Just Bought It - Engine Fault - Please Help!

[Cubic Incubi]

after reading most of page 1 and skipping through posts on page two - if i may add -

To drive a car with a known overheating problem is asking for the head gasket to blow, which it now appears to have done.

this problem could have been sorted and the engine would have been saved.

In my humble opinion it isnt worth fixing this engine as from what i can gather its been overheated too many times and its probably toast.

A second hand engine should drop in nicely as afterall the rest of the car is in great condition. this isnt hard to do, the main hardship is getting the drive shafts and box back on - a good honest back street garage should do this for you for £250 if u supply the engine.

Regarding the engine fan being left to run constant - it is imho a temporary fix although I know of countless other gen 4 & 5 owners who simply disconnect it - I ran my GT4 for a year with the fan running constant for additional cooling for raised boost - I also know a lot of NA owners in this country and in the far flung corners of the world who have done or do the same.

If the fan relay keeps dying its because of either a dodgy water pump, dodgy thermostat, corrosion in coolant system, wrong dilution or trapped air bubbles. any of these can kill off a fan relay - OR the fan relay may not work one day but work fine the next which leads to further investigative measures with a circuit tester.

all the above possible causes are a hell of a lot easier to sort than a failed head gasket! I feel for you mate but at the end of the day as soon as the car overheated, if you dont have sufficient knowledge to diagnose and repair, you should have had this car recovered and repaired before you drove it any further.

When you buy an older modern classic it pays to have a bit of nouse or a spare wad to spend on it - all cars over 10 years old need a little put away for the unexpected and whilst the original problem was unexpected and probably under £200 to sort if not a hell of a lot cheaper, the cost to sort the current problem 'was' to be expected considering it was used with the overheating issues.

Not trying to 'rub it in' and i hope this hasnt put you off celica's.

best of luck mate whatever the outcome.

cheers

[chris202]

Lorkmeister i would of course advise you to try and save the celica , mine has cost me a lot after all the repairs but now thats it up and running i love the thing ! the car brings a smile to my face wenever i see it let alone drive it !

my only piece of advice is for people to think twice about buying cars on eBay , i bought mine from a ford mechanic ! and within a week it was dead , new engine !

In future i will be buying my cars after i've seen and tested them .

Good luck !

[Tom.B]

after reading the Toc and the celica club forums...Id say matey just take it off eBay and get the work done...are you in the RAC? basically find a garage thatll do it and get it towed there. It in my opinion is worth a lot more than £500 and they are as reliable as anything . Mine has been the best car Ive ever owned in relation to problems with them.