91 GT-S rpms too high???? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

toyo22r · 02-18-2008, 07:47 AM

I just bought my wife a 91 GT-S. The previous owner said he replaced the transmission with one shipped from Japan (JDM?), this is an automatic. I am wondering if this tranny is geared different than the US version, that is if indeed there is a difference.

At 70mph, its turning 3K rpm. This seems a bit high. I have a 90 Camry with 3SFE motor and it turns 2300 rpm @ 70 mph. Is this normal for the Celica? I had expected the mileage to be similar to the Camry (30+) but its much lower ~25-26mpg. I know the 5sfe is larger displacement.

Thanks,
Paul

mk2-1jz · 02-18-2008, 09:06 AM

from what I know that is normal, the celica was geared higher for better acceleration. It was more of a "sports" type car.

toyo22r · 02-18-2008, 09:50 AM

Well speaking of acceleration, this thing is a dog... i thought the 5sfe would be alot more peppy than the 3sfe in my Camry... The Camry pulls hard all the way to redline... the celica seems to peter out at about 4500. Is this "normal"?

mk2-1jz · 02-18-2008, 01:25 PM

it may be normal, but I still do have a stupid question to ask you. Is the engine well kept? Are the sparkplugs good, air filter, fuel filter, cap and rotor, wires? All this contribute to the overall performance of the car. If you dont know how the car was maintained you may want to check into some of these things. The 5sfe has more power than the 3sfe so you would think that you would notice a difference.

Also, the camry seems to be geared low, even mine (1988 3sfe) is in the 2300-2500 Rpm range between 60 and 75 MPH. I am also assuming your camry is automatic like mine is. Is the celica automatic? I was confused reading the post, the previous owner swapped an automatic tranny? Becasue there is a big difference in the gear ratios, I have heard of people who have manual camrys running near the 3000s at highway speed, this is normal if you have a manual regardless of the motor.

toyo22r · 02-18-2008, 02:13 PM

Yes, I went thru the car when i got it. New plugs (NGK), cap & rotor (toyota), air filter, did the SeaFoam treatment, made sure timing is correct. The guy i bought it from i think maintained it just well enough to keep it running. It still had the original heater hoses and one sprung a leak 2 days after i bought it.

Yes the Celica is an automatic, always was. It seems to have power if the motor slowly comes up to speed, but say your going 65 and want to pass someone, my Camry will downshift and pull to redline where as the celica seems to struggle at the higher RPMs.

One thing comes to mind... the previous owner replaced the timing belt himself. Could one cog off cause this lack of power or sluggishness at higher rpms? Or would one cog off be VERY noticable?

mk2-1jz · 02-18-2008, 04:21 PM

hmm, If he missed a tooth when putting the belt back on the car would not run good at all, that would compelatly throw the timing off. It would be very noticeable. What your describing sounds something like what my camry did when I bought it. After I checked all the stuff I mentioned above I decided to try adjusting the kick down. If you look at the throttle body on the car where the accelerator petal is connected you'll see another cable running the opposite way heading into the transmission. If you adjust that bolt and put more tension on the cable running toward the trans, the car will downshift "quicker". That means that you wont have to give it as much gas before it decides to kick down. It may solve your problem. If the car is in overdrive and you give it gas it accelerates in a very long gear, which puts the motor under load, seeing as these cars dont have very much power they wont go anywhere unless they kick down. So the quicker they kick down the quicker the car will accelerate to pass.