Cardshark525's 1995 GT w/ 3SGTE swap. (from DD to track car), (A continuation if you will of Supershannon77's build) Options

[cardshark525]

Short update for now.

Took it to a shop (primeperformance in Stanhope) and they cleared all the codes, replaced the knock sensor which was at fault, added 2 filters to the free vacuum hoses and some other minor work.

On the way home from the shop it was nice to be able to fully boost and the car is... umm... quick. Have it running at 15psi and 2nd gear is pretty much useless once it spools up.
So all of that was taken care of and car was running just fine.

Then I get it home and park it, naturally look underneath to check for leaks, and there's almost a waterfall of nasty redish brown rusty fluid leaking from the back of the engine.


Checked intercooler level and none was missing (good and bad).
Check the radiator... and I can no longer see the fluid in there.

I traced the leak to just underneath the throttle body, the only fluid line that's in any diagrams back there is a water line return and it seems that's where it's coming from.



Future plans (maybe today) are to trace the leak 100% and see what's going on. However considering the color that the fluid is (it's reeeeally brown and rusty), I'm going to probably replace the radiator as well as all the hoses.


Anyone have any recommendations or preferences for radiators/hoses?

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Dec 28, 2013 - 1:12 PM

[cardshark525]

Looked into the situation a little further.

This was very useful:
http://www.gtfours.co.uk/what/wrc/wi/wi.htm

It actually led me to this picture:
http://www.gtfours.co.uk/what/wrc/wi/007.jpg

This is a POSSIBLE culprit for the leak although I can't imagine why.
If this is the cause of the leak it means that the radiator and main cooling line have been hooked into the WRC water/methanol injection underneath the throttle body. I have absolutely no idea why this would be the case but it's a possibility.


I'll be digging into it this weekend and take off the intercooler and throttle body (possibly intake manifold if needed) to figure out EXACTLY which hose is leaking and why. If there's time I'll flush the entire cooling system since it's all rusty and looks like radiator sealer was used at some point.


Found a nice ST204 OEM replacement Megan Racing all aluminum radiator that I'll probably get unless someone gives me a solid reason not to.

It'll be nice when these more major things are taken care of and I have the car out here in PA to work on the minor things. Can't get it out here with it pissing coolant

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Dec 30, 2013 - 7:11 PM

[playr158]

Will the Megan Racing radiator work yes.

the real question is what kind of core does it have? Some of the aftermarket radiators are actually less effecient because they have a poor core.

Here is a good thread on the radiator issue:
http://www.gt4dc.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6799

[cardshark525]

Well the car is finally home in PA. Will have it in my friends garage from tomorrow onward. I did encounter something peculiar on the drive home though and I'm interested if anyone else has any guesses as to the problem (or lack thereof).

I had sent the car out to a shop to clear up the CEL codes (broken knock sensor and faulty intercooler pump wiring). Everything was fine after that for about 200 miles but on the way to PA out of nowhere, my CEL comes on. When I finally stopped I checked it and its code 54 (intercooler pump/level sensor). Figuring I'd have to deal with that today, I parked the car at my friends house and came back to it later on. Started right up.... no CEL. Drove it around for over an hour, giving it plenty of gas then taking it easy, a good mix of driving, and the CEL never came back on.

Any ideas? lol. I've yet to have a situation with any car I've ever owned where the CEL came on, I essentially wished it would go away... and it did haha.


The only thing I can think of is that the leads on the bridged level sensor are going.

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Feb 3, 2014 - 1:38 PM

[supershannon77]

Updates? How are things? Figure out the leak? Hope all is well.

[cardshark525]

So.... I was in the middle of a paragraph on my phone and it decided to take a dump.... I really hate that. Anyway...

Not much has changed. I still have the leak (it's the no. 2 bypass valve right underneath the throttle body/intake.) so I have to rip that apart. The other leak that evolved over the last couple weeks is the hose to my intercooler catch can cracked so that needs to be replaced.

The LARGER issue that I recently diagnosed and came across (and I don't know whether it's always been there or not) is a valve tap.
This is likely due to all the codes being cleared and be actually hitting 5k+ rpm on the engine for the first time in a long time. I figure stuff was plugged up and so on. So I need to dig into that and see what's up there.

It's just been brutal this winter as everyone in the northeast knows. You are kinda near my inlaws as you know Shannon so it's been a LITTLE bit milder where you are, but we recently had some 10 degree lows here in PA overnight where I'm at and I don't have a heated garage to work on the car on.

I also just recently started a new job which is fantastic as far as finances goes but it means some weekend work here and there so there's less time to source parts and work on the car.

Realistically I'm probably looking at taking the head apart this coming weekend (if we don't get some kind of freak snowstorm or frigid weather), and fully figure out not only the valve tap but also if there's a head gasket leak or something else. The hoses themselves shouldn't be a problem I just have to take off the throttle body and possibly intake manifold to get at the primary leak.



The main problem is.... because I've been driving the car recently... when we have nice weather to resist the urge to drive the car and instead spend the time getting it fixed. lol. I went for a drive today right after work and it was so much fun, at the same time looking back on it I could have spent the time draining the fluids and getting the intercooler and intake manifold off so the head is ready for inspection tomorrow.


I'm hoping everything is going well with you Shannon. I figure you're anxious to hear about what's going on with your former car but unfortunately there's not much going on.

Life lesson.... don't buy a project car right before winter if you live in the north lol.

[Tigawoods]

The main problem is.... because I've been driving the car recently... when we have nice weather to resist the urge to drive the car and instead spend the time getting it fixed. lol. I went for a drive today right after work and it was so much fun, at the same time looking back on it I could have spent the time draining the fluids and getting the intercooler and intake manifold off so the head is ready for inspection tomorrow.

this.


But it was nice out yesterday and totally worth it huh?

[cardshark525]

The main problem is.... because I've been driving the car recently... when we have nice weather to resist the urge to drive the car and instead spend the time getting it fixed. lol. I went for a drive today right after work and it was so much fun, at the same time looking back on it I could have spent the time draining the fluids and getting the intercooler and intake manifold off so the head is ready for inspection tomorrow.

this.


But it was nice out yesterday and totally worth it huh?

Yes... it so was... haha.

Looks like snow incoming on Tuesday too.... UGH!!!

[Tigawoods]

HA! for you! I just took my car from PA to MD today....we will be getting rain

[cardshark525]

So it was finally a nice day today so I got to work...




Yeah you definitely look like you were leaking....



And there's the connection (which looks just fine).


I do have a question for you guys (particularly the guys running a 3rd gen WRC since I believe it pertains to that specifically). The hose that is leaking as far as I can tell... doesn't go to anything under the throttle body. I BELIEVE this is for the water/meth injection (obviously not drilled out).

Why would this seemingly be connected to the main radiator lines? It's supposed to hook up (under normal application) to the washer fluid. If I am wrong about this somebody please correct me if it runs to something else in the throttle body, but it seems like it's connected to the bypass lines. I could totally understand why it's constantly leaking because of this since the cooling lines get pressurized and this is basically a dead-end for the lines. As the pressure builds I would EXPECT it to leak since the fluid under pressure has nowhere to go in that spot.


Let me know guys or if you spot something else obvious let me hear it. I'm off to get some new hoses in the meantime.

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Apr 12, 2014 - 1:56 PM

[enderswift]

I cant really tell which part you're referring to in the pics. But these cars do have heated throttlebodies, which have hoses that run to the coolant junction

This post has been edited by enderswift: Apr 12, 2014 - 4:17 PM

[cardshark525]

See how directly underneath the throttle body I pulled off the hose, and the second picture is the metallic connection point that the hose was hooked onto? This was my major leak problem. I have resolved it after some more research so its not the built in water/methanol injection port.


In summary after some heavy driving I have 0 leaks and 0 fluid loss or air in either the cooling system or intercooler lines.

Next will be diagnosing an annoying oil drip (looks to be originating from the oil pan). Not terrible but maybe 3-4 drops per hour or so.

Some new parts will be ordered and changed out in the next few weeks (brakes and radiator) and then I need to see what my valve tap issue is all about and why the wideband is 14.7 under boost. My guess is somethings up with the sensor itself.

[cardshark525]

Dear Diary...


On my way home from NJ right at the exit off of I-80 I heard a thud, and then a scraping noise....

No it's not that..... or that........


or that.....


The front drivers side fender well plastic had broken loose from the fender and was scraping up against my wheel. I thought ok, no problem that should be a simple fix.

Upon looking at it today after buying some hardware, I find two wires dangling down. After further inspection it looks like when the plastic broke loose, it severed the wiring for my intercooler pump.

What this in turn did is.............





Nothing, because I luckily wasn't boosting at all from the time I got off I-80 until I got the car home, but I was essentially running a turbo car with no intercooler (that's how the pro's do it )

Anyway of course I have off work today and it's the coldest day we've had in a couple weeks so this will be a weekend project weather permitting.



I will also be on the lookout for some actual GT-4's since I'll be in Europe from 5/7-5/20 visiting family.

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Apr 23, 2014 - 9:59 AM

[cardshark525]

Previously stated problems have been fixed as of today.

Soldered the intercooler pump wires back together, wrapped the #@!$ out of them with electrical tape, and did very minor wire management so the extra wiring doesn't hang down too far.

Re-attached the fender well/underbody plastic to the bumper and drilled new holes as needed to accomplish this.




I do have a question for those that know more than me:

I found my "valve tap"



What is this? What is it's purpose? And why is it "ticking"?

It hooks up to the top of the throttle body so my best guess is it's a vacuum sensor but I'm not particularly certain.






These repairs needed to get done today since my sister-in-laws car decided to commit suicide on the way back from NJ.

It was a 2007 Chevy Impala. Within 10 seconds we went from "inspect traction control" to "check engine light" to "reduced engine power" to SEVERE knocking.... to completely seizing up.
This was on an on ramp, however the car never even saw 4k RPM let alone redline...


(sigh) At least I found out AAA works pretty quick.

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Apr 27, 2014 - 5:32 PM

[cardshark525]

So I ran into an issue today after a fantastic drive.

Get in the car to go out to dinner with the wife, and the clutch feels a bit lower and softer. After a 1 mile drive to pick her up, the clutch is basically catching at floor level.

By the time I got the car back to the garage, it was engaging with the pedal on the floor and the car was creeping forward.


If you guys would help me out I'd appreciate it. What's the most likely cause?
I figure its either air in the line (although unlikely) or the cylinder went bad, but I thought maybe someone had this exact same experience and knew right off the bat what the problem was.

[enderswift]

Common problem, especially with an aftermarket clutch. You need a new master cylinder. Buy a new Toyota part. Dont waste your time with aftermarket parts

[cardshark525]

Got all my parts in and went to work today on fixing the slave/master cylinder issue. Of course, the metal hydraulic lines were giving me a problem and the nut simply wouldn't let go, until it was at least partially round, so I'll be replacing that.

Question: Does Toyota make a tool for accessing the mounting bolts/nuts for the clutch master cylinder? Because that is placed in an absolutely ungodly place that I can't really access with a wrench, or socket. I even removed the lower part of the dash below the steering wheel but couldn't really access it. Feel free to drop some advise on how to remove that.

Since I didn't want the day to be a completed waste since I'm waiting on new parts at this point (as well as a tip on removing the master), I decided to rip the entire inside apart and start getting rid of things I will no longer need.
The inside of the car is pretty much empty with the exception of the carpeting. I removed the stock ECU and mounted the 3S in it's place for now so that's no longer sitting next to passengers feet, emptied out the trunk from a bunch of miscellaneous parts, wires, disconnected relays, random plastic pieces, etc. All those will soon be found in the "For Sale" section of the forum once I go through them, I just wanted them out of the car at this point in time.

Bonus: After removing the drivers seat, I found a nickel.

Haven't decided whether I'll be removing and selling the rear seats at this point in time but I'll cross that bridge tomorrow.

Will be going to Summit Point at the end of July for a BMW CCA event. My wifes boss is driving in the races and said I could take his race car out for some track time after the races are done for the day. As much fun as it would be to run around Summit Point in a track only E36 M3 race car with a built engine, I would much rather do it in the Celica. Recently got a significant promotion at work as well so there's a good chance (if the wife doesn't kill me), that I'll be able to get a standalone ECU by then since I have no intention of putting the car on the track, and having to watch the speedometer bounce repeatedly off 118MPH down the 3/4 mile main straightaway lol.

Again guys give me some tips for getting the master out, and as always thank you in advance for any advice you guys can give.

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Jun 22, 2014 - 3:55 PM

[cardshark525]

Code 54 popped up again. Got pissed off, went through all related wiring.

Re-soldered a few connections, replaced faulty connectors, replaced relay.
No code, full boost, full smiles. Code is permanently resolved.

Also finally found correct wheel key, used 4 foot pipe as extension on tire iron, and broke them all loose. Brakes will be changed this weekend, everything else in the wheel well looks good.

Nothing else for now. Still going to the track next weekend but won't be driving the Celica on the track. Will still be a nice long three hour haul there so I'm looking forward to that.

[Box]

Glad to see it looks like everything is fairly sorted out now, hopefully you do well on the track.

[cardshark525]

SO......... lol

Today as I'm pulling into my garage (actually right at the driveway), the steering linkage decided to poop.

Anybody else have an educated guess to what else it might be?

I'm pulling into the driveway, and turning the wheel, and the wheels are not following the steering wheel. I've got the wheel full over and the wheels are about half over.

As I have the car stopped, I'm turning the wheel, and it's turning VERY freely. As far as I can tell it wouldn't be the power steering correct? If it was the PS I would expect to be able to turn the wheel normally but with much more resistance.


As a bonus as I was on the ground looking, I found a screw (not nail) embedded in my front driver tire.


Mo money Mo problems...