Toyota Corporation engines of the ZZ series became one of the discoveries of the beginning of the 21st century. They replaced the rather successful, but outdated gasoline units that were installed on C-class cars. The 2ZZ-GE power unit became perhaps one of the most common at that time.
In terms of its characteristics, the 2ZZ-GE engine was significantly superior to its predecessors, which enabled the corporation to significantly expand the scope of use of the unit and borrow it from its partner concerns.
Toyota 2ZZ-GE engine characteristics
| Production | Shimoyama Plant |
| Engine make | Toyota 2ZZ |
| Years of manufacture | 1999-present day |
| Cylinder block material | aluminum |
| Supply system | injector |
| Type | in-line |
| Number of cylinders | 4 |
| Valves per cylinder | 4 |
| Piston stroke, mm | 85 |
| Cylinder diameter, mm | 82 |
| Compression ratio | 11.5 |
| Engine capacity, cc | 1796 |
| Engine power, hp/rpm | 164/7600 182/7600 192/7800 221/7800 243/7800 260/8000 |
| Torque, Nm/rpm | 169/4400 176/6800 180/6800 215/5500 230/5500 236/6000 |
| Fuel | 95 |
| Environmental standards | Euro 4 |
| Engine weight, kg | 112 |
| Fuel consumption, l/100 km (for Celica T230) - city - highway - mixed. | 10.5 6.6 8.4 |
| Oil consumption, g/1000 km | up to 1000 |
| Engine oil | 5W-30 10W-30 |
| How much oil is in the engine | 4.4 |
| Oil change carried out, km | 10000 (better 5000) |
| Engine operating temperature, degrees. | ~95 |
| Engine life, thousand km - according to the plant - in practice | n.d. ~200 |
| Tuning - potential - without loss of resource | 300+ n.a. |
| The engine was installed | Toyota CorollaToyota Celica Toyota Matrix Toyota MR2 Lotus Elise Lotus Exige Lotus 2-Eleven Pontiac Vibe |
List of car models in which it was installed
The 2ZZ GE engine was developed for front-wheel drive Toyota cars:
- Celica 190 and T-Sport - for the UK, 198 hp. With.;
- Celica GT-S – for the USA, 180 hp. With.;
- Celica SS-II – for Japan, 187 hp. With.;
- Corolla RunX RSi – for South Africa, 199 hp. s., 187 Nm;
- Corolla RunX Z Aero Tourer – for Japan, 187 hp. With.;
- Corolla Fielder Z Aero Tourer – for Japan, 187 hp. With.;
- Corolla XRS – for the USA, 170 hp. With.;
- Corolla Compressor – for Europe, turbo version 225 hp. With.;
- Corolla TS – for Europe, 189 hp. With.;
- Corolla Sportivo – for Australia, 189 hp. s., 180 Nm;
- Matrix XRS – for the USA, 18 l. With.;
- WiLL VS – for the USA, 190 l. With.
Toyota Corilla XRS
The engine characteristics are also suitable for cars from third-party manufacturers:
- Lotus 2 Eleven – for the UK and USA, turbo, 252 hp. With.;
- Lotus Exige - for the USA and Great Britain, turbo, 243 hp. With.;
- Lotus Elise - for the UK and North America, 190 liters. With.;
- Pontiac Vibe GT – for the USA, 180 hp. With.
Lotus 2 Eleven
The engine is considered “charged”, that is, peak power is achieved at maximum speed.
Malfunctions and repairs of the 2ZZ-GE engine
In 1999, Yamaha engineers developed a sports version of the ZZ engine - 2ZZ-GE with a high compression ratio of 11.5, for 95 or 98 gasoline. It received a new composite cylinder block, under the crankshaft with a reduced stroke and a larger cylinder diameter (compared to 1ZZ), an improved variable valve timing system VVTL-i, which is the usual VVTi from 1ZZ-FE, but after 6200 rpm the valve lift increases to 11.2/10.0 mm and the engine produces its 190 hp. at 7600 rpm. For some markets, power is reduced to 164-180 hp. In addition to the main engine, there were also compressor versions based on the Eaton M45 supercharger with a pressure of 0.25 bar and a power of 220 hp, as well as based on the Eaton M62 compressor, a pressure of 0.3 bar and a power of 225 hp. Subsequently, the Eton M62 1.8 liter 2ZZ was inflated to 240 and 260 hp. Compressor motors were only available for Lotus and the compressor Corolla.
Malfunctions and their causes
1. High oil consumption. This problem awaits all 2ZZ owners after 150 thousand km, the oil burn indicates an approaching capital crisis, you can delay the moment by doing decarbonization, but after a while everything will return and the time will come to choose either a major overhaul or the purchase of a contract engine. 2. Noisy operation, engine knocking. The problem, as on the 1ZZ, is in the timing chain, the issue is solved by replacing it. 3. Floating speed, the problem is in the banal throttle block and idle air valve, clean and check.
Among other things, the VVTL-i system is very capricious and in order for everything to work like clockwork, once every 50 thousand km, you need to replace the lift bolts, otherwise there is a possibility of system failure and, as a result, loss of power after 6000 rpm. In terms of service life, the 2ZZ-GE engine is the same disposable as the 1ZZ, lives, on average, about 200 thousand km, after which it is changed to a contract 2ZZ or something else, 3S-GTE for example)).
Advantages and disadvantages
The main design problem of the 2ZZ GE engine remains the ultra-small size of the jumper between the cylinders:
- During the cooling of an aluminum cast block, the formation of shells and cavities is possible with a probability of more than 75%.
- aluminosilicate inclusions have a different cooling rate, microcracks form near them;
- during the hardening process, a porous structure is possible, again due to foreign inclusions of MMS aluminosilicate.
Cylinder liners 2ZZ GE
Such an internal combustion engine device is initially prone to liner scuffing. The hone mesh (a special coating on the inner wall of the liner) wrinkles, unlike a similar coating on a steel or aluminum liner. The manufacturer declared the cartridge case life to be sufficient, but did not ensure this in practice.
All of the above is true for the piston, since this part is manufactured using a similar technology. The hardness of the piston skirt is increased by applying phosphorus-containing and iron-containing coatings.
Through long trials, the manufacturer managed to achieve wear on the piston rings, rather than the liners, in this friction pair to slightly increase the maintainability of the cylinder-piston group.
The locking pin is the weak point of the VVTL-i system, since this part constantly collides with the rod, leading to mutual wear of the consumables. Often the bolt that secures the rocker arm axis is cut off and the lubrication of the unit is disrupted.
The advantages of the 2ZZ GE design are:
- maintaining dimensions relative to previous modifications of the series;
- reduction of heat loss due to a partition in the exhaust tract for rapid heating of the catalytic converter;
- large-sized resonator in the intake manifold;
- improved design of the oil pan, which eliminates the lubrication system from clogging;
- service life 500 thousand km.
Layout of 2ZZ GE under the hood
The layout of the power drive under the hood is very dense, making traditional sound insulation almost impossible. To partially reduce noise, there are rubber spacers between the cylinder head and the intake manifold.
Toyota 2ZZ-GE engine tuning
Chip tuning. Atmo
Atmospheric tuning 2ZZ is not the most popular way, it is believed that the engine is pushed to the maximum, but this is not so)) What are we going to do? Porting of the cylinder head, combination of head channels, manifold, channel cutting, lightweight valves, lightweight TRD ShPG with a high compression ratio of 13, MWR St.3 shafts, 440cc injectors, DD performance manifold for the intake, 90mm damper, 4-2-1 direct-flow exhaust, setting up Apexi Power FC. This will produce about 250 pure naturally aspirated horses.
Turbine for 2ZZ-GE/2ZZ-GTE
Due to the prevalence of the motor, there are time-tested driving solutions on the market. To assemble a proper turbo, we will need Darton liners, Wiseco pistons with an 8.8 compression ratio, standard connecting rods, lightweight Monkey Wrench Racing valves and springs, an enlarged oil pan, a Walbro 255 lph pump, 700cc injectors, a turbo kit with an intercooler based on a Garrett GT28, an exhaust pipe 63mm, Apexi Power FC setting. The output will be 300+ hp. To get 400 hp, we replace the factory connecting rods with Crower ones, 800cc injectors, and a 76mm exhaust pipe.
Technical features
The Toyota 2ZZ-GE engine is built on the basis of an aluminum cylinder block , cast iron liners and fused into the block. A light-alloy internal combustion engine is lighter than its counterparts with the same volume. The cylinder diameter is 82 mm , and the piston stroke is 3 mm longer. Therefore, the 2ZZ-GE engine can only be called long-stroke when compared with the 1ZZ internal combustion engine.
Aluminum cylinder block 2ZZ-GE
Traction at low speeds is worse, but remaining high piston speed worsens oil removal and increases demands on the rings. When creating a compact engine, the developers reduced the diameter and length of the crankshaft journals. As a result, the load increased and the resource of the internal combustion engine decreased .
Smaller T-shaped piston skirts run hotter and start knocking sooner. a major overhaul of the 2ZZ engine, although there are options for “re-lining” with non-original spare parts. The liners, despite their size suitable for repair, have the same problems.
Cylinder head 2ZZ-GE
In general, the 1.8 engine is considered “disposable”, and this is a typical picture for the series.
In some cases, the chain can stretch even before the resource of the 2ZZ-GE internal combustion engine is exhausted. When replacing an old part with a new one, it doesn’t hurt to update other drive elements, but the camshaft sprocket responsible for the intake is assembled with the variable-phase system drive, so it is often left behind. As a result , replacing the timing chain gives a temporary effect .
Timing chain 2ZZ-GE
Is it worth buying a Corolla with the ZZ engine?
If today you decide to buy a car with such a power unit under the hood, then it will be a used car. The machine is at least 11 years old, since the units stopped being produced in 2007. This means that on average the mileage of such cars will be from 150,000 km. Of course, this is not the best solution, since you do not know the history of the car and cannot guess what actual mileage it has covered. Most likely, after purchase you will need to invest a lot of money in engine repairs. The disadvantages in this case are the following:
- there are a lot of cars with low mileage on the Russian market, resellers and sites are well aware of the problems of ZZ engines, so they do everything possible to sell;
- engines are not always well maintained, oils and filters are cheap, gasoline is available from the first gas station you come across, and for this engine such an operation option is disastrous from the very beginning;
- There are contract engines, but their cost in more or less normal condition starts from 70-80 thousand rubles, this is a lot of money, so you should not rely on replacing the engine;
- spare parts are incredibly expensive, and deep repairs do not make much sense, this motor is not subject to capital repair, at most you can repair the block head after minor breakdowns;
- Included with the engine you will also receive problematic attachments; the generator works fine, but the starter is not reliable on all cars; it may need to be repaired or replaced.
As you can see, there are a lot of problems with used ZZs. Among the disadvantages you can also find the unpredictability of the resource of used power plants. Even when buying a good contract motor from Japan, you take a risk. Therefore, many car owners use the method of swapping this unit for another model. For example, they install the more modern ZR or the classic 4A. But such manipulations also require large investments.
We invite you to watch a video explaining some of the properties of ZZ engines:
Disadvantages and weaknesses of 4ZZ
The gasoline 1.8 2ZZ-GE, like other engines in the series, demonstrates a total problem - excessive oil consumption due to waste.
The reason is in the design features of the internal combustion engine itself, so there is no risk of incorrect operation. The engine is designed in such a way that the oil scraper rings can become stuck during the warranty period. The attempt to overhaul the engine and replace the rings with new modifications did not solve the problem. Only the 2005 update improved the situation slightly.
Pistons 2ZZ-GE
The upgraded pistons were coated with an anti-friction coating , which the pioneers did not have. The lubrication volume of the 2zz-GE engine has also increased, which is noticeable on the oil dipstick with moved marks. The first pistons had four drainage grooves (small), the latest versions were already equipped with eight large ones.
In addition to excessive oil consumption, another problem made itself known at the very beginning. We are talking about a knocking sound in the engine caused by crankshaft play in the longitudinal direction. The VVT drive making a cracking noise is not such a typical negative (in comparison with other series). Although when replacing the timing chain, it makes sense to install a new VVT-I. The weak point is the chain itself, which sometimes stretches even before the resource is exhausted.
Crankshaft 2ZZ-GE
All these troubles reveal a significant shortcoming of the concern regarding the ZZ series engines.
Service
According to the maintenance regulations, the 2ZZ engine requires an oil and oil filter change after passing the 10,000 km mark. factory lubricant “ENGINE OIL 5W-40” is found in the catalog under number 0888080376 (this is a liter bottle). A five-liter canister can be found under article number 0888080375 . The oil filter for the 2ZZ-GE engine comes with catalog number 90915-10003 . During the first maintenance, the cabin filter ( 87139-30040 ) is also changed.
Toyota "ENGINE OIL 5W-40"
When the car has driven 40,000 km, it is necessary to replace the air filter ( 1780121050 ). During the fourth maintenance, the spark plugs are also changed.
The time to replace 2ZZ antifreeze comes after an impressive mileage (according to the factory recommendation, this is 180 thousand). Toyota Super Long Life coolant (a five-liter canister goes under article number 88980072 ). Replacing the 2ZZ-GE timing chain is not provided, although if it stretches, it is better to update the part. A chain with part number 1350622030 .
Toyota Super Long Life
What cars was it installed on?
The Toyota 2ZZ-GE engine was installed on the following Toyota cars:
- Alex (2001-2006);
- Selika (1999-2005, in Japan until 2006, in Europe until 2002);
- Corolla (in the USA from 2002 to 2007, in Europe from 2000 to 2004, in Russia until 2005);
- Corolla Fielder (2000-2006);
- Corolla Ranx (2001-2006);
- Matrix (2002-2007);
- Voltz (2002-2004);
- Will VS (2001-2004).
Toyota Corolla Fielder, 2006
