First MR2 - Widebody 3VZ SW

[Gleshlich]

Have noticed my coolant slowly declining in level over the past month

Check the back end of the fuel tank, often the coolant leaks where the heater pipes have the mounts

Is that what they call the hose to hell?

[GDII]

The heater pipe is called the 'Pipe from Hell' as it's a pipe. Solid = Pipe, Rubber = Hose normally.

Hose from Hell 'HFH' is one of the oil cooler hoses under the turbo and Hose from Hell on Earth 'HFHOE' is the one under the water pump on a turbo engine. They get this name because how hard they are to replace with the engine in the car. Not applicable to your car being a V6.

If you have the leak where mknz says you most likely need to drop your fuel tank which can be difficult. I've done it on my own car to fix this problem, while annoying it wasn't too bad. Yours being an early car it could be this.

It could be anywhere else in the system too. Check for any coolant under the car when parked. If you don't see any maybe run the engine up to temperature while leaving it parked and check. Sometimes leaks can close when you shut the engine off hiding from you when you park up but leaking while you drive. You could also try a pressure tester to see if the system is holding pressure while cold.

Might pay to try get your coolant temperature gauge working to see if it's having issues. For some reason the V6 coolant sensor circuit isn't as simple as the 3S setup so not sure why your one isn't working based on the info you have given in other thread.

[Gleshlich]

Still completely baffled on the temp gauge issue. Only thing I haven't tried is a new gauge cluster which could be expensive.

Could this be a headgasket problem even though the oil looks normal? Could also explain why the cars been struggling on cold start (potentially coolant seeping past the rings?)

Have new plugs coming in and will get a compression test done when installing those. Don't want to take the intake manifold off too many times.

[mknz]

Could this be a headgasket problem even though the oil looks normal? Could also explain why the cars been struggling on cold start (potentially coolant seeping past the rings?)

Possible but less likely, I'd rather drop the fuel tank than pull the heads off. Also the coolant normally strips the black paint off the fuel tank too

[GDII]

Still completely baffled on the temp gauge issue. Only thing I haven't tried is a new gauge cluster which could be expensive.

Could this be a headgasket problem even though the oil looks normal? Could also explain why the cars been struggling on cold start (potentially coolant seeping past the rings?)

Have new plugs coming in and will get a compression test done when installing those. Don't want to take the intake manifold off too many times.

Gauge cluster or just the temp gauge itself should be easy to find cheap. There are heaps around. Just find someone wrecking any SW20, doesn't have to be turbo if you are just looking for the gauge.

[Gleshlich]

One cylinder isn't firing. Sigh....

[4CylinderSpecial]

One cylinder isn't firing. Sigh....

Ignition leads? Spark plugs? Dizzy?
They could be the culprits.

Edit: Changed Coil to dizzy. Mixed the two up.

[Benckj]

That's better than a blown HG. Have you changed the dizzy cap & rotor? MR2's seem to eat these up.

[Gleshlich]

This was after changing the plugs. It was running worse before.

Have isolated the cylinder and I'll swap a lead over from the camry and see if it fixes things.

Did a compression test while the intake manifold was off and all 6 read between 160 and 180

[mickeyduck]

Have you changed the dizzy cap & rotor?

+1
Had to do that myself recently.

I also had an issue with the tiny filters that are inside the injectors being blocked thanks to the car sitting too long and the fuel drying out leaving a varnish residue. That was a fun thing to get to the bottom of...

[Gleshlich]

Have you changed the dizzy cap & rotor?

+1
Had to do that myself recently.

I also had an issue with the tiny filters that are inside the injectors being blocked thanks to the car sitting too long and the fuel drying out leaving a varnish residue. That was a fun thing to get to the bottom of...

Will give that a go when I'm free next.
Is there any explanation as to why the miss has gotten louder after new plugs have been put in? Swapped some ngk plugs for factory densos

[JasonFriday13]

Perhaps one of the leads has degraded more from being moved? (from putting in new plugs maybe?). I've seen a similar problem where a lead was intermittently connecting and disconnecting, and causing loss and surges in acceleration. It was fun though, put your foot down and it would bog, then it would spring into life a second or two later. This was on a little 1331cc 4 cylinder engine.

[Gleshlich]

New distributor cap and rotor. New leads, new plugs. All genuine Toyota parts. Problem still persists.
Clogged up injectors? Old plugs showed that the guilty cylinder was running a bit lean. Fuel filter picked up today and awaiting injectors.
Hopefully fixes all the problems.

New pic hehe. Don't worry. I put a layer of plastic film onto the boot before placing bolts and tools onto it

[Gleshlich]

Misfire fixed.

Powerband is still very weird. At wide open throttle, there is no torque until 4500rpm. The best way to explain it is like its a big turbo hitting boost. Any suggestions as to what it could be?

[Gleshlich]

Sounds like turbo isn't spooling up which can be due to exhaust leak or partially open wastegate.

It's 3VZ

Probably should change the title of this thread