Hi everyone, I'm new here, but not to celica's. My family has three of them now. I recently bought a 1990 celica 5 spd. I'm not sure what engine is in it, but i believe it is the 2.2. It is not the stock engine though, from what i can tell the stock engine was a 1.6.
Well right off the bat the radiator in it busted and the car overheated, blowing the head gasket. I replaced the radiator and did a head job on it. Afterwards though, the lifters seemed to be making a little extra noise, it doesn't quite seem to have all its power, and it burns through oil more than a normal toyota. Also my alternator has gone out.
So i guess my questions are
How do i tell which motor is in there?
Do you think i should just call this motor shot and rebuild, or buy a 1.6 and rebuild it since thats what was stock?
well search up a couple pictures of a 5sfe, 3sfe, 4afe (there were two revisions of that) and maybe even a 4age. or post a picture, I'm sure one of us would be able to easily identify it.
Also what makes you think it is not the original engine?
A couple parts here and there that i've bought for it having been lining up right (motor mount for ex.) and i've had to take them back and the right ones are the one's made for the 1.6. The car is at my work right now, but i'll take a pic and post it during the day..
I'm taking a guess at its a revision 4AFE since that is the only possibility I can think of that does not have the displacement on the valve cover or intake manifold. Easy way to tell, is the engine sitting perpendicular to the ground(striahgt up and down) or laying back at an angle?
Also, to tell if it is the engine or at least the same series engine that came in the car is the 4th digit in the vin an A or S ?
I paid around $100 for a Denso Alternator at Carquest. Carquest is the sole US Distributor outside of your dealership for Denso. Pretty much everything electronic in your Celica was originally made from Denso.
A new toyota short block will run you close to $4-4.5k from a dealer plus a overhaul gasket set which is near $500. A used engine can probably be found for around $3k with under 100k miles on it. But the downside to that is it will probably be a Japan takeout, which will require some swapping and fab work. It sounds to me like you have a valve adjustment problem, and if it's burning the oil, I'd say it needs some valve seals. Does it burn oil on start up or under load? have the car running and power brake it, see if you have blue-gray smoke coming out of the tail pipe.
My first place I would look is craigslist for a celica or camry with the 5sfe. With anyluck you could maybe find a wrecked one with decent milage. for not nearly 3k. That seems a bit high.
Sadly you wont be able to find an imported japanese engine like you can for most engines because the 5s-fe was never released outside of North America and Australia.
IF you are doing the swap yourself, you are paying about $800 for a motor from a wrecker. With the right mechanic, you are looking at about $2000 for labor and engine. Just do a lot of research first. Trust me, you'll be happier you did.
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