The MR2 Owner's Club of New Zealand

Just taking my time getting around to sorting APEXED out. Still got the turbo gaskets to go in, have to sort out the speedo, need to work out what BOV to use and I also need to get the passenger window working!

Also on this thread and my last build one I was lazy at times and linked photos from facebook - if any are missing and you want to see them again let me know which post it is and I'll re-edit them and add them properly

Just take the BOV out.

Alsw20 wrote:Just take the BOV out.

But suuuuutututututututu

As the days get longer, so does my motivation. Pulled it out over the weekend, took it for a blat around the industrial area it lives in. Still goes mint! Will be taking it for a wof and a look at the water leak over the next few weeks. Am I glad it was safe and sound in a nice lock up or what

Flew through it's WoF yesterday after about 9-10 months off the road, sitting in it's lockup. Couple of minor things to look at over the next 6 months, front shocks are starting to go due to the lowness of the springs (They were new 4 years ago and barely used really). I will need new shocks, however I'll either need to change the springs or lower the shocks with the current Tein springs so they don't fail so quickly. Speedo was working yesterday so that's a bonus, it still is working at the moment too, but I think the speedo drive could be failing. Back next Monday (ran out of time) for an alignment and a leak test to find this damn leak.

We found a loose hose clamp on a water line, but that wasn't the leak. Still leaking when boosting. Very hard to find it. Just need to find some time to get it back to somewhere with a hoist.

Phil very kindly picked me up from town, took me to APEXED and also helped me (did most of the work) replace the water feed gasket for the turbo. We believe this may be the culprit as the leak seems to come and go, similar to a worn gaskets want to expand and retract. Photos show the mess before and after.

So that was a bit harder than expected. To get the coolant pipes off the turbo we had to remove the intercooler hot pipe (easy) turbo heat shield (easy) then the starter motor and heater coolant pipe just to get the the small bolt holding the coolant pipe bracket to the waste gate bracket. Once that was off we found silicone sealant over an old gasket. I suspect when the CT20b was installed the gasket wasn't replaced with a new one and instead used silicone to seal it. This hasn't sealed so was leaking when it got hot. Hard to find a leak that evaporates as it leaves the pipes.

Hopefully that fixes it and APEXED can get back on the road. Just need to bleed the coolant again.

Hopefully it's all running for when me and my car are back next

Finished up the work including the BOV pipe to intake manifold. Gave the beast a good clean as well, including the engine bay. There was quite a bit of steam coming from the exhaust manifold area, which I really hope was burn (steam?) off from the work me and Phil did, as well as the engine clean. It did start to get less and after a drive there was still a little bit, no hissing and it's definitely holding pressure, so feeling good about it. Will get it a WoF and Alignment this week and take it further and further from base as I get more confident with it's lack of leaks. Hopefully the rain tomorrow isn't so bad as I'd like to fix the passenger doors window motor which has been a problem ever since I bought the car in 2013. I do feel a shitload more constructive ever since leaving Retail and I love that.

After some more idling without the heat shield I found either another leak or more probable, the leak we've been chasing for 2 years now. Highest puddle of water was directly below the oil filter. HFH and HFHOE were both replaced 4 years ago, so with any luck it is not them. But need to do some more replacing it seems.

T-stat is close to filter. Sometimes the oil cooler can leak but generally this leads to water & oil mix. Quite easy to cause this leak following HFH replacement.

I suspect it's from the gasket that joins the hard line pipe to the bottom of the oil cooler where the HFH connects to.

So the leak is coming from there somewhere... need to start replacing all the bits around that area