6G Celicas Forums

They lost the timing covers when replacing the timing assembly...

Don't you just love mechanics that aren't good at their job?

From what I can see the pistons are ok, a twinge of carbon here and there.

I mean I've got some messed up parts on my timing covers, a couple broken ears and a tab broken off. Plastic, heat, age, the usual. They didn't lose the covers, they just couldn't be assed to put them back on.

IT'S ALIVE!!! Also no more smoke!!!

ECU reset which had the distributor too far advanced, as someone advanced it prior, so that was a nice 30 minute panic attack double checking everything. Thankfully I remembered that, so pulled the distributor back and wa laaa starts and runs beautifully.

HELL YEAH!

It's been a few days, hows it running?

Well, turns out the rings are/were slightly stuck too as it'd do a small smoke show when cold and under hard acceleration(I thought was residual oil at first). Replaced a cracked PCV line which helped then did a piston soak on a hot engine with Marvel and some CRC GDI, then two more hot soaks with Berryman and CRC GDI.

Now it's just small puffs that dissipate quickly when cold and under hard acceleration past 5K. Changed out the thermostat as it was stuck open slightly, so that should help too, and used the rest of the CRC GDI through the intake as intended.

Going to change the oil and filter tomorrow since most all of the Berryman's ended up in the crankcase, so will use what's left of the Supertech 10W-30 synthetic and some Supertech 20W-50 conventional for the rest to make our own synthetic blend. If the consumption goes down to a quart every 500-1K miles I'll be happy.

This post has been edited by Box: Apr 3, 2022 - 1:25 PM

Mmhmmm I had a feeling. You ever check compression?

Valve stem seals was definitely the majority of it though, I'd say 80% for sure. Stuck rings the rest, but it's down to like 5% of the smoke before the seals and soaks. Before it was a huge ass James Bond style smokescreen until it warmed up and whenever you got on it, now it's very small puffs that dissipate quickly.

We don't have a compression checker, and not like we're in a position to do anything about it. Figure at worst keep it full of oil until she can buy something else, then sell it and get most of her money back out of it.

I mean a compression tester is a good tool to have and they're not expensive, $20-$30. Especially if you're buying older or higher mile vehicles, a quick compression check before purchase can prevent potentially painful problems preemptively putting a pinch on your pocketbook.
And knowing the before and after improvement and which cylinders are low could help zero in on where you need to focus your efforts. With those miles I would be worried about not just ring sealing but also valve sealing. I'm starting to see a little puff on start at around 190K on my 2.0, not every time, and I run 0W-40 or 5W-40 oil in it.

This post has been edited by Bitter: Apr 3, 2022 - 10:03 PM

It's a stepping stone, just to get her to work and back until she can afford something better. I'm not too overly concerned about ****ing with it any more aside from changing the oil and topping it off as needed from here on out. Maybe one last piston soak before changing the oil, but that'd be it.

Side note, why da fuq does no one make a FWD Mazda B series header? Figured might as well replace the pre-cat and log manifold while dropping the exhaust to clean the main cat, as scrap on the other would cover the header cost. But noooo.

As I imagine the cats are pretty fouled by this point and could be causing the car to run out of steam around 90-95 mph.

I have one in my basement, downpipe didn't fit around to the cat on my 626. You can have it for whatever shipping is.

I found headers for the F series, but their gasket is different than the B series. Though it looks like maybe 6 of the bolt holes might line up, hard to say without having the gaskets in front of me.

I did find where early 49-state Sephia and Protégé with the B series have a tubular manifold with no pre-cat, like the Miata, but apparently they're hard to come by. Why the MX-3 gets saddled with a log and pre-cat is beyond me, as it's an early 49-state car too.

Yeah whoops, MX6 not MX3, TOTAL brain lapse LOL!

That's ok, thanks though!

Well if you know anyone with a MX6 or Probe that wants a stainless header and downpipe....or you get a MX6 or Probe.

Here we go, ordered a replacement radiator for the Celica as preventative maintenance because 20yr old plastic end tanks and hose nipples aren't confidence inspiring. A nice Denso unit, should be as close to dealer part as I can get without paying dealer price. Now to get some hoses and then dealer clamps and coolant.

This post has been edited by Bitter: Apr 6, 2022 - 9:03 PM

Sure!

20W-50 conventional burns a lot more than 10W-30 synthetic, who'd have thought it. I know synthetic has a higher vaporization point, but still it's ridiculous. I wanted to run a thicker synthetic, but apparently 10W-30 is as thick as it gets(from Wal-Mart) unless you order online or maybe pay through the nose at a parts house. I think I saw Rotella T6 there, but not sure if it was 5W-40 or 15W-40. It didn't register in my mind at the time anyway for whatever reason.

5W-40 synthetic is pretty easy to come by and should burn off less but still pump around fast for cold starts. So the oil consumption is still pretty bad?

Was immediately after the oil change, so will switch back to synthetic since that helped tremendously.

Kinda thinking about picking up an Aston Martin Vantage…