26th Jul 2009, 19:10

I have a 2000 Toyota Celica GTS Manual. I HAD problems with the car being sluggish when I first bought it. I buy higher octane fuel, changed the spark plugs and the coils. The car has 150K miles on it now. I can break the tires loose when letting out the clutch idling and flooring it. Plus I average 32-35 mpg now. If you own a Celica, I think it's an upgrade that has to be done.

4th Aug 2009, 14:28

2000 Celica GTS 180k miles 6 speed.

Well from what I can gather and correct me if I am wrong, but Celia's, especially in the 2000-2002 range have their fare share of problems. I have had the same sputtering problem and random idling problems everyone else has had.

The way I have seemed to get the best performance out of my car is.

1. Premium High Octane Gas and High Mileage Oil- The Celica has been designed very very precisely and there is very little room for engine build up and what not. to ensure that your car runs smoothly all of the Toyota guidelines must be followed exactly.

2. New Spark Plugs- Seemed to make the car much happier upon start up.

3.Keeping your air system clean- the sensors are temperamental at best and generally over active. replacing the air filter and the air distribution tubes keeps better pressure in the engine and less stalling.

4.The CEL problems- The CEL in Celia's are awful. They throw errors continually especially involving the aforementioned air system. I usually believe heavily in CEL's but in the case of the celica I don't. I had an engine misfire code and when I changed the oil it went away. The auto makers know this and use every CEL problem to sell you an unneeded part so before you replace your entire engine, check the few things that people have mentioned above.

25th Jan 2010, 01:31

I have a 2001 Celica GTS 6 speed. I bought it in March of 2009. I was initially very happy with the car. It offered great looks, good performance, superb handling, and best of all, it also got great gas mileage.

Now almost a year later, I view the purchase as a considerable regret. The MAF has given me issues, the brakes have been replaced twice completely, including rotors and calipers. The CEL continuously throws codes and the car is an absolute nightmare to start in the cold Michigan winter.

The lowered prices of these cars and all that they bring to the table from a performance and mpg standpoint is simply not worth the headache when looking at the whole picture.

In hindsight I simply should have purchased an American muscle car from that same era. A 2000 Camaro LSi 6 speed, costs around the same as I paid for the GTS, are infinitely quicker, like a rock reliable, and while they only average 23 or so on the highway as compared to my GTS's 30 or so, with the price of repairs done to the rice burner, I could buy a thousand acres in Alaska and build an oil rig.

7th Apr 2010, 12:35

I have a 2000 Celica GT-S 6 speed manual with 123,000 miles. I couldn't be happier with a car.

Only major issue I have had was with the car over revving and lack of power. It started as a sporadic thing, then got worse and worse. Finally it quit running, as I was driving down the highway. Turns out the clutch had "disintegrated".

The check engine light just came on. It's at the mechanic now for diagnosis.

7th May 2010, 07:10

I have a 2001 Celica. The engine light has been on for about a year. The code is po446, open or short circuit condition, poor electrical connection, faulty CCV vent control solenoid. It's also going through a lot of oil, but to leaks on the ground. Any ideas?

17th Jun 2010, 13:56

I am looking into a 2000 Celica GT-S. It is under $5000 and it's a really good looking car (along with it being a Toyota its perfect). My only concern is that it has over 150,000 miles on it. Is there any amount that is too much for a Toyota?

I also want to add that I am a broke college student, so if the mileage isn't an issue I will buy it!

15th Jul 2010, 00:22

I just bought a 2000 Celica yesterday, the seller said the engine light was on, that the O2 sensor needed replaced, and was checked by Advanced Auto.

So bought the car, with the miss in it anyway.

I started doing simple things...

It too was sluggish, felt like it would die at idle, had hesitation. Clean the MAF sensor, be careful when doing this, it's a little easy to break if you're not careful.

By all means do not use Bosch spark plugs. Use only Denso or NGK with Iridium, they burn hotter, and make sure to use the anti seize lube when putting them in.

With the car is running, start unplugging the fuel injectors and replacing them back before moving to the next one. If you unplug an injector, and the engine does not drop and sound like its dying, then you may have found a non working injector. Shut the car off then remove the coordnating plug and look for black carbon. If it's really built up on that plug, then you have a bad injector, the black means it's dry firing with no fuel in the cylinder (dry fire).

You can also take off your air box intake and with the car idling, spray some brake cleaner into the air intake, only in small spurts. It will clean your O2 sensors off. It has done wonders for mine. Mechanics won't tell you this stuff, I've learned the hard way, don't start changing exhaust, fuel tanks, all these expensive parts, do run better grade fuel and throw in some octane or injector cleaner from time to time.

These Celicas are touchy in the computer department, but it doesn't mean big bucks everytime the CEL comes on.

15th Jul 2010, 23:27

My wife has a 2000 Celica GT automatic since it was new with 60,000 miles. The car was great with no problems, except a fast idle at startup, which they stated was normal.

A few months ago the engine light went on, and my mechanic said it was the intake manifold gaskets. He changed it and the light was off for three days and came on again. I proceeded to take the car into Toyota, and was told that Toyota changed the design of the gaskets, and he was not sure that the mechanic used the new gaskets. I gave the go ahead to redo the gaskets $280. Then he told me it was the airflow sensor, so I had that changed also for an additional $225. I also asked if my mechanic used the new type gaskets, and he said they did. So I paid twice for the same repair.

About 4 weeks ago, while driving in a very heavy rain, I hit a deep puddle and the car stalled out. After being pushed out, I let the car sit for an hour and then attempted to start it. The engine turned, and after 4 tries it started. All was well for three days, then the engine light went on. I took it to my mechanic to have it checked, and it stated misfire. He changed the plugs as well as to clean the throttle body. Engine light stayed off for one day, and went on again the next morning. Yet the car runs great. My mechanic stated that I should bring back to Toyota.

Yesterday I took the car into Toyota to have it checked; $100. The same code came up 030 031 Misfire cylinder 1. They then called and said they did a compression check and all cylinders were at 190 psi except for cyl 1, which was 150 psi. They still could not give me an answer until they removed the head to check the valves; $500.

The engine runs fine with no miss that we can notice. The car has been well taken care of; all services done on time, oil changed every 3,000 miles and used 90% local driving. Why should the compression be lower on one cylinder? I called my mechanic, and he stated that I can drive it until the condition gets worse; at that time they could pinpoint the problem.

I get the feeling that the dealers know as little as the outside mechanics, and repair by replacing parts until the condition is corrected.

If anybody can make suggestions, please reply.