My 1995 Tarago Getaway II...

[phongus]

Hello everyone

This is my first post (uhhh second if you count welcome thread), so please bear with me and sorry in advance about the long post with lots of questions! (summary at the bottom)

I have been given a Tarago as a hand me down and was wanting to fix it up and do some work on it...not to make it go fast, but to keep it tip top and hopefully use less fuel.

It is currently using a heap of fuel...something like 14-15L/100km, which is more than my modified manual Ford Fairmont 6 cylinder (13L/100km pure stop start traffic, 7L/100km highway). I understand it has a 4 cylinder 2.4L engine (similar to the Hiace?) pushing close to 2 tonne of steel, so it would be labouring a fair bit, but I didn't think the fuel consumption would be that bad. Is this consumption common/normal or way out of order? I have been rather heavy footed in the first 200km, however 150km of that is highway so not much acceleration/deceleration.

The main culprits of fuel consumption from my experience with the Ford, which I would assume is similar to the Tarago, would be vacuum leak, O2 sensor, severely blocked air filter and maybe blocked catalytic converter. So far I can scratch the air filter and blocked cat out, air filter is new and I am not getting any power loss at high RPM to suggest blocked cat. So I will be looking for a vacuum leak and replace the O2 sensor. Are there any other causes for high fuel consumption for the Tarago? It does have 17" alloy wheels, so that might play a role? Also is it common to have vacuum leaks on the Tarago? Such as at the intake/rocker cover/etc? The engine does idle a bit rough...although I have nothing to compare to hence the vacuum leak theory.

Also when accelerating fast, there is a slight rattle. After a quick google I found that the SADS could be the culprit. Is it the whole shaft that needs replacing or can certain components be replaced to fix the rattle? Expensive?

Brakes are decent, they work well for their intended use, but I remember once I was going down some twisties after taking a full load of people to have a geezer at a waterfall and the brakes were cooked, to the point I had massive brake fade and used the hand brake to help slow down to a stop! I was taking it slow, due to some motion sickness of people out the back, but the brakes were still cooked by the time I got to the bottom. Are there ways to upgrade the brakes at all? I assume there are no race spec discs you can get, but if there are slotted rotors I can put in place with some better pads that would be great. Any brakes from other Toyota models that might be interchangeable?

Another mod/upgrade I would like to do is to remove the fan that is located behind the air intake snorkel...I assume that could be the radiator fan or condensor fan. I didn't take note what accessory it was attached to, but if I can remove it and replace it with an electric one that would be great and will reduce the noise level somewhat. It'll have a signal wire connected to a temp sensor which will trigger the fan on/off when only needed. This might be a bit more far fetch, but if it's possible to remove the fan I might give it a shot. Although finding an electric fan to fit in it's place might be a bit hard.

Finally the paint on the roof has lost most of its clear coat and looks sad. I am going to be sanding it back and giving it a lick of paint. Still deciding wether to use acrylic or 2 pack paint. Anyone know what the factory paint is from Toyota? I hear Honda use acrylic paint and thought maybe Toyota does the same.

Well that's all I have ideas for at the moment...hopefully I can do some of the things I have laid out here and keep this thread updated.

Thank you in advance and sorry again for the long post.

tl;dr?

I have a Tarago in bad shape, high fuel consumption (15L/100km) what could be the cause?

Are there any slotted rotors with better pads for Taragos?

Rattle when accelerating...SADS? Can SADS be fixed using aftermarket components or need whole new shaft? Other causes of rattling under acceleration?

Can one remove fan found behind air intake snorkel and replace with electric type?

Toyota OEM paint...acrylic or 2 pack?

Cheers!

[Steve]

Hi and welcome to the club

Look down this list: http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html;jsessionid=48BC0FA2FBBCB041C9F3BA467AC202A5?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=tarago+brake&_nkwusc=taragao+brake&_rdc=1

Does your Tarago have ABS? may need to check

[phongus]

Hi and welcome to the club

Look down this list: http://www.ebay.com....ao brake&_rdc=1

Does your Tarago have ABS? may need to check

Thank you! So slotted rotors are available, that might help the braking temp a bit. Will need to check if it has ABS though. Hopefully it does!

Also I read up on SADS and found there are replacement parts for them. Nolathan supposedly make them and there are also other companies using polyurethane as well. Will keep this updated for anyone else interested :).

Cheers

[mikevill88]

Hi . This might help I have 96 tarago, have some problem like yours , you right with the oxygen sensor,I change them both 2 and another thing is fuel pressure,the fuel pump works but usually its worn out,low pressure keep you pressing accelerator hard, very noticeable on the hill have to use 2nd gear(auto) I'm drivin with it for couple years till it really dies on the road, After changing fuel pump I notice a big difference in power and fuel,idling should be 750 to 800rpm, if not, you running on open loop, clean your injector , throtle plate, also pcv valve. Good Luck

[phongus]

Hi . This might help I have 96 tarago, have some problem like yours , you right with the oxygen sensor,I change them both 2 and another thing is fuel pressure,the fuel pump works but usually its worn out,low pressure keep you pressing accelerator hard, very noticeable on the hill have to use 2nd gear(auto) I'm drivin with it for couple years till it really dies on the road, After changing fuel pump I notice a big difference in power and fuel,idling should be 750 to 800rpm, if not, you running on open loop, clean your injector , throtle plate, also pcv valve. Good Luck

Thanks for the reply Mick. I have had a look at the engine in the last few days and found that the last mechanic who did the head gasket broke 2 valve cover bolts! So the corner was open enough to obviously leak. I thought they forgot to put it back in, but upon further inspection there was a stuck bolt tip in there. So taking it back to the mechanic seeing as it is still under warranty. So that is the oil leak out of the way. I thought it may have been the distributor seal, but the distibutor was suprisingly clean.

The idle does sit at around 750RPM so that isn't too much of an issue and after driving it through a full tank, I have found that the fuel economy is about 11.5L which is as I expected it to be. So good fuel economy.

I have also found the loud noise to be a pulley, specifically the A/C compressor pulley. It rattles when the A/C is off but as soon as you turn it on the noise goes away with a slight initial squeal. So I assume the A/C pulley needs a bit of TLC...I just hope it is fixable rather than a replacement, the price for another A/C compressure unit is rather on the high side!

Didn't get a chance to look at the SADS because it was dark and I was upset about the broken bolts so didn't want to look into it further in fear of breaking something in anger.

I will keep this updated for those who also have issues with the Tarago :).

Cheers

Phong

[phongus]

So I took my Tarago back to the mechanic regarding the oil leak. Lucky it was fixed under warranty and took about a week to do. Have driven it for about 1000km and there haven't been any leaks that I could tell or oil smell. Will have a look at it again to make sure they did a proper job and not just masked it with a lot of sealant.

Now onto the loud pulley noise issue. I am yet to remove the accessories belt to narrow down the culprit. At the moment I suspect it is either an idler pulley (if it has one) or the air con pulley. I suspect the air con pulley because the noise quitens down a little, however a rather noticeable loud squeal occurs for the first 15-20s upon engaging AC.

Now to my question. If it is the AC pulley, is it possible to change the pulley without pulling the AC out...is it possible to change the pulley at all or would I need to buy a whole new AC unit? If anyone could help, that would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Phong

Edited March 21, 2013 by phongus

[ozetarago]

Hey phongus how is your tarago going, I'm going from a Ford el wagon to a tarago mid next year and thought I'd ask you how good are they?

Has much has I like me Fords the wagon with a dickie seat is too tight and annoying getting the kids in and out, not to mention luggage and other crap lol, plus I've read about tarago v6 engine conversions :)

[moxabest]

i got 1992 same model