Celica Woes

[highlander]

So. Couple weeks ago, we ended up buying a (2000) Toyota Celica 1.8 VVT-i (1ZZ-FE engine, 140 HP), 7th generation, in Astral Black; the lad paid for it himself. Lovely car, looks in great shape, no rust to worry about (that's what killed the lad's Focus).

Except that its clutch is now slipping, so it's waiting for a trip to a garage to get that changed (around £460). I'm paying for that one, and he's gutted as he can't drive his car til a week on Tuesday, once the clutch is replaced.

The one thing we did know needed done to it was the front brake pads - this was the only MOT advisory. I've just bought a set of Brembo brake pads listed as being compatible for the car, plus a brake caliper wind-back tool, and some high-temperature grease, for applying to the metal side of the pad to reduce squeal, and to apply to the caliper slider pins; I quite fancy trying this out myself.

EuroCarParts have a deal on right now, so I got around 30% off the price of the parts, paying less than £40 for the lot. But I just got an e-mail through from ECP saying "oops, we noticed you didn't buy any brake discs, we recommend you replace them together". The code is CRAZY30 and it expires at midnight tonight.

The discs weren't picked up as being badly worn by the MOT, nor by the free brake inspection we got from Halfords Autocentre. My understanding is that when you change your discs, you should change your pads (because new pads are coated with stuff designed to help bed the discs in properly), but there's no requirement for you to change your discs whn you change your pads, unless your discs are obviously warped/rusty/worn too thin.

Also, what kind of torque wrench am I likely to need for tightening up the caliper bolts again? Any recommendations? Halfords have a couple of Sealey ones for around £26.

I already have a jack and a pair of 2-ton axle stands, and a small socket set with ratchet.

Pointers gratefully received.

[OllieNZ]

If the discs are in good nick I wouldn't bother changing them.
Make sure the grease you put on the pins is not copperslip it has a habit of swelling the rubber boots, hardening and seizing stopping the caliper from floating correctly.

[highlander]

This stuff is what I bought:
http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/car-a ... &0&cc5_151

Do I need something else?

[OllieNZ]

This for the pins and anywhere else in contact with rubber.
http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/Product.d ... GwodoeQN9g

[Welly]

I'm surprised the clutch has gone within 2 weeks, were there no signs that it was worn? I know my 406 used to slip but only when good and hot after maybe 1 hour's use so otherwise felt ok when cold (apologies to the man who bought it I forgot* to mention that).

[highlander]

None that I saw, unfortunately.

At least it hasn't died completely; you can drive it, but it's not fun. When mine went on the Coupe, there was no warning at all; just a horrible noise and a sudden inability to put it into any gear, thankfully just as I was trying to put it into reverse to park it.

Hopefully the clutch change will be nice and quick for the garage, and the lad will really get to experience what his car SHOULD feel like to drive.

[OllieNZ]

I've just had to do the clutch in my Jimny. It started slipping if provoked and then one day it decided it was no longer going to provide drive......not fun.

It still had plenty of meat but had glazed badly and I'm pretty sure the pressure plate was no longer as effective as it should have been.

[highlander]

Yep, it can be driven right now, but it isn't being driven, because having your car arrive at the garage on the back of an AA low-loader isn't anyone's idea of fun.

Mine was on the back of the AA low-loader all the way from Glasgow to Aberdeen. From the lorry's passenger seat, I could see all the other drivers judging me

[steve_earwig]

Remind me to point and laugh the next time I see something German on a low-loader...


When we got the first hairdressermobile the clutch was as heavy as, I presumed it needed a new cable. Wrong, it was hydraulic and was a sure sign of the clutch wearing out. The idio..sorry, club said it could go on for ages like that but I figured my arthritic left knee wouldn't take it so it got changed. Not sure if all yoyos are the same...

[highlander]

The pedal's not heavy. That's the first thing I noticed different about the Coupe after its clutch change (other than how it was driveable again) - how light the pedal felt afterwards.

I'm planning on doing the brake pads tomorrow, but with today being the 1st of July in Scotland, what do we get? f*cking hailstones. Dammit.

[highlander]

Well that didn't exactly go according to plan.

Firstly, the person who last did up the wheel bolts appears to either have used a pneumatic wossname to do it, or was a bloody gorilla. The telescopic tool I use to remove the wheel bolts on the Coupe (and used to use on the lad's now-defunct Focus) doesn't fit over the Celica's wheel bolts, and the tool in the Celica tool kit doesn't have much in the way of leverage. So that was a nightmare trying to undo the wheel bolts. Got them eventually.

However, I couldn't get any movement at all on the caliper bolts. The ratchet driver in my socket set doesn't have a long bar, nor is it extendable in any conceivable way, so I didn't have a long enough fulcrum to make any headway. Penetrating fluid (ooh-errr) made no perceivable difference either.

Frustrated, I put the wheels back on and took the car back down off its axle stands, and gave up in disgust. I'll get the garage to swap it out.

Oh, and the power steering now feels very heavy and the car is making all sorts of tortured noises while trying to turn. It wasn't doing THAT last week. It sounds expensive.

Sometimes I really hate cars

[OllieNZ]

Well that didn't exactly go according to plan.

Firstly, the person who last did up the wheel bolts appears to either have used a pneumatic wossname to do it, or was a bloody gorilla. The telescopic tool I use to remove the wheel bolts on the Coupe (and used to use on the lad's now-defunct Focus) doesn't fit over the Celica's wheel bolts, and the tool in the Celica tool kit doesn't have much in the way of leverage. So that was a nightmare trying to undo the wheel bolts. Got them eventually.

However, I couldn't get any movement at all on the caliper bolts. The ratchet driver in my socket set doesn't have a long bar, nor is it extendable in any conceivable way, so I didn't have a long enough fulcrum to make any headway. Penetrating fluid (ooh-errr) made no perceivable difference either.

Frustrated, I put the wheels back on and took the car back down off its axle stands, and gave up in disgust. I'll get the garage to swap it out.

Oh, and the power steering now feels very heavy and the car is making all sorts of tortured noises while trying to turn. It wasn't doing THAT last week. It sounds expensive.

Sometimes I really hate cars

24" 1/2" drive breaker bar, cheap as chips from halfords and reasonably durable. If you can't get it undone with that even an impact gun will struggle.
Not just low ps fluid?

[highlander]

I checked the power steering fluid level; looked fine. The aux belt looked OK too. Not sure whether I should hope it's the power steering pump or the steering rack ...

[highlander]

Apparently it's neither the rack nor the pump. There's a pipe that's corroded to basically nothing, and the power steering is heavy because the fluid is seeping through a gradually expanding hole, meaning the longer I drive it, the less effective the power steering system becomes, until there's no fluid and therefore no pressure. But none of the motor factors carry said pipe; it's only available from Toyota. At a cost of £260 + VAT. For a damned pipe!

SO. I'm going to spend £300 on a pipe, and some more money on a man to fit it. And next week, I'll be spending another £460 on the clutch replacement too. Not sure how much it'll cost to get them to fit the Brembo pads I failed to install. Call it an hour's labour. So probably around the £800 mark overall.

[steve_earwig]

Ouch! That's a bugger Can you get one from a breaker or are they all different, like the 406s?

You could try these guys for parts: https://partsouq.com/en/catalog/genuine/locate?c=Toyota Looks dodgy but it's real and stuff comes by FedEx (and I doubt you'll get arse-raped by the import company where you are )