Help The Car Has Gremlins!!!!!

**cerby** · 07-12-2005, 11:39 PM

Ok guys heres the story. One of my friends bought a 1986 sx celica. It was in good nick no obvious problems. He got it home and within a month the problems started.
First the gearbox was grinding when he changed back to third and second. I drove it and found that if you rev matched it stopped. No problem, just the synchro, live with it. So he goes out and gets the gearbox reconditioned.
While it's getting reco'd the mechanic says hey the clutch plate is on the way out better replace it. So he went ahead and did it.
A month after that the tvis system buggers up and and it revs between 250 and 2000 while idling. So he gets that cleaned up. More money.
After this i lost track of all the things going wrong. His windscreen cracks. Gets that replaced. Window stops working. All these things are going wrong and then disaster. Blown headgasket.
Takes it to mechanic who reckons that it isn't blown, puts some additive through it and it goes ok.
A while after that he's rolling into his driveway and the engine goes nuts. I heard it and it sounded like he had ripped the top off a piston or something. Anyway mechanic hears it and tells him to buy a new motor. He reckons taking that engine apart would only be a waste of money. New motor is bought, valve springs and stem seals replaced and the engine is put in. While the engine is out he says hey this new clutch plate is worn down one side it needs replacing!!!!! New motor goes in. It runs like shit. The mechanic says don't worry it will take a while for the computer to adjust to the new motor wtf???? Anyway after about 4 trips back to the mechanic the efi is unhooked and it is run without. sounds wierd to me. the mechanic tells him to spend no more money on the car. So he doesn't.
In the three months or so since then speedo cable has broken and starter motor stopped. Tomorrow we are buying a wrecker car to steal the efi and heaps of other stuff off it. I can't understand what is going on with all this stuff, but some of it sounds really dodgey. He spent $2500 on a new motor and it doesn't work.
Guys any logical reasons for All this stuff????
Cerby

**The Witzl** · 08-12-2005, 08:00 AM

This mechanic is very special.

In fact i think he is just straight out retarded.

**NeoNasty** · 08-12-2005, 09:37 AM

2500 on a celica engine? OMG! 3SGE? you can get one of those 750 AT A WRECKERS.
was it an SX or an ST model? I have an ST that I am stripping, your mate is welcome to take some parts. Ive taken the bonnet, and wil take the gearbox/fuel tank.. rest is going to be stripped and for sale.

ah wait.. Im in melbourne.

**cerby** · 08-12-2005, 04:23 PM

Nah it was $2500 including 3sge, new new new clutch plate, installation, and 3 trips back to mechanics to try and get it working properly. He stopped charging him for labour after the third visit!!! Anyway we picked up a complete but kinda broken auto celica today and tomorrow we'll start pulling off parts!! it's funny this wrecker has been sitting in a paddock for 3 yrs and apart from the front damage it's in better nick than the original car!! hahaha

**Bananaman** · 08-12-2005, 08:46 PM

He shouldn't have charged labour to begin with, if you pay for a motor to be fitted, WTF wouldn't you insist on it running properly?!?!

**ra_28** · 08-12-2005, 09:04 PM

I would try a new mechanic he sound like a looser. He unhooked the efi and it runs?????? Clutch can be bad driving style or warped face on the flywheel. For $2500 you coulkd have rubuilt the old motor really try a better mechanic.

**love ke70** · 08-12-2005, 09:57 PM

is there such thing as a good mechanic?

**RONA** · 09-12-2005, 10:46 AM

Yes one that happens to be your next door neighbour and you have known them for 19 years

**cerby** · 09-12-2005, 04:22 PM

Well we stripped back the parts car today. Apart from a few cosmetic parts we swapped the starter motor, the drivers window regulator, both front seats and the air flow meter. It looks awesome now as all the dodgy bits of the car (like torn up seats) are all fixed. We fired it up and apart from having no cold idle(the mechanic removed the sensor) it runs great! The AFM seems to have been the culprit for a few of the recent problems. I had a go in it and it seems to have as much go as it did just after he bought it!! Goes to show about diy. One mornings work and we've fixed problems the mechanic has been working on for months!! We went for a bit of a cruise to get lunch and ran into a roadside fund raiser for the giving tree choir that the police were running. It turned a few heads when the old celica lit the wheels when the driver hit second

The police couldn't hunt us down cos they were stuck helping kids rob other motorists. hahah

**Andrew162** · 09-12-2005, 04:41 PM

Haha, not to worry... the fuzz will find you eventually. Tasmania isn't that big, and you can't hide forever.

Regarding the gremlins, welcome to my world...

**cerby** · 10-12-2005, 03:09 PM

hey tas is HUGE. I drove TWENTY WHOLE KM'S to the next village the other day!!
hahahaa

**lime89** · 13-12-2005, 02:13 PM

I went through the same sort of crap when i brought my Celica, had it for a month, thought i was the best thing sinse sliced bread. 3 days before christmas 01, it (apparently) blew a seal while i was driving to my old place in Benalla, engine siezed up, nice! The dealer agreed to fix it under warranty, so i was give a 81 Sigma to drive while it was being fixed. 3 months and 3 different engines later i finally got my car back, got the same story, let it run for a few days to settle the idle blablabla. 5-6 trips to the mechanic i just got so sick of him and his bull shit i decided to stop going back and just teach my self how to do it. Note i was 19 at this stage

. Got the Hanes book, and its only been back the mechanic 2/3 times since then.

But yeh i have all the same sort of stuff, gremilens etc. Now i have a good mate who works for Ultratune and has a workshop at home that would make most more than jelouse

NeoNasty, where in Melb you based, might be interested in some of those parts....