engine noise car dies after starting
 

I have 88 supra turbo. I recently made a post about car not starting with possible starter issues. The starter still may be a problem but today I was able to get it to crank. It seemed like a rather fast cranking and it wasnt starting so i took off the front engine cover and peeked in to see if the timing belt was broken but it looked fine. Then i inspected the spark plugs which looked pretty oily around the center electrode and appeared to have a significant amount of oil in the spark plug holes(is that normal, it was enough to see my reflection). so i wiped a couple off and reassembled and when to start the car again. There was signs of life but still no starting. I kept at it for awhile and tried starting with the accelerator pressed in which within a couple seconds brought the car to a pretty shaky start. I kept the accelerator pressed in at around 1000-2000 rpms and i could here some pretty disturbing noises from the engine like rapid dull thuds and tapping and as soon as I released the gas petal it died. I tried it a few times to the same effect. Any ideas?

oil in the spark plugs = bad. check your gaskets for leaks. mine were leaking into my plugs, and i had to get them fixed

I get new plugs which seemed to actually help a little in getting it started but it still wont stay running..i had someone else start it for me and theres a distinct tapping towards the back of the engine, its inline six and could be coming from the 6th cylinder, but i am not for sure.. when you say gaskets which ones do you mean and what kind of job is it to replace them?

i dont exactly know which gaskets to check. i am still learning all of this stuff, and i learn everything from everyone on here basically. can someone help me identify which gasket it is? something to do with grommets....im no help haha..

I've got oil in my spark plugs and was told it was coming from a faulty valve gasket.

yea i went for a tune up one day and the guy was replacing my plugs and noticed it was leaking. so they had to order in a new gasket or something. i should probably pay more attention haha.

yeah I hadn't driven the car in a while cause it had no brakes and i didnt have any money for the parts.. i probably do need new valve gaskets but im weary of doing any more work until i figure out what the noise is.. rod knock = bye bye supra and it will never reach its tuned out destiny.

Valve cover gaskets get hard and leak. That is what is happening to your car. Repace and blow out the oil or get it sucked out somehow. If you pull the plugs and let the oil into the cylinders, there is no telling what else is going into that hole hidden in the oil. The noise, if it is deep then it is a rod bearing. If it is light tapping then the valve clearances need adjusting.


It seems that we routinely see close to 200,000 miles on these engines when the problems start. All the engine oil seals get hard and leak oil, front, rear, top and bottom. If those leaks can be stopped before running out of oil then the engine will last pretty long. But as soon as the engine runs dry one time, there goes a rod and probably main bearings.

Don't toss it though, there are plently of people here that might want or know someone who might want the car. And if repaired, it is a great car to drive. The price of an engine or rebuild is much cheaper than a new car.

My 2 cents worth.

Russ