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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Warning triangle light, handbrake light and O/D light madness.


Guest Alex.

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So, I bought my first Supra today! It has a few problems though. First of all the warning triangle light and the e-brake light stays on. The sellers said that it happens every time he washes it but it goes away after a while, and that he has the same problem on his TT. I've now driven the car all the way home (125 miles) and the lights are still on, they occasionally turn off when I turn, but stays on for the most part. I've googled it and some people said it could be low brake fluid or some button on the e-brake which you can press? Or could it be what the seller told me? That water splashes on some wire/connecter/whatever when he washes the car? It's -10 degrees celsius outside so that water would probably be ice by now though.

 

The second problem is the "O/D off" light started flashing after like 50 miles. When the O/D is off, its solid, but when I switch it on it flashes once every second or so. I'm kind of confused as to why this light is flashing? The gearbox shifts nicely and the O/D works well (2900 rpm at 75 mph). Is this something I need to worry about and is there a fix for it?

 

And oh, is the gas pedal supposed to be this hard? I keep losing speed because it forces my foot back.. :rolleyes:

 

The car is a -93 N/A Auto from Japan if that matters.

 

Thanks in advance,

Alexander

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I will check the fluids tomorrow and get back to you! He did not mention any transmission service and there is very little information about the car. It was imported recently and apparently a lot of the documents got lost. All I know is that the timing belt was changed recently, as well as a engine oil+filter. But it runs really well and shifts without any problems at all.

 

I mean that the pedal forces it self back more than I'm used to. In my Miata and S13 (or any other car I have driven) I could simply rest my foot on the pedal and it held it at a constant speed. In the Supra it's so "heavy" it forces my foot back if I just rest it on the pedal. Not a problem or anything, just feels a bit odd.

 

While I'm at it I might as well ask. I came across this statement while I was resarching how to change auto fluid: "if the auto tranny has 100k miles on it, the fluid is burnt to a crisp! It must be TOTALLY flushed, including torque converter by someone that knows how to do it, with the proper equipment. Just draining the pan and replacing the filter WILL kill the tranny in this situation! Just draining the pan only gets out about 2 quarts, the tranny holds 12 quarts! ". How true is this?

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Try checking the fault codes by the "paper clip trick" and am sure you will get the fault/s that way mate. I had this problem when I bought mine the Over drive light used to flash but my gears would bang into gear as well (clunky) I reset the ecu and the faults never came back! Maybe try that.

 

http://mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?35920-How-To-Check-the-diagnostics-codes&highlight=Diagnostic

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The brake fluid level is fine. As for the transmission fluid it was about 1/4 of the stick, however the car was cold. I will go for a drive later today and check the fluid when the car is warmed up. One question, isn't the transmission fluid supposed to be red? Mine was pretty brown/black...

 

I will fiddle with the paper clip and then try to reset the ECU by removing the fuse when it stops snowing!

 

EDIT: I can't seem to find the exhaust gasket for manifold to midpipe anywhere? Does anyone know what size this is?

Edited by Alex. (see edit history)
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Quick update.

When I drove it to school today I turned the O/D on on the driveway and the "O/D Off" light didn't flash at all but the warning triangle and e-brake was solid. When I drove her home I didn't engage the O/D til I was on the highway and it started flashing right away. However the warning triangle and e-brake light was on turning on and off as I drove. I noticed that it usually switched off when I accelerated from a standstill, so when I got home I checked the brake fluid level once again and noticed that it was right on the LOW line. So I assume this probably is what's causing the warning triangle and e-brake light to come on? I will stop by and buy some fluid on the way home tomorrow and see if it helps!

 

But I still can't figure out whats causing the "O/D Off" light to start flashing every now and then? I found printed paper with autobox fault codes in the glovebox and someone had written "electrical fault" on it. I've read somewhere that the O/D button itself can cause this problem, how?! She still shifts nicely with out any bangs or stuttering and the O/D engages without any issues what so ever...

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Yeah, I was (am) pretty stupid. Just had a quick glance at it the first time and though it was full, i was convinced the previous owner knew what he was talking about since he had a few Supras...

 

It's a jspec but no speed converter, we use kph here in Sweden!

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You need to top the brake fluid right up to the top Alex, it'll sort the red triangle out. I've had my na auto for 8 years and drive it every day, my o/d light flashes and always has and it has never been a problem. I assumed it was supposed to do it but when I asked about it the answer was that it was probably related to the speed converter.

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