The 5sfe is a turd.

"mkbruin, Atlas VP" (mkbruin) 01/03/2018 at 22:48 • Filed to: None

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Last summer I bought a Celica from Chariot to give to my preachers kid. Six months later, the kid ran it low on oil due to a blown cam seal and it’s 5sfe developed a bad rod knock. The past few weeks he’s been driving his brothers ‘99 Camry, also with a 5sfe. It died on him today (bad battery), and I went to help him out.... Sure enough it also has a ridiculously bad rod knock. Two blown 5sfe’s with bad knocks by the same kid within the same month. Did some online research and apparently rod knock on the 5sfe is extremely common.

HammerheadFistpunch > mkbruin, Atlas VP 01/03/2018 at 23:03

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Yeah the 5sfe is the excellent 3s with a longer stroke and frankly the bottom end isn’t up for it. The s-fe head is also well known for bad oil seals, Cam and valve guides mostly.

That being said... This family doesn’t sound like they really “get” cars... So that may have something to do with it

Aremmes > mkbruin, Atlas VP 01/03/2018 at 23:05

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“... by the same kid within the same month.”

Welp, there’s your problem.

Lack of maintenance is not indicative of an engine’s reliability. If they were really that lousy all the thousands of 5S-FEs with 200k+ miles today on the roads would not exist.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > mkbruin, Atlas VP 01/03/2018 at 23:17

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Maybe, instead of compelling, the power of Christ can propel him ;)

Expo2k > mkbruin, Atlas VP 01/03/2018 at 23:17

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Mine leaked oil prodigiously from the distributor seal (I think), but I never bothered to fix it, just sold the wheezy ‘91 Celica GT as it started to smoke around 180k.

QCGoose > mkbruin, Atlas VP 01/03/2018 at 23:36

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Hmm, guess I lucked out. My first car was a ‘92 Celica GT Coupe with the 5S-FE and in the two years I owned it, from 105k miles to over 130k miles, it was perfectly reliable and never leaked a drop of oil from any seam.

Performance-wise though, it was a turd. But that probably helped keep me alive because of it.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > mkbruin, Atlas VP 01/03/2018 at 23:38

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They say no good deed goes unpunished. Then again, helping out the child of a pastor seems like an odd undertaking to begin with.

DipodomysDeserti > mkbruin, Atlas VP 01/03/2018 at 23:59

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Time to buy this kid a bus pass. My brother and my sister both took late ‘90s Camrys to 200k+ miles. Neither of them know squat about cars, but they both know how to check their oil.

I bet this kid floors it into traffic ten seconds after starting the car.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > DipodomysDeserti 01/04/2018 at 00:01

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The Lord works in mysterious ways

DipodomysDeserti > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 01/04/2018 at 00:07

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He needs to renounce his pagan gods and follow Hashem. Then his Toyotas would never run out of oil.

RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire > HammerheadFistpunch 01/04/2018 at 01:22

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Can vouch for the bad oil seals.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > HammerheadFistpunch 01/04/2018 at 01:32

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Even the most god-awful motor can be kept in reasonable shape by doing your due diligence and doing your regular maintenance. Keep your fluids topped up, change your oil regularly, change your filters at reasonable times, don’t drive it like you stole it.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > mkbruin, Atlas VP 01/04/2018 at 10:27

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I’m sure you’re right and the 5sfe isn’t a great engine, but that does read somewhat like ‘same kid blows up two engines in a row’, which suggests that it’s not exactly the engine’s fault...