this was normal to go, but enough was enough.

Oh add - replaced cv joint on passenger side. Time of sale, driver side boot was torn. Also, when struts were added (tein springs/forgot strut name), car was lowered. This resulted in bottoming out. Sparks can be seen, basically you tying to avoid the smallest of potholes..After that, car was never fun to drive anymore.

This post has been edited by nitemare: Jul 13, 2008 - 8:28 AM

[njccmd2002]

i guess its time to move on

regarding the top. guess you did not read the 5 dollar fix, for the motors. Just replacing the pins with something stronger...

[Batman722]

You're upset because a 13 year old car has problems...
personally I think that's all BS but I could be wrong.

Every car is going to have problems. If any car is driven hard and not taken care of it's not going to last and you'll have problems.

did you take the car to a certified toyota mechanic to fix any of these problems ? I doubt it.

I've seen people do dumb things to fix problems. If whoever "fixed" any of these issues you had was an idiot and didn't know how to do a job right then you're going to have more problems and things will break again.
I blame the operator (current or previous) and the ones who "fixed" each problem.

[97Celica]

so far I've owned a 92 GT 5-speed Hatch,94 ST 5-speed Coupe,a 97 ST 5-speed Hatch,97 LE 5-speed Hatch,and now a 00 GT-S 6-Speed...The only car that is dead is the 97 ST 5-speed at 182k...driven HARD daily and on the track twice a week for 2 years and the only reason why is that it threw a rod and the "mechanic" told my brother was fine to drive it home...which 5 minutes later threw the rod out the block and into the hood and out the side of the fender plastic.


Toyotas are reliable. A lot of the older guys at my work drive Camry's,Tacomas and Tundras... they all love them and swear by Toyota.

[Terracar]

Not to bash, but several of the things you mention are maintenance items - rather normal for a 13 year car. I would also suspect a severe lack of mechanical ability on the part of the mechanic who "fixed" any of the problems. Clearly the Teins were not installed/setup correctly so again mechanical ability IMO would be to blame. Regular mainenance may also be a factor in some of the radiator issues.

And well it is a convertible... 'nough said about the leaks/issues with the top.

Regardless, nobody likes a lemon - happy hunting on your new car.

-Terracar

[manphibian]

Bored of your whining now.

Closed.