holy crap man. 2200 that robbery! you need to call my buddy Dave at http://www.ddperformanceresearch.com/contact-us.php he is a toyota engineer and has his own shop. he will tell you for sure if its the head gasket and no way will it cost 2200. i can change a head gasket in about 3 hours on a 7A.

Daves shop is in Sealey which isnt far from you at all.

This post has been edited by Smaay: Mar 13, 2013 - 3:27 PM

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Well if its the gasket I might not keep the 7a

Does he do v6 swaps or 3s? How much would that run me?
I think u told me about him a while back. Is he the one in sealy?

yes to all your answers, he can do the swap, he can do the rebuild. his rates are much better than the dealer. lets put it this way, if i was doing the work, i might be able to do the full V6 swap for 2200. He should be able to do the same

Another shop said its the radiator. Does that sound possible?

If it was the head gasket you'd have oil in the coolant and coolant in the oil and/or you'd have white smoke from the exhaust. $2,200 is asinine, you probably didn't pay much more than that for the car.

Could be the radiator if it is blocked or a majority of the fins are damaged. Have you not replaced the thermostat yet?

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No smoke, Toyota said its very small, but its damaged and causing over heating

The shop said the radiator was clogged really bad- they flushed it twice but not good. Asking 500. They offered me warranty and it has about 2500 miles left. If I get the radiator done somewhere else or do it myself its going to void the warrantys

I'm just worried what if I get that fixed and the head gasket was the proble and they don't fix that cuz my radiator caused it to go bad-hence no warranty.

500 wasted, might as well do it myself

You can pick up a good replacement radiator pretty cheap, they aren't hard to replace at all. It wouldn't hurt anything to try it, especially if you still have the original radiator in your car.

yeah I would just replace the radiator, I drove on a leaking one for a while but it was a simple fix beside me getting a defective radiator and forgetting to plug some holes, it woudl've been done in a day.

Well here's the situation,
Option 1. Assuming it is the radiator that's choked, I replace it myself, maybe 120 in parts easy labor I can finish it in about 45-1 hour. Replace all hoses and thermostat.
Two things can happen: I solve the problem. That's good
OR the problem doesn't go away, and I loose the warranty can the shop doesn't replace any other part ie head gasket or waterpump (cause those are the only two things that are left)

Option 2. I pay the shop for the radiator
Either the problem is solved, I wasted 500 on a job I could do,
OR the problem doesn't go away and the shop replaces the waterpump
OR tells me the headgasket is damaged and they won't cover it cuz my negligence damaged it.

I only have 2700ish miles I think left on the warranty. Not sure if paying a shop is worth it, but then that's how much ill be paying approx for waterpump or headgasket(part only) if it doesn't solve the problem.

Kinda confused of what to do.

im confused, what shop has this warranty? whats the warranty for?

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When I bought the car, the previous owner had the motor replaced from this shop. That shop gave me warranty on the motor and clutch for 12000 miles, I have about 2500-2700 miles left until the warranty runs out.

Headgasket set isn't that expensive from Rock Auto. Same with the water pump. I say replace the thermostat and water pump since those are cheap, and try to flush out the radiator. Then take it from there.

I have a spare rad for the ST if you are interested.

It was only used for less than a year before the car was wrecked, and it wasn't a front end wreck. So the rad is solid.

Only ran anti-freeze in it, not water. No rust.

50+ shipping...that is 65 less than autozone, and you can swap it out in 30 minutes. Its a cake job.

if you have warranty on it, take it to them and say "fix it!"

Yea I might not get anything replaced from the shop, try the radiator, if not i guess it's swap time. I think it's time I do some major work on my car rather than paying people to to fix things. It worth the experience I guess. Found a camry v6 running for 800 with 1mz. Considering that at the moment.

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That's a good price for one.

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I like where you are going with this =)

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so why doesn't this work? I'm confused. what kind of warranty is it?

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They said the radiator is bad, and its not a part that was replaced hence not covered under warranty. Waterpump they will replace if its bad but head gasket I fear they'll say go bad because of me...and not fix it

As of now they say the head gasket looks fine.

I didn't get any smoke or leaks but when I pulled the dip stick after a drive it DID have bubbles on in, I think meaning water mixing with oil and boiling?

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They said the radiator is bad, and its not a part that was replaced hence not covered under warranty. Waterpump they will replace if its bad but head gasket I fear they'll say go bad because of me...and not fix it

As of now they say the head gasket looks fine.

I didn't get any smoke or leaks but when I pulled the dip stick after a drive it DID have bubbles on in, I think meaning water mixing with oil and boiling?

I finally got a chance to work on this car yesterday. I took the rad out and then the thermostat. The thermostat isn't sticking when I push it with my had, but looks like its stuck open a little bit and when I put it in boiling water it didn't really open more
Not movement.

So I'm guessing that's my problem. Since I have the radiotor out anyways I'm gonna install a new one too.
Autozone and oriellys have the same part number for the thermostat for the GT and ST celica. The one that came out of the car doesn't look the same, it looks bigger or wider from the bottom.


Any idea of of it thes same thermostat or should I got with dealer?

Thermostat from the parts house should be fine. Odds are someone put the wrong thermostat in your car at one point.

for whoever cares:

i ended up replacing the radiator and thermostat. and when i had everything apart, i honestly think it was just the thermostat 'cause it looked to be a little opened, but when i put it in boiling water i didnt see any movement.

since i already had the old rad out i just replaced that too.

cars running so far good, but havent gone for a long drive but 16 miles everythings good.

thanks everyone for the input and suggestions

*Does the being right dance*