My MKIII - My Project - Need a few answers

[Scionguy]

haha, awesome story lol. this is why i love imports, american cars may have more muscle, but thats just to compensate for their fat a$$es lol, their heavy, so is the supra, but usually not as much. boost owns NA

[Grandavi]

And to continue... lol...

Here I am driving around my sporty little Supra, enjoying it lots and because I just bought it about a month or so ago, Im thinking... lets give the dealership a shot. So, I put it in for a major "inspection", asking that they go bumper to bumper with it to tell me what they find wrong. (Amazingly in the end, this only costs me $289.00 but that includes a compression test and engine shampoo which now I am glad I did).

So... I have all these plans and timings etc, and what do they find under the hood? Engine is in really good condition, however... the spark plugs are immersed in oil! I read about that here and am going back to read again. They are asking 900.00 to fix that issue and I told em, gonna have to wait because I cant afford that currently (true, because I pay everything cash). Here's the little tidbits that I found from my 289.00 test (money I think was very well spent because the mechanic that was working on the car absolutely loves mine and has an 84 Supra with an engine in it out of my car. : ) His brother has a 89 with a 500 HP engine in it.. nice to have my baby cared from by someone who understands its not a Prius)

1. The spark plugs are garbage... and I mean... garbage... you know.. the $.50 ones (not platinum!)... lol. How the hell I was getting the performance I was getting with these in it is beyond me and a testament to Toyota engineering...

2. The Plug wires are toast. They will work fine until I get the new ones in, but the ends were in oil for a long time and its startling that they actually fired...

3. The valve cover gaskets (thats the problem btw) have been leaking for a long time. Need replacement.

4. The BOV hose was split, you just couldnt see it while it was connected. (going to replace all those with aftermarket ones.. so told him to just slap it on, and I will do that one myself)

5. Coolant leaking on the turbo side (noticed that before i brought the car in), the hose below the motor (about the size of a vacuum hose but bigger radius) was wet with oil and coolant. Not sure where its coming from, but now that the engine is clean, we should be able to tell.

So, I figger money well spent. Now I know what I have to do RFN regardless of my plans to improve it. At least this way, I have a better timetable for what I am doing and how Im gonna get there. Still amazed it ran with that amount of oil sitting in the spark plugs... you could just see the tips of the plug in that area... lol.

Dont have pictures because its in their shop... but it was interesting to see. Will post later with compression results.

[Grandavi]

Compression Test results:
#1 - 148 psi
#2 - 146 psi
#3 - 150 psi
#4 - 146 psi
#5 - 151 psi
#6 - 150 psi

I think thats acceptable for a motor with about 25k km on it (which is about 15k miles).

Sad to think that whoever put the motor in this for the previous owner didn't use the correct spark plugs. Funny to note that the engine runs fine with the wrong plugs and "pretty well shot" wires. Will put in a pic of the wires.. just for interest sakes.

[Grandavi]

IM old... I think this is funny... we used to joke about it in highschool and now I see someone selling one. Gives you 100 BHP... lol. (of course.. you do get a T-Shirt)
Welcome to Driftmotion!

[Grandavi]

So, is it a natural thing for a Supra to have lots and lots of leaking hoses at this age? Everytime I check to see whats happening under the hood i am finding a new hose that leaks. (Pretty sure my best bet is to pull all and replace all and then be done with it).

Also, dont know if any of you know what the hell this is.. but after I drive for a bit, when i stop I get a squeaking sound (mid range) that sounds almost like metal on metal grinding... is this my lower ball joints? (they need to be replaced). You know how you inch forward slowly then stop at a red light while waiting? The front end will dip slightly when you stop and thats when I hear the noise. Works going front or back, but is very hard to pinpoint where its coming from. Sometimes it sounds like its directly under the stereo (the trans mounts), other times sounds like bad struts.. although they seem to be perfectly fine.

Curious...

I've stopped driving fast until I localise and fix this as I keep having pictures of a spindle snapping at 90 MPH...

[Stupra]

Originally Posted by Grandavi

So, is it a natural thing for a Supra to have lots and lots of leaking hoses at this age? Everytime I check to see whats happening under the hood i am finding a new hose that leaks. (Pretty sure my best bet is to pull all and replace all and then be done with it).

Also, dont know if any of you know what the hell this is.. but after I drive for a bit, when i stop I get a squeaking sound (mid range) that sounds almost like metal on metal grinding... is this my lower ball joints? (they need to be replaced). You know how you inch forward slowly then stop at a red light while waiting? The front end will dip slightly when you stop and thats when I hear the noise. Works going front or back, but is very hard to pinpoint where its coming from. Sometimes it sounds like its directly under the stereo (the trans mounts), other times sounds like bad struts.. although they seem to be perfectly fine.

Curious...

I've stopped driving fast until I localise and fix this as I keep having pictures of a spindle snapping at 90 MPH...

It really does sound like struts to me. I guess I would have to hear it though.

[Grandavi]

Im thinking I will probably find out what it is when I pop apart stuff for the new lower baal joints. Will do a pic of what I find there.. could be just bad bushings. Hopefully I dont have to rebuild the entire front suspension (of course.. if I do.. thats just one more thing off the list)