My 2005 Elise has a blown motor, not sure how this happened, as my wife swears she was just driving on the HWY. Anyway, I want to confirm that the Toyota Celica 2ZZ-GE engine is the same so that I can buy a rebuilt motor and have my mechanic drop out the old and install the new. The local dealership told him that their engines are around $22K and that it is a special engine, however, all reports say its the same engine as the Celica. Can someone please confirm this with me. The car is no longer under warranty and I want to fix it and sell it.
Need advice
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The engines from the dealership are actually special engines.
They are one of these:
with a Lotus Dealership special tax and price applied.
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$1,700 bucks for a shortblock assembly from any Toyota dealer. It's somewhat more from Lotus, but not that much.
The only place I can imagine a $22,000 figure might come from is if the dealer in question thought you were talking about an Esprit V8. That's in the rough ballpark of what an engine assembly costs from Lotus.
The only place I can imagine a $22,000 figure might come from is if the dealer in question thought you were talking about an Esprit V8. That's in the rough ballpark of what an engine assembly costs from Lotus.
First off, what exactly 'blew', and how have you come to that conclusion?
I would say the only reason you would need a new engine is if a rod came though the block, or you have considerable cylinder wall damage.
I suggest you evaluate the engine, looking for cylinder imperfections. If it is just ring seal you are having an issue with, then simply have it stripped and re-ringed. I know it isn't that simple, you have to have it honed, new head gasket blah blah blah.
I'm just saying that you can be smart about this.
Another alternative would be to get a low CR shortblock for a Celica GT-S, and drop that in along with a nice turbo kit. That way you can run higher boost levels without worrying about breaking ring lands.
I would say the only reason you would need a new engine is if a rod came though the block, or you have considerable cylinder wall damage.
I suggest you evaluate the engine, looking for cylinder imperfections. If it is just ring seal you are having an issue with, then simply have it stripped and re-ringed. I know it isn't that simple, you have to have it honed, new head gasket blah blah blah.
I'm just saying that you can be smart about this.
Another alternative would be to get a low CR shortblock for a Celica GT-S, and drop that in along with a nice turbo kit. That way you can run higher boost levels without worrying about breaking ring lands.
The mechanic said he really doesn't know until he takes the engine apart. He is charging me $700 to drop the engine out. I am sure if I tell him I can buy a rebuilt engine for $1800, he might tell me he can rebuild cheaper. At this point, I dont know where to take the car. The dealer will rip you off, this I know. So I'm left taking it to a small shop owner who was a tech for Toyota. He said he would do whatever I decide, whether it be taking it somewhere else, installing a rebuilt engine, or have him do it himself. I just dont want him spending hours taking the engine out, only to cost me more than a rebuild. Anyway, I will let him know that the Celica GTS engine is what I need.
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What specifically are the symptoms? does the engine simply crank but not turn over? is it siezed... has the mechanic done a leakdown test?
Really your best bet is to provide as much information as possible in this thread as there are alot of people who can give good advice as to the best way to approach this. The problem is that can't happen until you give more info as that will determine what course of action to take next.
For instance. I dont know that you need to even drop the engine at this point: you may simply want to have the mechanic first pull the valve cover off to check if its a bent or broken valve.. if so the engine might even be repairable without pulling it completely out of the car.
Like i said... get more info first...
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are we sure about this.. I admittedly havent looked at the two side by side but it was my understanding that lotus literally purchases a crated 2zz motor from toyota.. AFAIK the big difference was the ECU and related electronics were all different but the rest (valves, cam, head, etc) were all the same.
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No, the 2zz cylinder wall has a special metal matrix coating and cannot be honed. If it's honed you will remove the coating and destroy the block. If honing is required, you must install iron sleeves.
The Lotus engine is identical to the Celca GTS and Matrix XRS - absolutely no differences, except for the plastic sparkplug cover.
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^^ Excellent advice
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...mine as well - as far as i understand, other than packaging and tuning, the motor in a lotus and a toyota are identical...
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That's just missinformation.
Doesn't matter whether you replace or rebuild, you still have the labor of removing an engine and reinstalling an engine.
xtn
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I thought the only difference is in the ECU and mechanically the GTS motor and Elise motor are identical.
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