Hiro

I've seen some Buick/Ecotec conversions done before, but can't think of any LSs off the top of my head.

1 hour ago, brickpaver said:

All tinally sorted out. Had the car up on the hoist for the service so git them to drain and change the brake fluid,....bleed the brakes of course and,.....problem solvered.!  Apparently the fluid that came out wasnt all that flash but after the change, all went back to working perfectly.

If the brake fluid looked like pond water then that would definitely go a long way to explaining the issues.....although it also usually means that the master cylinder isn't far behind, as the seals probably aren't in the best of shape

Rear muffler looks stock-ish but the mid-pipe definitely doesn't

The brake fluid level warning switch is integral to the master cylinder reservoir and thus not replaceable on its own - you'd either need a new reservoir, or failing that a whole new master cylinder.  Might be worthwhile trying to drain as much fluid out of the reservoir as you can and see if the sender is gunked up or something, bear in mind that you'll most likely need to bleed the brakes after doing this.  It is a known thing for level sensors to get flaky over time.

On 1/1/2018 at 10:02 AM, campbeam said:

Interesting is the combination of Toyota and Yamaha for a few of these engines. 

Just about every Toyota engine with a "G"-type head was co-developed with Yamaha - 3M (effectively a 3M-G but this was before Toyota used the G designation, and there were also no other 3M variants), 2TG, 18RG, 4AGE, 3SGE, 2ZZGE, 1LRGUE, 2URGSE etc etc

22 hours ago, StewieStiglitz said:

Hey guys,

Long story short I was sharing a car with my family (Mum) but was gifted a car for free! I guess for Christmas.
Im not a car guy at all but I suppose I might have been bitten buy some kind of bug. I believe its an AE92R - Thats what it says in the owners manual.
On the side of the car there's a faded SRI Limited(?) I dont know if this is a thing or not. 

Down to business though its a 23 year old car (1994- As old as me!) and makes a bit of a rattle when accelerating from 20kmph to 50.
I believe from the small amount research and poking around its the exhaust manifold- It has a 1" crack in it and the cover on top of it is loose.
I'm looking at replacing these so if anyone has done it before please let me know how it went !

-Stew 
 

CSi Limited probably, which would make it a 4AFE.

Post up some photos of the exhaust, it's not hard to change over if you're decent at throwing a spanner.

42 minutes ago, trentmeyer23 said:

A kidney...

Sell car with sticky dash, buy newer than '07, get sticky dash replaced for free.  Chances are you'd come out on top, and with a lot less work.

Yep, it was a wheel bearing...

On 12/9/2017 at 5:39 PM, marks_2_sparks said:

I think I may have had this problem before. Even changed the axles to have it return a few days later. Try cleaning the cv boots with brake cleaner then apply silicone spray to the outside. In my case it was the rubber boots rubbing and flexing against themselves. Give it a try as it's pretty much free to do.

You can easily check if it's the wheel bearings by having it up on stands and spinning the wheels. If you hold the base the suspension spring sits on you can usually feel vibrations from the bearing if it's failing. You could also get a stethoscope or length of hose and listen to the gearbox while it's idling in gear on stands. 

New axles = new CV boots, and the noise returned within a minute or so (basically the end of the street).  I find it highly unlikely that the exact same noise would re-appear after changing the CVs if the issue is with the boots rubbing on themselves (and there is nothing else close enough that the boots could rub on).

There is also no noise at all whilst it is on stands (at least nothing loud enough to be heard over my exhaust at idle) - it definitely needs load before it appears (even jacking up the control arm to get the angles right doesn't do it).  I tried the vibrating spring trick a few weeks ago when I was first trying to diagnose it and couldn't feel any difference.  Don't have a stethoscope to listen to the diff though.

2 hours ago, PengNZ said:

Thanks for your reply, Trent. Good morning btw.  I’d agree with what you said but 20L (70L - 50L) gas is much more than ‘a fair amount’. Plus, if I do have 20L gas in my fuel tank, the car computer should tell me I got at least 150 kms cruising range instead of usually less than 50 the computer told me.

There was one time the cruising range was down to 8 km and the needle directly pointed to the Empty and I used only 53L gas to fuel up. 53L is enough for a 70L tank??? That made me really really confused. 

Have you owned Toyotas before?  They are renowned for giving a good 100k+ of additional range after the fuel light comes on or the trip computer says 0k to empty (and I'm not just talking about one particular model).  Much better to err on the side of caution than to have customers always running out of fuel (and you never want to run a tank down to the last few litres anyway, as it can cause fuel starvation which is bad for the pump AND the engine if it drastically leans out)

Starting to get quite annoyed chasing ghosts now.

So a few months ago I started hearing a bit of a scrape/rumble from the front end when coming to a stop, only happened very occasionally so didn't pay too much attention to it initially.  Then a few weeks ago it started to get much worse, much faster.  Symptoms were a sorta grind/scrape/rub/"whomp" with each rotation, going up or down with wheel speed but only at low speed (<30k).  Would happen going straight, turning corners, coasting in neutral, whatever.  I couldn't replicate any of the noises on stands, although an initial suspect of a front-right wheel bearing (could feel the clunk when rocking the wheel back and forth) turned out to be a shot tie-rod end.  'Shop didn't see or hear anything wrong with bearings or CVs up on the hoist, and since the only way to truly prove a shot wheel bearing is to actually remove the hub which in turn ruins the bearing and means a new one needs to be fitted regardless meant that I decided to try eliminating other options first.  So, in order;

1) Swapped front wheels to rule out cupping.  No difference
2) Saw that one rotor had a rusty/pitted ring around the outer edge (really squeally when I rubbed an old pad against it with the wheel spinning).  Swapped pads around, no change.  Swapped rotors L-R, some of the sound did appear to move with the rotor.  Got new rotors, still no difference (some of the squeal did go though).  No sign of rocks or anything caught up in the dust shields
3) Dropped the gearbox oil to see if there was any evidence of a blown diff bearing.  Oil still semi-translucent and dark honey-coloured.  Nothing suspended in the oil either apart from some gold/bronze sparklies that you'd expect from synchro wear.
4) Replaced both front axles.  Torqued both axle-nuts up to buggery with a rattle-gun (mine is rated to 310Nm so it isn't heaps higher than the recommended amount).  Noise seemed to disappear for about 5 minutes then returned, but not as bad as before.  Considering new axles shouldn't have affected the diff at all but could help hide a wheel bearing (by re-tightening the nut) I still can't rule one or the other out.

So now I'm stuck in an annoying place - do I replace wheel bearings or gearbox first?  Both will probably run to about $400 (got a few options for a cheap second-hand 'box to get me by, labour is essentially the same as a clutch change), and I can _really_ only afford to do one before Christmas.  Knowing my luck I'll choose the wrong one though, and I'll end up throwing close to a grand at the thing in total before things are finally fixed.

7 hours ago, Thirteen said:

A turbocharger works by forcing compressed air into the motor to push up the compression ratio in the cylinder.

No, turbos do NOT change the compression ratio.  The compression ratio is literally the difference between the volume of the cylinder at bottom dead centre compared to top dead centre ("static compression ratio").  This changes slightly during operation due to valve timing (and then called "dynamic compression ratio").  Whilst the actual cylinder pressures in a turbo- or super-charged engines on-boost will be much higher, their compression ratios are almost always lower than naturally aspirated engines (and do not vary regardless if the engine is "on-boost" or not.  Forced induction pushes more air MASS in to the cylinder (since the volume is fixed).

In a normal engine (turbocharged or not) static compression ratio (which is the number everyone always refers to) can only be changed by skimming the head, using a different thickness headgasket, or fitting domed/dished pistons or ones with a higher/lower wrist pin.  Forced induction engines traditionally use different pistons compared to their NA sisters 

In simple maths - take two engines, both with a compression ratio of 10:1, one turbo and one NA.

The NA engine breathes in air and fuel at around atmospheric pressure, call it 1bar.  The piston then compresses this air and fuel mix to 10bar (10:1 ratio).

The turbo engine uses a turbine to pre-compress the air before it is drawn in to the engine, a turbo running 1bar of "boost" will push air and fuel in to the cylinder at 2bar of pressure (1bar atmospheric + 1bar of boost).  The piston will then compress this mix further to 20bar (note this is still 10:1 ratio). 

However, because the turbo engine has injested double the fuel and air, it makes a big chunk more power when it is burnt.  There are a lot of simplifications there, but the whole point of a turbo is to boost the volumetric efficiency of an engine (actual amount of air drawn in per revolution compared to theoretical capacity of the engine)

https://www.pressroom.com.au/press_release_detail.asp?clientID=2&prID=209&navSectionID=2

38 minutes ago, MIKHALE said:

Just making the point that one area specified ULP and another PULP,(95).

You're misreading it.  It is first saying "unleaded" as fuel TYPE (as opposed to leaded, or diesel, or E85, or avgas etc etc), and then qualifying that by further specifying a minimum 95RON RATING.

15 hours ago, MIKHALE said:

Noticed in the link Peng gave, that Toyotas' Specifications for the SX V6 were a little mixed up!

One area showing V6 Specs says, 'Four cylinders, in-line...' ???

Also mentions 'Unleaded Fuel' then  'Minimum fuel octane number - 95' ???

 

 

15 hours ago, Zayqua said:

I have a 1980 special edition celica in the shed but can't find any info just wondering are they common.

You'll probably need to provide some more information (photos help a lot too).  Chances are it is just a dealer-special or run-out model to clear stock, typical stickers-and-mags job.

Pay attention to where the drain plug is on the sump too and which way you jack the car up to reach it - if the plug is at the front and you raise the front of the car then there will naturally be some oil sitting in the back of the sump due to the way it is tilted back.

Have you gotten quotes for a repair through a 'shop?  Dealerships will charge an arm and a leg for a new OEM wheel, and you might struggle to find a single second-hand one as most people would probably be selling a set

Did the car still have it's original factory headunit?  If so, just use the appropriate ISO adaptor harness and never worry about splicing or soldering wires again.

If they're anything like the older Toyota weathershields then there will be little clips  that go between the window frame and the bailey channel (the double-lipped rubber strip that seal the top and sides of the window when it is fully up.  You might be able to pop them in with the rubber still in place but probably easier if it was removed.

weathershield_clip_01 by Ian Rigby, on Flickr

weathershield_clip_02 by Ian Rigby, on Flickr

1 hour ago, PengNZ said:

Penrite at this price is a SL grade one. The grade of which is technically lower than the Nulon’s that is SN grade. Penrite 5w30 envir+ and envir+ hpr 5 are SN grade but way expensive than this regular SL one 

True about the SL/SN difference, but if you drop down to the 5L bottles then the Penrite 5W30 Enviro+ is actually cheaper than the Nulon (HPR5 is a chunk more however)...
http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/store/oils-fluids/engine-oil/1021652?pageSize=24&sort=-ProductSummaryPurchasesWeighted%2C-ProductSummaryPurchases&brand=Penrite%2CNulon&variant1=5 Litre&variant2=5W-30&page=1

Sometimes I think there are too many oils on the market with too little obvious differences between them apart from price.

14 hours ago, Tony Prodigy said:

I'll take the Penrite on the Chin. But it's heaps expensive.

As far as Commodores are concerned, I'll never buy one, let alone a 6lt gas guzzler.

My Aurion is absolutely perfect for me.

Nulon 5W30 Full Synthetic and Penrite 5W30 Full Synthetic are currently the exact same price at Superchear, $57.99 for 6L.  You might be thinking of their 10Tenths racing oil.

http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/store/oils-fluids/engine-oil/1021652?pageSize=24&sort=-ProductSummaryPurchasesWeighted%2C-ProductSummaryPurchases&variant1=6 Litre&variant2=5W-30&page=1

And that 7L Commodore figure was only for the 3.0L and 3.6L V6.  The V8s need even more (7.6L)

26 minutes ago, Tony Prodigy said:

I concur with MIKHALE.

Every he said is exactly correct.

Without starting an oil war, Just to add too. The Nulon oil is an excellent product and reasonably priced.

The grubs at Castrol, Mobil, and most of the others will ONLY supply a 5 lt, so the owners who need 6.1lt will need to either buy a 1lt bottle for an extra 20 something bucks to get that extra Litre, or you will have to buy 2x a 5 lt @ say 70 bucks a pop !!

Talk about marketing/gouging.

At least Nulon has the decency to provide the 6 lt. and it is all you need for our cars.

Kudos to Nulon, and I would rather support an Australian Company than give my hard earned money to Grubs.

Keep an eye out for Nulon 5w-30 6lt. When they go on special they are sub 50 bucks. Grab a few and keep as spare if you can afford it.

Cheers 

Tony 

Be thankful you don't drive a Commodore then.  Even the V6 models need 7+L per oil change, so you still need at least an extra litre bottle even if you buy 6L ones.

Oh, and Penrite (another Australian company) also do a full synthetic 5W30 in 6L bottles too...

3 hours ago, campbeam said:

I usually check the oil level when the engine is cold. Recently oil level was above the full mark when cold. After running the engine a few minutes and then rechecking, oil level was exactly at the full mark on the dipstick.

I am wary of overfilling the engine. Previous father in law worked for Castrol in the 80's and their Technicians confirmed that overfilling his engine was what caused the head gasket to blow. Expensive lesson for that dealership who overfilled his Corolla engine and refused to adjust the oil level after he returned the vehicle immediately after being serviced.

I must admit that a blown headgasket isn't what you'd expect from overfilling the oil (unless it was at the end of a cascade of failures).  Blown crank seal yes, thrown a rod because the oil got aerated from being too close to the crank and killed a big-end bearing yes, but headgasket failures are usually down to either overheating or improper installation

I had a quick look and it seems that the Haynes/Gregorys books that cover the AE112 also do the ZZE122, which is never a good thing as you end up with more generic descriptions or things that aren't valid, especially when you've got two significantly different engines and two significantly different rear chassis/suspension designs.  I've got the model prior (AE102) and the Gregorys for _that_ model is really good and specific (since it only covers one model series), if anything you might be better off getting that one as the engine, drivetrain and suspension/brakes are identical between the AE102 and AE112.