Some questions and problems
 

i got an 87 turbo, and it runs pretty damn good. just, the temperature gauge has started reading that its over heating in about 2 minutes, and when i start it sometimes it starts in the red even after its cool. it didnt start doing it untill today, but its freaking me out. ill feel the hood, and it wont feel like its super hot, and when i hold my hand over the engine, it doesnt feel like its exceeding normal operating temperature. tell me if im wrong, but i think the gauge is failing. Sometimes itll read like in the farthest of the red it can, then itll either slowly start to drop down, or instantly drop down, and slowly rise back up. what do i need to test, and how do i test it? also, how do i know if its over heating?

also, i have a grinding wheel bearing on the drivers side front wheel. when went to get the bearing off, i noticed the hub was on the reverse side toward the engine bay? i tried getting the bearing out, but had no luck. is there a special tool or seceret to get it out?

Sometimes when i press the brake pedal, itll travel farther than normal. other times itll travel like it should. if i press it when it travels far, release it, then press it again, itll go back to where it should most of the time. it almost seems as if it does it when im at higher speeds mostly. what would cause this?

when starting the car after its sat for a little while, its a little difficult to start. i have to work the throttle for it stay alive, but once i rev it to about 5000 rpms it will idle and run perfect. whats going on there?

sorry for the length of the post. these are just the things that are confusing me and couldnt seem to fix. thanks in advanced.

also, i bought a new thermostat. can anyone show me a picture of where it goes?

AND one more thing. haha. my fan clutch is bad, but i have a new one thatscoming in tomorrow morning. thoughts on the bad fan clutch would also help.

i have the non turbo and dont know the differences but my thermo is right in the front of the engine. Follow the upper rad hose to it, above the power steering. But like I said, I dont know the difference between the models. But look in my signature and there is a link to the toyota service repair manual.

Edit: Try this. http://www.cygnusx1.net/Supra/Librar...Section=CO&P=8

If you follow your upper radiator hose from the radiator to the metal housing the thermostat goes inside the metal hosing that the upper radiator hose connects to. As for your overheating I would do a radiator flush and put a bottle of water wetter in it to keep it cooler, also if none of this works I would prepare for a bhg. As far as needing a new fan I would go with a 420 flex lite eletric fan blows at 2500 cfm and plus you add some hp by taking the cluth fan off. It's suppose to help keep it cooler just wire it up to stay on when you turn your car on. As far as your brakes go it sounds like your master cylinder is going going gone.

thank you for your reply. I brought it to a mechanic, and we did the procedures to test for a BHG and the results were negative. the oil is a good color, and the car doesnt seem to have any lost power, at least thats noticeable. its fast and is very powerful still. the only sign that would indicate a BHG on it is the coolant getting really hot. I took the thermostat out, and it was jammed and was blocking it off. im about to run it without a tstat and see what it does, then im putting a new tstat and seal in. ive already got a new fan clutch, and im in the process of putting that in as well. any more input is greatly appreciated.

as for the master cylinder, when i get a little more money on hand, ill be replacing that as well.

one more thing, ive noticed that the top of the fan shroud is broken off. theres about a foot and a half of it missing. i doubt that it would cause anything serious, but i could be wrong.

Stock temp stat is I believe 180 deg. And the TSRM recommends (and I advise) cutting the jiggle valve off the stat before reinstalling it.

A fully intact fan shroud along with the splash-guard across the bottom of the engine compartment both assist in keeping engine temps where they should be. If your shroud is broken then air which should be going through the radiator is traveling above it.

And my personal opinion is keeping a stock fan setup is far easier and simpler than going to an all electric unit for the sake of what, 2 hp?

As far as your other problems, sounds like a vacuum leak (or possibly an I/C leak) and a bad master cylinder unless you find some sign of a significant fluid leak.

alright after a long frustrating day of working on it, ive replaced the fan clutch, and ive replaced the thermostat. Two jobs that shouldnt cause much trouble, well, apparently not. one of the two bolts on the tstat housing was rusted and snapped half in and half out. i tried pliers and vice grips for a while, then gave up and hoped that if i put the housing back on and the upper bolt back on, it would be tight enough to seal it. my plan was to run it with no thermostat after it was removed, but it leaked as i filled it. so i tried to get the bolt out again, and had no luck. so i had the idea of putting the new tstat and seal in to see if the seal would help, and sure enough, it didnt leak. i ran it at idle for about 10 minutes watching the temp and watching for the leak, and there was no water escaping. i drove it around for about 6 minutes and then checked it, and there was no leaking, then i drove it with boost and checked it, still no leaks. i know that its not very reliable to do it this way, but it has to get me by for right now. and it turns out the old tstat was jammed and was blocking the passage. the new tstat fixed my over heating problem. my oil is normal colored, my coolant doesnt boil anymore, and the car shows no signs of a bhg. im fortunate.

also, about wheel bearings, my front drivers bearing is bad and grinds, i have a new bearing and attempted to change it, and noticed the big hub nut is on the back? I couldnt get the bearing to come out. how do i get the bearing out?

Here's a link to the proper section of the TSRM...

http://www.cygnusx1.net/Supra/Librar....aspx?S=FA&P=9

And as soon as you can you really need to have that broken Tstat bolt drilled out or otherwise removed and replaced. Atlanta traffic and all it implies is no place for a Supra with a compromised cooling system, and with that bolt being broken off you're practically begging for trouble if you drive it in that condition.

just an update, my supra runs fine now, just i ran into a pretty big problem. when i had previously taken off the wheel and hub to take a look at the bad bearing, i didnt tighten the hub nut to what it should have been. when i had learned to pack bearings at school, they didnt teach us about pressed bearings. normal bearings require 18 foot pounds of torque on the hub nut, well, thinking this wasnt any different, i torked it to 18 and was driving on it. after the bearing broke into 100 pieces and i snapped my caliper mounting bracket in half, i read in the manual that the hub nut needed 147 ft lbs of torque. i just got the new bearing pressed today, and the steering knuckle all squared away, and im getting a caliper mount tomorrow. she'll be back on the road soon.

Good deal. Get that Tstat bolt drilled out and replaced?