Help in Asheville area?

[ToyotaDon]

I'm reaching out because my son who is stationed at Camp Lejeune decided to run the Tail of the Dragon on Saturday and ended up with a non-running Celica. He had it towed to Maggie Valley (I believe) where it sits in a tow yard while he took a rental car back to the base. I am just trying to figure out the quickest way to get it off the tow yard so he doesn't end up with hundreds of dollars in storage fees, if there are any suggestions.

Ideally, the car gets to where he is and he works on it. The second best option is to take it somewhere in the Asheville area that would be a trusted shop who can take care of the repairs. Other than that, is there anyone around there who could let the car be parked at their place without too much trouble?

Edited: The car is actually in Maryville, TN since the tow services for the Dragon are mostly coming from there.

 

[mtnbiker4evr13]

PM'd

 

[onemanarmy]

Sign up for AAA premium and get it towed to him. Cheap insurance that's good to have anyway when owning older cars.

 

[lt1fire]

Sign up for AAA premium and get it towed to him. Cheap insurance that's good to have anyway when owning older cars.

Got to wait 7 days to use the premium towing so the fees would still rack up. Unless they have changed their policies you can only use 7 mile free towing for the first week of membership.

 

[ToyotaDon]

Any shop recommendations in the area?

 

[ToyotaDon]

Edited: The car is actually in Maryville, TN since the tow services for the Dragon are mostly coming from there.

 

[jfz80]

Have you posted in the TN clubhouse as well.

WNC has a sparser membership amongst our roster.

Organic Mechanic and Mostly Imports have gotten good reviews in past in the Asheville area though I have no direct experience. Not super close to maryville TN

Looking for another referral that I can’t find atm.

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[ToyotaDon]

Yeah, I should probably cross post to TN. He will be going back up there this coming weekend to try to figure stuff out.

 

[lt1fire]

Any shop recommendations in the area?

You may want to state what he believes may be wrong with it.

Did the trans go out? Wrecked it? Suspension gave out? Engine just died? That may help people who know the area pinpoint a good shop. Also is this a special celica like a GT4/Alltrac which many shops may not be able to do much with or just a run of the mill 5sge/1zze celica?

I'd say his best course of action if he doesn't know anyone with a truck to borrow and tow it home himself would be to rent a uhual truck and trailer to go get it himself if he's handy enough to fix and also depending on what's wrong with it.

 

[Hokie LX]

Got to wait 7 days to use the premium towing so the fees would still rack up. Unless they have changed their policies you can only use 7 mile free towing for the first week of membership.

From my experience, I did a 60 mile tow 2 days after signing up for their best package.

 

[NCFJ]

If it were me, I'd bite the bullet and have it transported home. It will be more in shipping for sure but then he can take the car to someone close and supervise the repairs or repair the car himself. Not a fun job to do over the phone with a shop you do not know.

 

[ToyotaDon]

If it were me, I'd bite the bullet and have it transported home. It will be more in shipping for sure but then he can take the car to someone close and supervise the repairs or repair the car himself. Not a fun job to do over the phone with a shop you do not know.

You may want to state what he believes may be wrong with it.

Did the trans go out? Wrecked it? Suspension gave out? Engine just died? That may help people who know the area pinpoint a good shop. Also is this a special celica like a GT4/Alltrac which many shops may not be able to do much with or just a run of the mill 5sge/1zze celica?

I'd say his best course of action if he doesn't know anyone with a truck to borrow and tow it home himself would be to rent a uhual truck and trailer to go get it himself if he's handy enough to fix and also depending on what's wrong with it.

I appreciate all the feedback. I'm dealing with all my work and things going on back home, and he's in a different time zone with his work schedule. We're trying to communicate...

It is a Celica GT-S with the 2ZZ-FE and 6MT so he probably was running it pretty hard. He admits it was a little low on oil but didn't think too much of it. The power started dropping, or it wouldn't rev as high as usual, then I believe he said it started making noise and running even slower until he was able to pull over. It sounded like it wouldn't even crank over at that point. The story got pretty complex due to two motorcycle wrecks happening around the same time, including one at the spot where he pulled over (bike off the side before he got there but biker okay). I was getting all this info on a phone conversation while I was driving and other people in the car, so that explains the gaps in my recall.

 

[NCFJ]

Judging by what you just reported my guess would be oil starved at some point and down hill from there. If it was low on oil already and he pushed it hard through corners without proper oil pick up in the sump it would not be hard to run dry at times. Hope that I am wrong.

From google- A known issue with the 2ZZ-GE is the potential for oil pump failure, especially when subjected to high revs, which can damage the engine if not addressed

 

[angerhater]

I wonder if he tried to start it after it cooled off... It would not surprise me if he added oil and it started ok.... and smoked like hell all the way home... good luck

 

[mtnbiker4evr13]

My brother has a 2zz Celica.. it got a replacement engine and 5spd from a GT shortly after for similar repeated "high rpm events"

Luckily now it just sits, hope he sells it or burns it soon.

Everything is hard to reach and dropping the engine is best done with the full engine cradle from a lift.. can do in a regular garage but its sketchy.

 

[lt1fire]

There seems to have been a bad batch of 2zzs that have issies when constantly going north of 7k rpm. Some handle it fine and some get oil starved. The ones in the lotus elise never seem to have this issue either. His best option would be get it towed home or go and tow it home himself.

 

[ToyotaDon]

He says he will likely go the U-Haul route. Thanks for all the feedback!

 

[lt1fire]

From my experience, I did a 60 mile tow 2 days after signing up for their best package.

Was that an upgrade to their best package or signing up for it and you didn't have AAA membership at the time. I know you can upgrade your current membership to the best and if you've been a member for at least a year you can use all the upgraded memberships at the same time. But if you were just signing up for it with not being a current member you had to wait.
I've always hated that rule but I do understand it since AAA loses millions each year on their tow service. It was basically a vehicle to get you to be a member hoping you would then use them for insurance or their big dollar business the travel business. I was a manager at AAA during college and while every state is a little different I wasn't able to use my premium service in NC the day I signed up for it (which is when I actually needed it for my BIL broken down Honda). But like I said different state's change their policies all the time so its cool if they let you use it right away.