2000 GTS 6 speed owners. Please Read!!

[TRD Liquid Silver]

first off i work for kearny mesa toyota here in caliifornia as the fleet mgr and i'm always hanging around the service dept looking for trade ins and nice used cars to test drive. i've gotten a chance to drive a 97 M3, 97 ITR, 99lude, MR2 turbo, 94 supra turbo and a 2k-911 a month ago.

yesterday two 2000 celica 6 speeds comes in ready to be serviced and inspected for the pre-owned dept. both were silver which made me hate the color even more and one that didn't have the wing. drove one of them yesterday and it had 39k on it and it still felt solid as a rock. no weird noises or rattles in the cabin. i tested it by launching anywhere from 3-5k and even 1 launch in lift. the car drove exactly like my car w/o the intake and springs. even tried a couple of shifts @7800rpm going into 2nd and sure enough it didn't land above 6k. tried it many times no matter how fast i speed shifted it would land @5600-5700rpms. if i took past 7800 and all the way to 8300 then it would land @6100-6300rpms.

the 2nd celica i drove today the one w/o wing. to make a long story short. i drove the vehicle the same way and took it to 7800rpms and the damn thing lands @6000-6100rpms. i thought it might have been wrong so i did it a couple more times and sure enough it's landing above the 2nd cam going into 2nd gear while pushing it to 7800rpm and not 8300rpms. all i did was speed shift the car from 1st to 2nd. also if you push past 8300rpms and speed shift it's landing @6400k. the drive back to the dealer i look at when the car was built and it's showing 10/1999 and the one i test drove yesterday had 6/2000. my car was built 7/2000 and drives like the other car.

is there any explanation for this? are there 2000 6 speeds out there that are landing above the 2nd cam pushing it to 7800rpms and not 8300rpms. also these are all stock with oem shifters. some of the guys in service said it might have been the way the car was broken in. then i did notice a difference between the two while driving the 2nd one, it felt looser. the other car felt tighter like it wasn't broken in yet. what's weird was the looser car had fewer miles 30k than the other car which had 39k.

now i'm pissed.. i feel like doing an engine swap or even an ecu swap.

[iDRIVE]

Engine swap... you mean tranny swap. Try putting some of them synthetic gear oil, see if that helps. Or do the ECU swap first.

I land 6100-6300 shifting @ 7800, speed shifting of course, w/out short shifter. My car was built 2/2000.

Its all about the break-in.

[DaileyDog]

Man, I'm glad you started this post. I went to check my manufacture date and found that I had left my dome light on. Damn near killed the battery.

Anyway, my 2K 6 was built in 4/00 and I have the same difficulty maintaining lift on 1-2 that you describe.

Mike

[TRD Liquid Silver]

Originally posted by iDRIVE
Engine swap... you mean tranny swap. Try putting some of them synthetic gear oil, see if that helps. Or do the ECU swap first.

I land 6100-6300 shifting @ 7800, speed shifting of course, w/out short shifter. My car was built 2/2000.

Its all about the break-in.

i've had mobil synthetic tranny fluid and engine oil since 10k and i'm at 22k and it's not the synthetic. i'm not going to do an engine swap. the ecu is more concievable, but it's weird to see it land above 6k @7800rpms.

i have a feeling it might be the way the car was broken in. my break in period was keeping the car under 4k for the 1000miles and some people said i shouldn't have done that. or it might be the first batch of celi's that came from the factory. mine was built a lot later so they were able to do some different things than the ones that were built the first couple of months. i don't know?

[WutARyd]

haha, misshift, then get your engine replaced under warranty and break it in the right way...not that I did that or anything. I bought my car w/ 15k on it, misshifted and now my car lands in lift land just like I want it. Break it in like you're gonna break it down.

[iDRIVE]

When did the stiffer springs for the tranny came out,not really sure what was that part that suppose to stop misshifting? Maybee thats the reason.

I think it came with cars made after 2/00, not sure.

[larryd]

never could stay on lift until i started revving to 8300.. then i got into a nasty habit of power shifting..

[atehrani]

Originally posted by DaileyDog
...found that I had left my dome light on. Damn near killed the battery.

The Celica turns the dome light off automatically (after 15 minutes).

[DaileyDog]

Well, then something's a miss. I haven't driven the Celi since Wednesday night and I found the dome light on Saturday. It was in the ON position.

Did Toyota really give it a 15-minute timer? What if I were really in the car using it for longer than that? It'd be very annoying to have to keep turning it back on. Are you sure?

Mike

[Bo]

I have 2002 gearing in mine and it lands on the second cam too.

[Jnsd]

Originally posted by DaileyDog
Well, then something's a miss. I haven't driven the Celi since Wednesday night and I found the dome light on Saturday. It was in the ON position.

Did Toyota really give it a 15-minute timer? What if I were really in the car using it for longer than that? It'd be very annoying to have to keep turning it back on. Are you sure?

Mike

My dome light doesn't automatically turn off either. I've accidently left mine on over night a few times

[atehrani]

I believe it will automatically turn off in the auto position. I know this, because I accidentally left my door open once. I came back in the morning and the dome light wasn't on (and it started).

[Redline]

I just got my tranny replaced because of th synchros and the shift gates seem wider. Right when I got my car back... when I shifted from 2nd to 3rd, I kept hitting the space between 1st and 3rd. I have never done this with the old tranny and I did it a lot when I got the new tranny so I figured the gates are wider. (Maybe its just me, but thats what happened.)

(on the subject) My gt-s was made april 2000 and I have always had trouble staying in the second cams unless I powershift a bit at fuel cut.

[00 LSM GTS]

Where is the manufacturers made date? I tried looking for it after this reading this post but never found it. Can someone tell me where it is?

[AkUmA]

i did some test runs in my celica a month ago, and at 8000rpm 1/2 shifts i hit 6000rpm even. did it to the 8300 and hit 6100/6200rpm so i dont know if its the car or what, but im not going to knock it :>

[2000 XYR]

My 6-speed was made in 11/99. If I shifted right at 7800 RPM it would fall to about 5800 RPM's. I usually let it get to 8000-8200 but the problem there was that 2nd gear would grind when I shifted so by the time I got it into 2nd the RPM's dropped to like 5500 or so. Plus that awful sound. It was on a rare occasion that I would get it into 2nd without grinding and land at 6000 RPM's or above. Felt good when I did it, felt awful and sounded awful when I didn't.

I also was able to shift into any gear at any speed from any gear. As an example I could be cruising down the highway at 70 MPH, push the clutch in, and shift into 1st gear with no problem. Now tell me there's not something wrong with that. I obviously didn't let the clutch out in 1st but the point is that it could be done, and easily.

Now explain why I can shift into 1st gear at 70 MPH, but it grinded when I shifted from 1st to 2nd at 8000+ RPM.

[oldster]

Originally posted by 00 LSM GTS
Where is the manufacturers made date? I tried looking for it after this reading this post but never found it. Can someone tell me where it is?

Look on the drivers side door jamb, there is a label with that information on it.

[mirconrice]

wus up...it could be the tires too, right now when i'm shifting from 1-2, i land at 6900-7100, its a crazy feeling i tell you. The only reason I can think of is the tires cause my tires are pretty much gone. I'll try and tape it for you to see, it kewl cause it pulls hard. But a majority of the time, it lands at 6500-6600 when I shift at 8300, i tried shifting at 7800 the other day and it landed at 6100 but I shift pretty fast. My car is 01/01, got the car in Feb of 01 and now I have about 30k miles on my car, the clutch is slightly slipping cause its not grabbing as hard as when I first got the car.

[TRD Liquid Silver]

Originally posted by mirconrice
wus up...it could be the tires too.

one thing about the tires. i like the stock yoko's over the kuhmo 712 i have now. it's so much better when launching the car. no hops between 3-4k. my kuhmo's hop like crazy if i launch 4k.

[WillyK]

I have Kumho's as well and they aren't quite as sticky as the stock tires, but at least they'll last longer. When I do finally get some new rims I am gonna get some Bridgestone Pole Position S-03's :thumbup:

[Jesse IL]

Actually guys, I think its related to the tachometer/ECU. Early 2000 ECU seem to be set to switch at 6000 rpm to the second cam. Early dynos show this. However, later 2000 cars seem to switch at 6200 rpm instead of 6000 rpm. The dyno has proven this on my car. However, my tach shows that the switch takes place at 6000. The later ECU's seem to make significantly power from 5000-6000 than the early ECU's, but the switch is later. I think Toyota has offset the tachs by 200 rpm on newer cars. The dyno says my fuel cut is around 8300 rpm, but my tach indicates about 8100. Anoyone else notice this?

[BlackGTS2002]

Ive noticed that! Sometimes my cams switch @ 5900! sometimes 6100...usually 6000 though...makes sence, cause the car seems to idle high, maybe its not really ideling high, but the tach proably is off

[scapamouche]

Built 02/2000

No dyno for me, but My tach indicates 6000 at shiftover and almost 8400 at the rev limiter.

And on a missed 1-2 shift, I spiked it to 8500 on Sunday. Oops.

[BRAK]

LOL i accidentally got my rev up to 8500 ..... i was makin a turn and i was in 1st, pushed the clutch in to put it in 2nd , and i said na let it rev up more in 1st ........ so i let it out and the RPM when vroom up to 8500 .It didnt do it voilenly it just gradually went up thank god. I myself have had sooooo much fun drivin the car i never even noticed wht the needle goes to after 1st gear when i shift at 7800 rpm. I'll try this weekend.

[acilecdps6]

My car was built 10/99 and most of the time if I shift at 7800 it stays in 'lift'. Sometimes it doesn't (and I know this will sound nuts), but if I nail the pedal, and just back off for a fraction and nail it again it'll stay in lift - try it, but ya gotta be quick. By the way, my car is factory stock, 37k miles, no misshifts, original shifter springs.

[Chris25NJ]

I want to third that motion about the stocks being better than the kumho's (712 ecsta supra). I got them as well and wish i still had my yoko's. Lots of wheel hop. However, at least they are predictable and not so bad that you lose control

[kabal57]

I have an 02 celi gts and i've managed to 1-2 shift in lift a whole 3 times..
havent tried it tons and tons of times tho, but usually when i shift into 2nd it typically lands at 5700-5800 rpm...
which sucks
maybe im just slow on the draw...

[Chiznarles]

2000 XYR, i'm pretty much in the same boat you are.. my car is from 11/99 and I have a real hard time hitting the 2nd cam on the 1-2 shift. I have a short shifter and even so its still really difficult. I hit about 5800 usually. Even when I'm shifting as fast as possible. btw, last time i went to the drag track ppl were talking about powershifting. is that bad for the car??

[2000 XYR]

Well the cars gone now so it's not my problem anymore. ;) I'm sure powershifting is not good for the car if it makes that grinding sound, but I'm not sure what exactly it's destroying. The actual gear or the synchros? Not sure.