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Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 8:11 pm
by gruk
I'm so confused. I topped up with some water tonight before heading home. Took it slow and kept the heater on full. Nothing overheated so that's one thing. No sign of a leak since I got home though.

The extra confusing thing is that I was parked next to my mates new old '87 VR4. The liquid trail ran from the rear of my car to the front of his - or vice versa. There was a much larger pool under his though, but we had assumed that it had run from mine to his and just pooled under there.
There was moistur in my engine bay - but it wasn't obvious.
When I topped up with water before I left work it took about 700ml to a litre.

Now I guess I'm going to have to drain the whole system and bleed in some new fluid. No harm in that I suppose and not too expensive. I bit annoying that it's a phantom leak though. I'd be happier if I had a puddle under my car right now I think - but nothing. Bittersweet...

Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 8:37 pm
by GDII
Fill up the over flow and drive it for a few days. Keep an eye on the coolant levels and check under the car when it is parked. I wouldn't drain and bleed the system until you know where the leak is or if it in fact is your car. Coolant quite often sits on top of the gearbox on these cars due to where all the connections are if there is a leak from that area.

Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 9:39 pm
by gruk
No signs of a repeat leak, so my new theory is overflow. There was a lot of coolant in there, and the weather was hot. It may well have just come out of the reservoir and down the subframe, and dripping to the concrete from there. Possibly a small siphon effect also? Not sure. But I've been for a handful of drives now, and no more wet patches.

In other news I've found a little oil on my spark plugs. I've ordered a set of hex bolts for the Valve Cover. I'll give the leads a tidy up, replace the bolts and see how it goes. If oil returns I'll replace the gasket.
Once that's solved I'll do more of the service jobs, like replacing plugs, leads, distributor cap and rotors. Just to learn really. Probably hasn't been done in a while judging by the filth on the dizzy.

I gave the engine bay a light cleanout. It's a pretty tough job on these machines!

A job that is coming soon is a big inspection of the front passenger side suspension/wheel setup. As Phil found, there is noise coming from there. It's obvious now. Especially noisier when hitting bumps on that side of the car. Could be a wheel bearing, could be the shock, could be bushes. I'll have to pull it all apart to find out I guess :)

Also discovered that the car is certed for 18x7.5 wheels on the rear, and 17x7s on the front. It's currently sitting on 16s.
We'll see what happens at WOF time - especially with what we are seeing in the media at the moment.

Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:14 pm
by GDII
Overflow can drop a whole lot of coolant if you over fill it. I know after I did a full coolant change and filled the overflow I drove it for 30mins then when I turned off the car it all came rushing out the overflow at an alarming rate.

Your valve cover gaskets are probably rock hard if you have 280,000km on that engine. For some reason you have phillips screws like the GEN2 3SGTE. OEM GEN2 3SGE uses hex bolts. I think I have a full set. To tighten all the bolts you need to remove the intake manifold sadly which can mean new gaskets. That's like $200 worth of parts for new manifold gaskets and the valve cover gaskets. Like $56 each or something crazy from Toyota on club discount.

Yeah you need to get the car up off the ground. Remove a wheel and find those knocks. Definitely one in the rear left too. I don't think it will be bushes but the lower ball joint or strut itself can make this noise. The damper can even knock inside itself so need to look at that too if you can't find the knock externally. Check loose bolts for top hats and the top strut main nut too.

Still not sure how to adjust the dampers but the 6mm hex key looks to be the way.
EDIT: I think the 6mm is for doing up and loosening the top hot nut and not the damper adjustment. The 4mm might be however it's just a grub screw and not directly connected to the way a damper like this is normally adjusted. Is there anything on the bottom of the strut?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7LRx5_9FiE
This might help you reduce the knocking if that part is worn.

Close up view of the top but no info on damper adjustment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E3NmhDWXxw

Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 11:01 pm
by GDII
Based on this EVO with S1 rather than N1 there is adjustment on the bottom of the strut.
driver2.jpg
driver2.jpg (167.96 KiB) Viewed 4267 times

Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 11:09 pm
by gruk
Oh way down there!
I'll have a nosey tomorrow, cheers Phil.

Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 10:15 am
by gruk
Right, my new thinking is that the water dump is due to the thermostat somehow, drove up the coast this morning, got to Waiterere, grabbed my cricket gear, went to chuck it in the car - fluid everywhere again. I’m thinking the car isn’t reading it’s heat correctly when the engine is running, then when it’s stopped it goes crazy and realised that it is super hot.

So, next purchase will be an OEM thermostat, and some new coolant, I’ll be flushing the system completely and going fresh with the new thermostat to see how it goes.just waiting for the car to cool in the shade now before I can ease it the rest of the way to my cricket game:)

No hot air coming from the vents at the moment which is interesting considering the temp is still up

Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 12:14 pm
by GDII
A proper bleed will help but yeah, give the thermostat a change and coolant as it's always good to do these things on the car when you get them.

Do you have the OEM clear bleed hoses? These really help doing it properly. Also before you do this get a new O ring for the radiator bleed screw. 99% of the time they leak once they are opened and really had to change with a full coolant system. Grab an OEM one if you can because the ones you buy from the car parts stores are never the correct size and Repco make you buy a full pack now instead of just one ring.

Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 12:23 pm
by Benckj
The heater hoses do not go through Tstat. If you have no heat through this core there must be a circulation problem within engine or external lines. When you drop coolant try and flush using the chemicals to break up minerals & sludge.

Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 3:18 pm
by gruk
Good calls, cheers guys. I don't have the tubes, will have to have a look about for some.

I ended up with the car stranded on the side of the road, got towed to a garage I know near Himitangi. I'm going to have to let the mechanic there do the needed work I think. He says the water pump is leaky, and as that is driven by the cam belt I'll get him to change that also. A bit disappointed as I would have liked to have done it all myself, but beats transporting the car. And hey, it'll save me a whole weekend of work.

Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 3:28 pm
by ClanFever
Make sure you go OEM for this replacement, I have just PM'ed you that anyway, and to contact Mark from Manawatu Toyota. Most Garages will just use cheap Repco shit, it ends up leaking prematurely, or the cambelt loses tension, or something like that. OEM always!

Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 3:30 pm
by mknz
You don't have to go to Toyota to get OEM quality or the same manufacturer that Toyota uses. Repco generally has a Chinese and Japanese brand option. Rip off co will probably end up more expensive though.

Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 3:33 pm
by ClanFever
mknz wrote:You don't have to go to Toyota to get OEM quality or the same manufacturer that Toyota uses. Repco generally has a Chinese and Japanese brand option. Rip off co will probably end up more expensive though.
Going OEM through Toyota is the easiest way to make sure you are getting something that will work. We have good relationships with some Toyota workers so we can get nice prices too. If you're car is highly modified you will already have your avenues of research and suppliers to use. Most garages will get the cheapest rubbish they can, put on 4000% mark up and it will go wrong way before OEM would have.

Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 5:51 pm
by mknz
ClanFever wrote:
mknz wrote:You don't have to go to Toyota to get OEM quality or the same manufacturer that Toyota uses. Repco generally has a Chinese and Japanese brand option. Rip off co will probably end up more expensive though.
Going OEM through Toyota is the easiest way to make sure you are getting something that will work. We have good relationships with some Toyota workers so we can get nice prices too. If you're car is highly modified you will already have your avenues of research and suppliers to use. Most garages will get the cheapest rubbish they can, put on 4000% mark up and it will go wrong way before OEM would have.
I worked in the automotive parts industry for three years:
- Everyone makes money on the parts, dealership, mechanics, parts shops, etc. It doesn't matter where you get them from.
- I've seen dealerships use non genuine parts, put 15W40 into literally every car they work on and charge $150ph for labour. I've also seen most independents refuse to use anything except OE+ quality because they want to look after their reputation and they don't want the hassle. The only way to know what's going on your car is to have a look for yourself.
- If you want a good price and to be looked after, you're better off staying loyal to one or two places, but remember there's always 3 or 4 other places you could go if you're not happy.
- I assure you that dealerships have a higher markup on parts compared to the independent mechanic assuming they're both installing.
- You'd be surprised at the amount of buying genuine parts, hiding that it's genuine then undercutting the dealership.

Re: Gruks SW20

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 7:22 pm
by gruk
She's back on the road! and legal! and back home in Wellington!

It's taken a while and a fair whack of money, but it's back on the road and legal.

Water pump replaced
Cam belt replaced
Water bypass pipe replaced
Front engine mount replaced
Alternator remounted

Tomorrow's job is to give the coolant system a big flushing and re-bleed. Followed by an oil and filter change. If I find time I'll remove the god awful tints too. Should be fun :)