1987 Toyota Supra LIFTBACK from North America - Comments

Window and door seals leaking at 90k

power window switch at 92k

shocks at 100k

rear shocks at 105k

head gasket failure at 133k

engine burns 2 quarts of oil 1000k!

Ignition module at 135k.

I purchased this car brand new right

along with it's rival, a 1987 nissan

300zx. overall the supra gets

decent gas mileage, a great ride

and handling. and has one of the quietest

running six cylinder engines I've ever

heard. but until recently the reliability

has been poor, and not to mention

expensive! the head gasket was close to

$1700.00 to fix by itself! was very

tempted to not repair it, but there

aren't too many of these anymore in this condition. I wish toyota would cover their faulty head gasket issue.

I think those problems the Supra had of those miles are not really all that bad. I work at a Toyota dealership and I have seen worse problems on newer cars.

Maybe because you abused the poor car.

Regarding the head gasket problem, sounds like this guy got taken for a ride...

My buddies and I replaced a head gasket on an 88 Non Turbo Supra over the course of an afternoon...

Total cost, including beverages, was under 100 dollars.

With the exception of the gaskets, these 7Ms are bulletproof.

What, you want Toyota to do something about a 1987 car's head gasket problem now?...After all these years?! :D.

My buddy has an 87 turbo converted to an 88 and I agree the 7MGTE is bullet proof, and very reliable, supras are one of the fastest cars on the planet, but I don't think he was taken for a ride, if you get the head gasket done by a mechanic it's around 1500 dollars which is expensive, but most of that is labour, if you did it yourself you could get a steal gasket for 250 or so and put it on yourself with a buddy of course... probably a good 2-3 day project though. Make sure to torque the head bolts to the recommended specs, I believe that for the 87 it's around 78 or so lb's torque, as opposed to the stock 50 lb's. So I suggest torquing the bolts tighter. Take care and enjoy the speed machine ;)

I am an ASE certified master mechanic, and I can tell you that there is a problem with the head gaskets on the 7MGE. I have a 1985 with the 5MGE and an '87 with the 7MGE, both well maintained, and the 5MGE has 330K on it, with no engine problems, and the 7MGE has already had 2 head gaskets replaced at 170K. The last head gasket was a metal gasket that was recommended to me, along with an overtorque of the head bolts of 25 ft/lbs. So far so good, and the last head gasket has lasted almost 40K. So it is not from abuse, but from poor design. The V6 in the 4 Runner (1995) also has problems with blown head gaskets. Abuse again??? I think not!