Some Questions About Mr2S,

[ryan corolla]

hey, my Dad is looking at getting an MR2, (w reg) with 97,000 miles, how hard are they to maintain, are oil changes difficult? i have a friend with a mk2 MR2 he mentioned it was hard to change the oil. are spare parts hard to get hold of and are there any things that we should look out for when looking at MR2s, with this mileage is there anything particular we should be aware of?

Ryan

[Froston]

I would also like to know this!

[N20]

I have had them for around three years and find that they are reliable enough to not need to maintenance that often. Oil changes are easy.

jack the car.

Remove plastic covers

Undo plug (standard spanner)

Drain

Undo filter (filter remover reccomended)

The usual ( I can do it in less than two hours easy)

Spare parts are easy to get hold on on eBay. There are MR2 specialist breakers / repairers like myself up and down the country (I trade with one of them)

With that kind of age MR2 (pre facelift) there is a known pre-cat fault that can potentially write the engine off. I know as I had one. There is more info on this on this site.

[Hoovie]

I have had them for around three years and find that they are reliable enough to not need to maintenance that often. Oil changes are easy.

Jack the car.

Remove plastic covers

Undo plug (standard spanner)

Drain

Undo filter (filter remover reccomended)

The usual ( I can do it in less than two hours easy)

Spare parts are easy to get hold on on ebay. There are MR2 specialist breakers / repairers like myself up and down the country (I trade with one of them)

With that kind of age MR2 (pre facelift) there is a known pre-cat fault that can potentially write the engine off. I know as I had one. There is more info on this on this site.

Hi there. I read about the pre-cat and the potential breakup of it wrecking the engine!

So are you saying this Pre-cat is only fitted to pre- facelift MR2s? is the post -Facelift without the pre-cat entirely or is it a different design that is not a worry regarding it breaking up?

Also ... pre-Facelift / Post-Facelift - I understand this change occured sometime in 2003? What is the difference? looking at various MRs on Autotrader and I could not really see any difference apperance wise between a 06 plate and an 'X' plate!

TIA

:D

[N20]

The facelifts start on a 52 plate but some pre-facelifts carry on to a 03 plate.

Like any facelift it is just tweaked the car to update it, It is basically the same car underneath.

The pre-cats were fitted to them all but they changed the materials used so the facelift ones are a lot more reliable. Also they did other modifications to the engine / car throughout the MR2’s life. For example my car is a 04 plate and if I don’t wear my seatbelt the car doesn’t care but I sold a slightly younger 04 recently and that had audible alarms to annoy you into putting it on.

There were many changes, not all can be seen as the pre-cats were one of them.

The indicators were yellow and are now white

Old were 5 speed new is 6 speed.

The front lights were dull inside but are shiny inside like chrome now.

The rear lights are different

The rear alloys were 15” and 205 wide. They are now 16” and 215 wide

The front bumper is different (spotlights added)

The exhaust was not stainless on the pre-facelift as it is now

The exhaust trim is bigger on the facelift

The temperature dials are different

The rear bumber inserts are different

The list go’s on.

There are so many differences that I you pick up on when breaking and repairing them.

To put it all into a nutshell. If you have a facelift model there is a negligible chance you could have a problem. If you have a pre-facelift… Well from personal experience and the amount of people I know who have problems I would stay clear. That is just my opinion of course.

However if you do buy a pre-facelift keep an eye on the engine oil level and if it drinks it take it back under guarantee.

Also my last post I made a mistake.. You can carry out an interim service on the MR2 without removing any plastic under trays

[Hoovie]

Thanks N20 - it does sound like if someone is in the market for a MR2 Roadster, it is pretty obvious which way to go

I had noticed some with the bumper mounted spots but thought that might have been a body-kit option - you have given me enough ways to be sure what is what from the ad photos :)

[Aki-MR2]

If your budget will stretch to it then I would go for a facelift model. Get as low a milage with as good a service history as you can find/afford. Another option is to buy from a car listed on an owners club, chances are they have looked after it a lot better than joe public?

The verdict is still out on whether the whole pre cat issue is due to poor design of the oil control rings in the engine of the earlier model getting into the manifold, and destroying the pre cats which are then sucked back into the engine resulting in bricking the engine or if its the pre cats failing first and destroying the oil rings?

The facelift model was given a revised design to the oil control rings in the engine, as far as I know there was no change to the design of the pre cat, and on another forum a list of pre cat failures only lists one facelift model and that was due to a different unrelated cause, so read into that what you like. But chances are good condition pre cats or not the facelift models will probably burn less oil that the older model and certainly for me my '53 has used no oil at all in the 1000 miles i've done so far, whereas owners of the older model think it perfectly acceptable (as do Toyota) that their cars use 1ltr every 600 miles!

That along with the 6th gear, extra bracing, updated look makes the facelift a more attractive option, imo.

In any case whichever you choose I would remove the pre cats by either removing them from the stock manifold or buy a cat-less manifold. That way, no cat, no chance of failure :)

[N20]

The verdict is still out on whether the whole pre cat issue is due to poor design of the oil control rings in the engine of the earlier model getting into the manifold, and destroying the pre cats which are then sucked back into the engine resulting in bricking the engine or if its the pre cats failing first and destroying the oil rings

True. and as Aki-MR2 said without the pre cats in, even if the engine leaks there is no pre-cat to be damaged so the engine is a load safer without them in.

I recently gutted the pre-cats from a pre-facelift MR2 a couple of weeks ago and I just wanted to make the point of saying that it sounded a little different. Around 4000 – 5500 RPM it sounded a little more grunty. Also it sailed through a MOT after removing them so you have nothing to worry about there. Threre are instructions on how to remove them on this owners club for anyone who is interested.

[MissWPC]

Hi there,

I have just been reading through this thread and was wondering if you might be able to help me out too with some advice?

I have a MR-S 1999 import and the exhaust has tried to fall off, luckily held on by so many brackets that it wasn't possible! I am told I need a new front section (with Cat replacement pipe?), but I am struggling to find one. Apparently I can only get it direct from toyota which will then need to be imported from Japan and could take up to June 20th. I simply can't wait that long so I have been scouring the internet trying to seek an alternative.

A friend of a friend has recommended getting a bespoke one made, but the only problem I hve now is that my garage have removed the old one expecting the part to be delivered from Blizt only to find they sent the rear section in error and then said they couldn't supply the front section...

I am lost if I am honest as I don't know enough about cars - just like driving them :(

I've just emailed the chap on eBay that you added a link to so I am hoping he might reply to me soon, but other than that have you any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance!