st185 Celica, common faults?

[sigma]

If I was looking at buying the said car, what sort of things should I look out for?

[skoty]

A gt4 version or just a fwd base model?

[sigma]

GT4 Group A i believe.

[Boosted_162]

Group A or Type A? Everyone calls theirs group A's when they aren't...
Group A = RC
Type A = Prefacelift widebody

I personally havent had many common faults in mine, synchros is a big one. Check the oil, and start WHEN COLD, and see if you can hear a loud rattle/knock, big ends are so common.

May pay to check the firewall as well, a few people have had the problem of the clutch pedal ripping off the firewall or something, i have never seen it before tho.

[sigma]

Well, on the back its got "GT FOUR A". The A badge is red. Same on the door decals. I guess thats a 'Type A' then?

Took it for a test drive today. 2nd gear syncro is gone-burgers. Rough estimate on how much to recon one of these boxes? Inc. labor etc?

[RedMist]

All the 185's exhibit pretty much the same faults.

Clutch pedal falls off firewall.
Clutch diaphram prone to failure
Rear diff mounts are almost always destroyed. (unless already replaced)
Head gasket failures are common
Synchro's especially on second.

[Boosted_162]

Well, on the back its got "GT FOUR A". The A badge is red. Same on the door decals. I guess thats a 'Type A' then?

Took it for a test drive today. 2nd gear syncro is gone-burgers. Rough estimate on how much to recon one of these boxes? Inc. labor etc?

Yeah, just a type A. Will have air to air cooler, not water to air like the RC. If you can pull the box apart yourself it will be cheap, otherwise it usually costs a fortune. A quote i got a few years back on a FWD celica box was $400 odd just for 1 synchro!

Out of interest, where do they break around the clutch pedal? None of my 3 have shown any signs of it

[Dell'Orto]

A gt4 version or just a fwd base model?

FYI, ST185 is the chassis code for a GT Four. ST182 + 183 are the 3SFE/3SGE ones.

[flygt4]

Well, on the back its got "GT FOUR A". The A badge is red. Same on the door decals. I guess thats a 'Type A' then?

Took it for a test drive today. 2nd gear syncro is gone-burgers. Rough estimate on how much to recon one of these boxes? Inc. labor etc?

Yeah, just a type A. Will have air to air cooler, not water to air like the RC. If you can pull the box apart yourself it will be cheap, otherwise it usually costs a fortune. A quote i got a few years back on a FWD celica box was $400 odd just for 1 synchro!

Out of interest, where do they break around the clutch pedal? None of my 3 have shown any signs of it

might be thinking of the common cracked pedal box?


mine was my first, and i can't think of a worse car for a first car 5 years ago when i got mine, it cost a lot to keep going, and altho it was fun to drive, now ive had better cars i know it wasnt particularly special. they are all 5 years older now too, and most have been molested.
i replaced 3 clutchs, pedal box, handful of diff mounts, gearbox was undrivable by the end. if you think you're going to jump in and go fast, you arent , because they are slow pigs when standard, and unpredictable on the limit.
you'd be better off buying a newer lighter car with less power.

[Boosted_162]

But thats the other thing, some people have bad experiences and say they are all bad. My first one was untidy as hell (it came from palmy ), had done 200k and had run bearings (someone let it run out of oil before it got to me) and it was still reliable as, gearbox was fine with an h/d clutch and no cracked pedal box. My current one has been ultra reliable, well until i ran it on 17psi .

If its been looked after, you'll have no worries (my current one looked like it had just come out of the showroom), and a previous owner who looked after it.

[RedMist]

My experience is pretty much that of flygt4. Only in addition I blew a head gasket and a frost plug. I was so pissed with the car I sold it within 8 months... in that time it had spent at least 4 of those months off the road and cost me 1,000's. By looking at trademe, it would appear that most of the early 185's have the same issues.

[matt dunn]

My experience is pretty much that of flygt4. Only I blew a head gasket and a frost plug. I was so pissed with the car I sold it within 8 months... in that time it had spent at least 4 of those off the road.

and so now you bought another GT4 ??

Isn't there a word for that....

[Adydas]

Ive had mine 14 months, i drove it for about 5 weeks of that.

CHECK YOUR CAM BELT!!

[RedMist]

Yep I did, and I cant say that I'm not expecting to pay 1000's to keep it running either.
The 205 is a slightly better engine, with better cooling, and tripple sinchro box. I'm replacing all bushings with plastic, stripping weight and upping power.

And becides... the other option was a four door shopping wagon. At least the Celica is somewhat unique... if not very fat and slow.

[Prymal]

Having owned a 185 , and now have a 205 , i can say a few thngs :

headgaskets fail around 200,000 KM

Big ends around the same time

Syncro's on 1 and 2 always seem to go ( 205 box is a billion times better )

They leak oil from around the diupstick without fail

the poweer steering always leaks

The Air to Air is majorly inefficient - but its also the best model to start a front mount IC setup on ( no code 54 ! )

Bodywise they look sex , but really i cant see any great benifit over a 205 besides that

If your going to get a Gt4 - Save your dollars and get either an RC 185 , or a St205 and go from there They put more thought into them for inherit strength and reliability

other downsides :

Both will cost you alot of money

Both are high maintaninance and not ideal for first car buyers ( get a corolla ! )

You Will break things

You will curse it

YOu will bleed and cry alot when things either break or you hurt yourself whiule fixing things

BUT ( and theres always a but )

When you get it right , fix all the factory fitted $&#$% toyota puts into them , and have the car FINALLY reliable - youll have a ride thats SO much better lookng , and tougher than its equivelents ( think WRX) And wont look like every boring family 4 door economy sedan with plastic crap hanging all over them ...

[AJz]

my experience (most of which is already stated)

syncros, 2nd and 3rd
ATA interwarmer is crap, heatsoaks like a bitch
never had a problem but powersteering leaks are always common

but, my fix to this was, remove the boost pressure sensor (activates the cut), run it on 15 psi, launch it at 5grand. worked good, then i got rid of it, lol

[sigma]

So pretty much its gonna be a money sponge? I've heard they are a bit slow due to weight, and their drivetrains also leave much to be desired. The only reason I was still interested in the ST185 was they look sooo good. My last performance car was a R33 GTS25t, that thing just took a thrashing all day long and asked for more, sounds like the Celica wont enjoy that sort of treatment.

Current ride is a 93 Corolla Sedan with 1.3 litres of fury. $50 fill gives me 535kms. I know of a rather fast Integra for sale so i might go check that out instead. Thanks for the replys team!

[AJz]

ahhh petrol, i forgot that part, budget round about 300 - 350ks on a tank. tank is also 68litres, your wallet will hate you.

and weight, yea 1460kg, quite heavy.

[Gonad]

I have never got anything less than 500km from a tank, depends how you drive them I guess.

[Malcolm]

a lot of people also don't have all the issues listed above. The drivetrains are pretty strong, I haven't known anyone else in NZ to damage part of it (except syncros, that don't count). I blew my transfer case but that was after a lot of drag racing and a lot of hard launching. I never had my clutch pedal come off the firewall, never blew a headgasket (have done on my mr2 though after seriously overboosting it), didn't have any major oil leaks. I did destroy some big end bearings, but that was due to poor maintenance rather than any defficiency on behalf of the engine.

Also it's not that hard to go fast in them, if you're intelligent enough to address the issues that make them slow rather than spending money on unnecessary stuff. Mine did a 13.1 with relatively cheap modifications and a lot of weight reduction, i'm confident that one could get into the 12's on factory fueling and ecu.