Toyota Celica 190

[thatguy11]

She's getting leggy, still running smooth as new though

Also, I've had the car nearly three years now and I can't believe I've never spotted this before....the gear select display for the auto 'box is visible on the digital display, despite the auto option only being available on US-spec cars. Must just be a universal screen

[thatguy11]

Major service last weekend! While I wasn't too thrilled at dropping £300 just before Christmas, the car's clean bill of health is a nice peace of mind. I also had them replace the oil with fully synthetic. The 2ZZ-GE engine may have a much better reputation for reliability than the early 1ZZs but the 2ZZ still isn't invincible, especially when it comes to oil-related issues. Plus I like to be good to my engine

They did alert me to my rear brake pads though....which are pretty much gone To be honest I thought they had more life left in them than that...looks like that rear brake change is happening sooner than I anticipated. At least my front and rear discs will match now!

[Riknos]

The auto was also available on JDM cars, 4 speed trip with paddle shift, there's a 190 version for sale on ebay at the moment with that box, rare as rocking horse poo, unfortunately though I watched a video of it changing gear and it drops out of lift due to how the box works on auto so seems like a bit pointless in my opnion!

[daveofedinburgh]

Riknos said:

The auto was also available on JDM cars, 4 speed trip with paddle shift, there's a 190 version for sale on ebay at the moment with that box, rare as rocking horse poo, unfortunately though I watched a video of it changing gear and it drops out of lift due to how the box works on auto so seems like a bit pointless in my opnion!

Sadly, I'd have to agree.

Im not against autos at all, having owned several (NA auto mkiv Supra is a complete DD gem, for example). Cars like this though- they just need a manual box to exploit the higher reaches of the rev range. You wouldn't want a DC2/ DC5/ Civic Type R with an auto box would you? These Gen7 Celicas are of the same ilk- if you want to 'drive' them, you'll be needing total control over the rpm.

Having said that, my last mk1 MX5 was an auto purely due to my awful London commute. Yes I missed the manual box, but it did the job I bought it for perfectly. An auto Celica would doubtless do the same.

Also, come resale time 'sporty' cars with auto boxes take a long time to go in my experience, unless you undercut all the desirable manuals by a significant amount.

As Ive mentioned already, buy a 2ZZ (those early 1ZZs are truly chocolate, and underpowered) and you'll have a cheap coupe that does everything really rather well. Just don't kill any fluffy, innocent animals with it.

[LasseV]

This is a very nice car indeed. I love that color and those wheels. Are you OP still happy after all these years about that performance what it gives you? I'v driven t-sport few times and it is a surprisingly fast car and i generally love that engine.

Lovely looking brake discs! Where did you buy those and are they better than stocks?

[DannyScene]

I've owned my 140 since april, same alloys as yours, sunroof built in satnav etc

mine looks a lot rougher than yours though because I smiply don't look after it, I've tried to gel with it but can't, I love driving it but don't love the car at all

I'm adding arch extensions, lowering springs, wheel spacers, avensis brake upgrade and matt camo green paint in the coming months then I'm running it into the ground and getting an EP3

[thatguy11]

Sooo...a mere 6 days after the service I felt the clutch slipping this morning. Anything more than 1/3 throttle and the revs just shoot up with no gain in speed.

The car's still on its original clutch, so it looks like it's finally needing replaced. The clutch wasn't even marked down as an advisory on the service sheet though....

I don't want to go back to the dealer and moan just yet, not until I'm absolutely sure it is the clutch that's needing replaced. If it is the clutch though I'll be majorly pissed off that Toyota thought it was totally fine.

[Escy]

Why is it the dealers fault?

[GTIAlex]

thatguy11 said:

Sooo...a mere 6 days after the service I felt the clutch slipping this morning. Anything more than 1/3 throttle and the revs just shoot up with no gain in speed.

The car's still on its original clutch, so it looks like it's finally needing replaced. The clutch wasn't even marked down as an advisory on the service sheet though....

I don't want to go back to the dealer and moan just yet, not until I'm absolutely sure it is the clutch that's needing replaced. If it is the clutch though I'll be majorly pissed off that Toyota thought it was totally fine.

?

[GokTweed]

LasseV said:

This is a very nice car indeed. I love that color and those wheels. Are you OP still happy after all these years about that performance what it gives you? I'v driven t-sport few times and it is a surprisingly fast car and i generally love that engine.

Lovely looking brake discs! Where did you buy those and are they better than stocks?

They look like EBC discs to me. I've had an experience with those for my 190 Celica. Bought for the same reason as the OP, they looked nice and were supposed to be very good.....they weren't. Not even a little bit. Warped the fronts and backs within 6 months and I ran them in nice and smoothly over a 300 mile period Which took about a month at the time.

Swapped them back to manufacturer standard ones which are fantastic anyway imo, but don't look quite as nice. But now I can stop when I intend to so I'm happy

[thatguy11]

The discs are from MTEC, performance is pretty much exactly the same as the standard discs but they do look good

Also re: the clutch issue, I'm just slightly bemused that the garage didn't pick up on the clutch being on its last legs. The service sheet showed the clutch as being totally fine, no advisories or anything, when in actuality it had less than a week's life left in it.

[Escy]

How do you expect them to know the amount of life left in the clutch?

[Schtum]

GokTweed said:

They look like EBC discs to me. I've had an experience with those for my 190 Celica. Bought for the same reason as the OP, they looked nice and were supposed to be very good.....they weren't. Not even a little bit. Warped the fronts and backs within 6 months and I ran them in nice and smoothly over a 300 mile period Which took about a month at the time.

Swapped them back to manufacturer standard ones which are fantastic anyway imo, but don't look quite as nice. But now I can stop when I intend to so I'm happy

"Warpage" is often really down to pad deposits on the discs. Which pads were you using? I remember fitting EBC "Spotties" with standard pads to my MkIV Golf years ago and getting those symptoms. Conversely, I'm on my second set of them and Greenstuff pads on the front of My MkV Golf. The first set only lasted 30K miles but the braking performance was pretty good for most of those.

[DannyScene]

Escy said:

Why is it the dealers fault?

I was wondering that to be honest

[james_gt3rs]

GokTweed said:

Swapped them back to manufacturer standard ones which are fantastic anyway imo, but don't look quite as nice. But now I can stop when I intend to so I'm happy

If they are the same disks as on the MR2, the OEM disks are indeed fantastic. On track they could do 10 fade free laps with no warping or much wear. Only thing that brought me into the pits was the tyres heating up!

[cornet]

thatguy11 said:

The discs are from MTEC, performance is pretty much exactly the same as the standard discs but they do look good

Also re: the clutch issue, I'm just slightly bemused that the garage didn't pick up on the clutch being on its last legs. The service sheet showed the clutch as being totally fine, no advisories or anything, when in actuality it had less than a week's life left in it.

What pads are you running with the MTEC discs?

I've got the same discs as you + EBC Redstuff + brake stopper (which is also a worthy investment). The pads take a bit of warminig up after which they perform great. That said I have had brake fade once while driving over a mountain pass in France . I was left foot braking through most of the corners to try and keep the car balanced - probably mostly down to my technique rather than the pads themselves. Still, it did unnerve me for a while after.

As for the clutch I've had an on/off problem with mine for years. It started after I stupidly let a garage do an oil change for me (it was winter and some other work needed doing). After I got the car back the clutch slipped like hell then 2 days later when I was driving it to have the clutch replaced it was all fine. My guess is they spilt some oil in the engine bay which found its way onto the clutch plates.

Since then most of the time it's absolutely fine but occasionally it'll have an off day and start slipping. I really should just bite the bullet and get it changed (I've got a replacement Aisin clutch I bought when it first happened in the boot of the car).

[thatguy11]

cornet said:

thatguy11 said:

The discs are from MTEC, performance is pretty much exactly the same as the standard discs but they do look good

Also re: the clutch issue, I'm just slightly bemused that the garage didn't pick up on the clutch being on its last legs. The service sheet showed the clutch as being totally fine, no advisories or anything, when in actuality it had less than a week's life left in it.

What pads are you running with the MTEC discs?

I've got the same discs as you + EBC Redstuff + brake stopper (which is also a worthy investment). The pads take a bit of warminig up after which they perform great. That said I have had brake fade once while driving over a mountain pass in France . I was left foot braking through most of the corners to try and keep the car balanced - probably mostly down to my technique rather than the pads themselves. Still, it did unnerve me for a while after.

As for the clutch I've had an on/off problem with mine for years. It started after I stupidly let a garage do an oil change for me (it was winter and some other work needed doing). After I got the car back the clutch slipped like hell then 2 days later when I was driving it to have the clutch replaced it was all fine. My guess is they spilt some oil in the engine bay which found its way onto the clutch plates.

Since then most of the time it's absolutely fine but occasionally it'll have an off day and start slipping. I really should just bite the bullet and get it changed (I've got a replacement Aisin clutch I bought when it first happened in the boot of the car).

The pads are Mintex, which came bundled in the package with the four discs. They're decent but I'm considering switching back to the Ferodos I was using with my last set of discs.

[thatguy11]

The rear discs and pads have now been replaced, and bugger me what an ordeal it was! Much time was spent freeing up the caliper bolts and guide pins, which clearly hadn't been greased the last time the rear brakes were changed.

I made sure to give them all a good rub down with wet & dry to get all the crap off, them gave them a good dose of copper ease before re-installing.

Also, the o/s rear brake had a seized piston, which took the best part of an hour to free up. Here's hoping it doesn't become a problem again...

Still, at least all four of my brake discs are now a matching set!

[thatguy11]

GokTweed said:

LasseV said:

This is a very nice car indeed. I love that color and those wheels. Are you OP still happy after all these years about that performance what it gives you? I'v driven t-sport few times and it is a surprisingly fast car and i generally love that engine.

Lovely looking brake discs! Where did you buy those and are they better than stocks?

They look like EBC discs to me. I've had an experience with those for my 190 Celica. Bought for the same reason as the OP, they looked nice and were supposed to be very good.....they weren't. Not even a little bit. Warped the fronts and backs within 6 months and I ran them in nice and smoothly over a 300 mile period Which took about a month at the time.

Swapped them back to manufacturer standard ones which are fantastic anyway imo, but don't look quite as nice. But now I can stop when I intend to so I'm happy

I was considering going for EBCs, but did bit of digging and lots of reports saying they're made of chocolate :P my front MTECs are getting on for 6 months old now, still like new!

[thatguy11]

Something that's been bugging me for a while was the car's filthy engine bay...last time it was cleaned was roughly two years ago. Finally gave it a good once-over today.

Gave the car a decent wash first. Body hadn't been washed in ages, forgot how good spectra blue mica looks when it's shiny!





Then into the garage for an engine bay scrub



Good light is a massive help, nice to have a big-ass spotlight!




Before...



And after.




Also gave my exhaust a quick going-over. Started with steel wool, then worked down through wet & dry, t-cut and metal polish.

Before



After