Servicing My Celica

[MIP]

Well, my celica's about due for a service next month, its done 102k miles (and has a full toyota service history), and its been a while since the book has been stamped. I simply can't afford toyota, so its being done my my friendly local garage, who I've used for years.

In the service shedule, its going to be an 'a' type service (9k miles or 12month interval). The timing belt is about due for a change, 5 years it says in my book.

I've printed the form to sort out gold membership here, so hopefully I'll be able to find some discounts after I've got that sorted.

My questions are, what parts do I need and where would you recommend getting all the parts from?

The only non-toyota part I want at this time is the Blitz panel filter that fits in the existing airbox (that I've seen at fensport).

The other (standard) parts I think might be worth buying at 102k miles are:

Timing belt, alternator belt, oil filter, brake pads, toyota forlife coolant, power steering belt.

What would you recommend I need? I know the bare minimum I need the timing belt and oil filter. What is the 'timing belt hydraulic tensioner', would it need replacing with the timing belt?

This is the actual service: Link

[mikeb]

Consider changing the gearbox oil too, if it hasn't been done for a while (or ever).

It's up to you (or the mechanic) whether or not you replace the cambelt tensioner. Some people say you should always replace it, others say you don't need to. My advice would be to check it very carefully for any signs of leaking (disturbing it when you change the belt sometimes causes this), and replace it if it looks dodgy.

[andrewl41]

I would change the water pump with the cam belt...

[GT4 BOOSTER]

isnt the blitz filter non reusable - i'd put the difference and go for the TRD one , you can just wash it , and put it back in.

[GTForbes]

for the price of the blitz it might as well be non-reuseable, i'll be replacing mine with a cone and cold box next time it's due changed tho :)

[Evilsean]

bear in mind that a cone filter filtrates less and shot blasts your turbo blades with wee bits of crap that creep thru those holes.... also without a cold box and appropriate feed it will lose you power...

had a long chat with bloke at avatourbo and he talked me out of the whole idea basically by pointing out that i have a cold feed on my stock box that just needs more air...widening the scoop..also he`s rolling road tested umpteen cone jobs and has yet to see one that registered significant or indeed in most cases DETECTABLE increases in power...

i`ll be spending my cash on a larger bore decat zorst and manifold followed by a front mount IC ... cars a 1990 so skips the cat regs and a little bit more pressure on the turbo will not do any harm as long as the gases have a way out ...hence the zorst...

if its a non turbo then yes you need some back pressure to flush the crap out and i think it helps a little with compression ...not sure on that just yet...

change the cam belt and make sure they do it properly... mine was botched by previous owner and resulted in detonation and serious (38 degree serious ) ignition advancement ...so im up for a new belt and realignment of cam ...talked bloke into doing it for £150 ...originally£240

filters... if you dont know when they were last changed....change em ..its not expensive and will let you sleep better ... air filter £20 ...oil..£ 8 so its nothing really

oil...think of changing to fully synthetic 5/40 or better...dont overfill...it says 4.5 litres in the book but its actually slightly less 5/40 synthetic £ 25 for 5 litres

check the cv boots for splits ...and all the hose joints...use a wee mirror and a torch to see the awkward bits... when checking front cv boots rotates steering fully in both directions to stretch em ...and while you are under there check the shocks for leaks or signs of corrosion ... boots £ 12 each

check the main joins on the zorst for corrosion and if a back box has been added/modified ...check carefully for any dodgy bits around the join ... back box ( non drug dealer ) £60 ... full stainless ( cat back only ) £ 200 from scorpion or custom build from my local bloke £ 120...havent seen the manifold prices yet... also make sure if you have a turbo that the inner bore of the silencer is around 3 inch....no point getting a nice 3" zorst if it gets pinched in the silencer is there?

pumps... have the garage check em for output if they will do it for a decent sum ... replace em if they are down on pressure ... its an easy test...they just connect the output to a pressure meter and run it a bit... if in doubt change em...again not that expensive and well worth it

ah the list goes on and on doesnt it....

condensing ...

if in doubt check it out... if component is ropey ... fix it

[daktari]

if in doubt check it out... if component is ropey ... fix it

←

Good advice.

The cone filter debate will rumble on for years, But suffice to say you don`t see many tuned (800BHP Supras, Skylines etc) with standard air boxes.

[Evilsean]

mildly off topic but yeah ... you wont see many 800+ bhp engines do 100k miles either

[daktari]

Have to open a 'Lets argue the toss thread'

PS Sorry for the very slight hijack. :D

[GTForbes]

sean, yes your right in a way, cone filters do tend to not give a noticable power increase but for FMIC pipe work and the engine bay to be tidy i'm going ot get rid of the standard intake. and as for it filtrating less, thats purely dependant on what kind of filter you go for surely.

another thing sean, you mentioned in your RR post about gettitng a 3 inch down pipe and exhaust, DON'T!!! you aren't running anywhere near enough power to need it and you'll only end up with boost creap.

also, sean, sorry mate, i'm not picking on you intenionally here lol, dont go for fully synthetic oil, the 3S-GTE is an older engine and should only have semi-synthetic in it, not getting into a huge speel about it all to explain it, just read up on it first.

sorry for the small high jack MIP, hope you can salvage some useful info out of it all ;)

[Evilsean]

thx for the info m8 ... the zorst change was in accordance with advice from the blokes at avaturbo and have yet to thoroughly read up on it although am planning to up the boost but i see i`ve got some reading to do

oil debate ...gah ..well next change i`ll go for semi but i was talked into fully synthetic by yet another mech... gotta love conflicting advice although what you say does seem to make sense

and the panel filter I was checking out is the k+n one ...which you can see daylight thru

and dont worry about "picking" on me... I`ll take all the info I can get

[GTForbes]

thats what the tinternet is about i suppose, sharing the welth of lots of experiances and information.

K&N i honestly wouldn't let near my car even if someone else bought it, it would need to be blitz, TRD or someone similar basically because they are Jap tuners and have done the R&D on Jap cars.

as for the exhaust, the best set up that you can go for is a 3 inch down pipe and 2.5 inch system this way you get great flow rates and a little back pressure to reduce/remove boost creep.

[MIP]

Cheers for the replies. As its been serviced with toyota all its life, I'll assume that everything listed in the service manual has been done (see my original link in first post), e.g new gearbox oil every 27k miles. Where I'm looking, the water pump is £90 alone, things like that I just can't afford to buy unless its really necissary, but I'll make sure its somthing the mechanic checks out, along with the hydraulic tensioner (before and after cambelt installation).

When I take it in, I'll supply air filter, brake pads, cambelt, alternator belt, oil filter. I'm still not sure I've found the best place to buy these parts, its just that fensport clearly list the prices. If the mechanic does all the checks listed in my link in the first post, n finds stuff, I'll obviously have that done. I'll print this thread out as-well for him, try n' give him as much input as possible.

[GTForbes]

you can buy a water pump from any motor factor, it's a hell of alot cheaper, i'll be changing mine every time i change the belt cos it's not a toyota part i dont know how long it'll last, only takes 5 minutes extra on a cam belt change