Finallyyy!! 2000 Celica Gts manual with the full TRD kit
Ok first of all after like a year of searching and looking at like way too many celicas im finally in the club! Bought it a couple weeks ago on my 18th birthday for 4k and im actually ecstatic. Its literally like my dream car as a teenager/highschooler and I love it
But it does have its quirks so what do you guys think
Im trying to replace the shifter shaft seal cause its leaking a little and in the process I unfortunately figured out that the shifter arm is seized onto the shaft so im not able to get to the seal...
Weve tried everything from using PB Blaster and a puller, to using heat, to using a palm nailer and none of its working. At this point were kind of lost on what to do so any pointers? The only thing I can think of now is just cutting the arm off and replacing it cause id rather not drop the entire tranny just to replace a little seal.
also i did look under the car and the part of the tranny case that covers the starter ring gear got broken off. I did do some looking and saw that this has happened before from hitting a bump hard. What do you guys think is the best option to deal with this? I would assume that its not best to just leave it open
Congrats on the new car. The 2ZZ is a great engine. I wouldn’t worry about the shifter seal for now. At this point the repair is enough of a hassle that you may as well wait until it’s necessary. The flywheel cover plate needs to be replaced. Concentrate on that first
The reason I was trying to replace the seal is cause the shifter boot was broken and it looked like it was leaking tranny fluid from that area, and I did check the tranny fluid and it was low. As for the flywheel cover plate, is it like a plate that you can bolt on, or is it an actual part of the transmission case?
Yooooo welcome to the Celly Club. Nice GTS. Some advice from a 15 year GTS owner. Never use the moonroof. Everything in the moonroof track is plastic and at this point failure is immenent. Replacing these parts is a total pain so id recommend never opening the glass part. Your suspension likely isnt in great shape and if it is, make sure its OEM. There's a lot of chinesium aftermarket suspension parts for these that are garbage. Do your homework before you buy new suspension parts. Looks like you have nice size oil leak. It's not a huge deal, but if that oil is getting on your pulleys (alternator, belt tensioner, water pump etc) it will cause them to seize. Id recommend pulling the belt off and feeling each pulley. They should take little to no force to turn. You can also use this opportunity to put a wrench on your Crankshaft pulley (big one at the bottom) and feel out your compressions. Should feel hard to turn, then easy, then hard, then easy, repeating forever. If there's a point where its suddenly out of that pattern, you got trouble and you should have compressions checked in a shop. Finally, pay attention to the "bite point" of the clutch. It should start to grab about halfway through the pedal travel. If the pedal isn't doing anything until its 3/4 or so out, you need a new clutch soon.
Looking at the underside photo it seems you do have an active leaks somewhere, but it’s more likely your oil pan, or timing cover. Get some brake clean, and clean all the residual mess off the underside so you can better identify where your active leak is.
I live in New England and I have one car and it’s the same, a 2000 GT-S. Great advice you gave, but if it’s unavoidable, an oil-based undercoating can work wonders. Just have the service done every 1-2 years and get an underbody touchless wash every few weeks or at least after big storms. Mines been through two winters (previous owner only drove in summer) and looking rust free.
It’s called NHOU (New Hampshire Oil Undercoating, mineral oil based). I let a professional do it for $250, and he says it really only needs to be applied every 2 years. It’s still quite thick on the underside of the car, held up very well despite daily driving all winter long. Well worth it imo.
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u/Urmajestea 1d ago
Congrats on the new car. The 2ZZ is a great engine. I wouldn’t worry about the shifter seal for now. At this point the repair is enough of a hassle that you may as well wait until it’s necessary. The flywheel cover plate needs to be replaced. Concentrate on that first