a plan of attack

[Keisari]

I need to get in and replace a faulty EGR vacuum switching valve on a 1991 5sfe, trouble is that it's located at the rear of the engine under the intake manifold, near the transmission:

There's clearly two options for access:

1) From the top - remove the throttle body and intake runners. Besides removing the relevant hoses, I don't know where to begin.

2) From the bottom - remove the splash guard and hope there's enough room.

What's the best strategy, TOCAU?

Edited July 29, 2009 by Keisari

[Blind Kid Seeks]

just from loooking at that... i'd say go from the bottom

EDIT: dnt you just wish there was a neat little access panel in your firewall for such an occaision.

[lateralus]

from what i can remember when i had my celica, there was enough room to get my hands in from underneath.

alternatively, you can remove the air box and charcoal canister (maybe fuel filter as well) and you may be able to access it from the side

[Guest]

pull the EGR system off :P

[eviltwin]

remove your stone gaurds and whack her up on jack stands get under there with a worklight and im sure you'll be right mate

[SuperDave]

I haven't worked on a '91 Celica, but if I am doing something at the rear of the engine I tend to sit/lie in the engine bay. But since that looks fairly low down, I'd also assume like the rest, access from below might be easier. Depends on the subframe layout I guess.

[Keisari]

Brilliant, thanks for the advice everyone! I lol'd at ripping the EGR out :P I'll have a go on the weekend if the weather is agreeable.

[eviltwin]

i also failed to mention , it helps consuming beer whilst attempting it as it won't be so hard to accept if it becomes really hard to remove

[Guest]

Brilliant, thanks for the advice everyone! I lol'd at ripping the EGR out :P I'll have a go on the weekend if the weather is agreeable.

I was being semi-serious.

I did it to mine when it ***** itself.

ok now for some useful advice;

to get to the back of the engine and change the EGR VSV i suggest you jack the car up enough for you to comfortable fit under it on your back.

slide yourself under the car, head towards the back of the engine (also, having a light is really good idea) untill you can see the VSV. you should be able to reach it with your hands.

from memory its a 10mm bolt holding it on to the motor.

good luck...

[123R-Prozak]

lol from looking at the photo you got tonnes of room, the motor is out !!! haha

[Keisari]

lol from looking at the photo you got tonnes of room, the motor is out !!! haha

lol why didn't I think of that earlier?!

I was being semi-serious.

I did it to mine when it ***** itself.

ok now for some useful advice;

to get to the back of the engine and change the EGR VSV i suggest you jack the car up enough for you to comfortable fit under it on your back.

slide yourself under the car, head towards the back of the engine (also, having a light is really good idea) untill you can see the VSV. you should be able to reach it with your hands.

from memory its a 10mm bolt holding it on to the motor.

good luck...

Tempting as it is, I would prefer to do whatever I can to prevent the worst of my car's gases from getting out into the environment. That said, I guess Celicas are hardly the most environmentally friendly cars!

I also feel a bit uncomfortable getting under a car supported only by my tire jack. As it happens, I'm just able to get myself under and move my head around without elevation.

But thanks for the suggestions. I definitely will bring a light with me this time and my 10mm.

[DJKOR]

Man, with a 4-cylinder, I'm sure you would have TONS of room to work with. If I managed to change my VVT-i Oil Line in my cramped up Aurion engine bay, I'm sure you could easily change out you EGR VSV.

[Guest]

lol from looking at the photo you got tonnes of room, the motor is out !!! haha

lol why didn't I think of that earlier?!

I was being semi-serious.

I did it to mine when it ***** itself.

ok now for some useful advice;

to get to the back of the engine and change the EGR VSV i suggest you jack the car up enough for you to comfortable fit under it on your back.

slide yourself under the car, head towards the back of the engine (also, having a light is really good idea) untill you can see the VSV. you should be able to reach it with your hands.

from memory its a 10mm bolt holding it on to the motor.

good luck...

Tempting as it is, I would prefer to do whatever I can to prevent the worst of my car's gases from getting out into the environment. That said, I guess Celicas are hardly the most environmentally friendly cars!

I also feel a bit uncomfortable getting under a car supported only by my tire jack. As it happens, I'm just able to get myself under and move my head around without elevation.

But thanks for the suggestions. I definitely will bring a light with me this time and my 10mm.

I would suggest you get some jack stands to support both sides of the car to be safe!

and you are right, they arent really... although there is a noticable difference in exhaust smell with the EGR gone.

[SuperDave]

YOU MUST get some jack stands to support both sides of the car to be safe!

Never get under a car supported by anything hydraulic or mechanical; something solid needs to be underneath to prevent the car from falling onto you.

[Hiro]

Man, with a 4-cylinder, I'm sure you would have TONS of room to work with. If I managed to change my VVT-i Oil Line in my cramped up Aurion engine bay, I'm sure you could easily change out you EGR VSV.

The Celica is probably a decent bit smaller than the Aurion engine-bay wise, plus the S-series engines tended to be lent back quite significantly, almost as if they were the rear half of a V8

[Guest]

Man, with a 4-cylinder, I'm sure you would have TONS of room to work with. If I managed to change my VVT-i Oil Line in my cramped up Aurion engine bay, I'm sure you could easily change out you EGR VSV.

The Celica is probably a decent bit smaller than the Aurion engine-bay wise, plus the S-series engines tended to be lent back quite significantly, almost as if they were the rear half of a V8

that they are, the are on a 20-30 deg angle back in the engine bay... getting to stuff at the back is a mission. usually it is easiest to go from under the car

[Hiro]

Man, with a 4-cylinder, I'm sure you would have TONS of room to work with. If I managed to change my VVT-i Oil Line in my cramped up Aurion engine bay, I'm sure you could easily change out you EGR VSV.

The Celica is probably a decent bit smaller than the Aurion engine-bay wise, plus the S-series engines tended to be lent back quite significantly, almost as if they were the rear half of a V8

that they are, the are on a 20-30 deg angle back in the engine bay... getting to stuff at the back is a mission. usually it is easiest to go from under the car

Agreed - although you can see why Toyota did it, gives a much lower bonnet-line (always would be a problem on a wedgy car like the Celica with a wide head), plus gives plenty of room up front for the turbo + plumbing on the 3SGTE versions...

Makes things nice and annoying for RWD conversions though as uprighting the engine means sump and oil-drain mods.

[Guest]

Man, with a 4-cylinder, I'm sure you would have TONS of room to work with. If I managed to change my VVT-i Oil Line in my cramped up Aurion engine bay, I'm sure you could easily change out you EGR VSV.

The Celica is probably a decent bit smaller than the Aurion engine-bay wise, plus the S-series engines tended to be lent back quite significantly, almost as if they were the rear half of a V8

that they are, the are on a 20-30 deg angle back in the engine bay... getting to stuff at the back is a mission. usually it is easiest to go from under the car

Agreed - although you can see why Toyota did it, gives a much lower bonnet-line (always would be a problem on a wedgy car like the Celica with a wide head), plus gives plenty of room up front for the turbo + plumbing on the 3SGTE versions...

Makes things nice and annoying for RWD conversions though as uprighting the engine means sump and oil-drain mods.

Yeah it does make it nice and easy to mount a nice meaty turbo to the front....

I may be wrong, but i have heard that using a sump from a 2S can be the part of the solution rwd mounting

[Hiro]

Yeah it does make it nice and easy to mount a nice meaty turbo to the front....

I may be wrong, but i have heard that using a sump from a 2S can be the part of the solution rwd mounting

Certain 2S parts are what you generally use for a RWD 3S conversion, if you're going down the NA path though you might as well just get a BEAMS from a RS200, saves a _lot_ of trouble, and you get probably the best NA engine Toyota ever made too.

[Keisari]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, I only just got the time to be able to do this after handing in my thesis...

I can manoeuvre myself to be able to just touch the VSV from underneath, but it's very difficult to get a socket to it. The main problem is a series of metal bars exactly where I need to put my arm, which I am guessing is the crossmember and/or engine frame?

If I could remove just the biggest one - which spans between the two doors and is probably 7cm in width and 1cm in thickness - the job would be managable. Is this the crossmember and is it safe/managable to remove?

Thanks again everyone.

edit: by the way, I'm doing this without elevation. Stands are high on the shopping list at this point...

Edited October 18, 2009 by Keisari

[Guest]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, I only just got the time to be able to do this after handing in my thesis...

I can manoeuvre myself to be able to just touch the VSV from underneath, but it's very difficult to get a socket to it. The main problem is a series of metal bars exactly where I need to put my arm, which I am guessing is the crossmember and/or engine frame?

If I could remove just the biggest one - which spans between the two doors and is probably 7cm in width and 1cm in thickness - the job would be managable. Is this the crossmember and is it safe/managable to remove?

Thanks again everyone.

edit: by the way, I'm doing this without elevation. Stands are high on the shopping list at this point...

dude get some stands, and yeah it is fine to remove the crossmember, just dont remove them all at once !

[Keisari]

brilliant, thanks for that!