A few issues to sort out!

As some of you already know, I have had non stop problems since buying this dam car, but the time has come to start to fix it now that christmas has gone! Not that I have any money to be honest. I took it to one person, and they said I was looking at a full engine rebuild and it would be around £3-£4k. As you can imagine, i almost cried, as I only had the car for just over 4 weeks and im told I have bought a heap of poo! The bloke said, that he had a shot gun if I wanted to borrow it to go shoot the guy I bought it off as there is no way that this has happened in a space of 4 weeks of ownership, or failing that, burn it and claim on insurance LOL. He asked what i paid, which was £7800 and he almost fell over laughing and said I had been had big time! Gutted to here all the above is a huge under statement!

However, since then, i have took it too a couple of other places for 2nd opinions and it doesnt look to be as bad as what was 1st said. Still bad enough though, but may not be a case of an engine rebuild! Ill know more at weekend.

Anyway, My car is going into Hyper Sports in Wigan on Sat for a look over to try and come up with some solutions to the problems (see LIST below ) But I was wondering if anyone else had any thoughts on the stuff below just to give me a heads up so I know what to expect.

The issues

1) I am loosing engine oil from the blow off valve, somewhere at the back of the engine, and there is oil down by the turbos as well.

2) Sometimes in the morning the car seems to struggle to start 1st time. When it doesn’t start, it always starts instantly 2nd time. However, if the car is cold, if I go to drive it down the road, and come to a junction and hold the car using the foot brake (say for 15 seconds) and then take my foot off and apply the gas, the car sometimes stalls?.

3) My car seems to be using quite a lot of petrol. Not sure if its running to rich. I only seem to get around 230miles driving it normally. I have heard from other people with the same car that it should be a fair bit more than that. (by the way, just replaced o2 sensor as well)

4) My car does not seem to be boosting correctly. I am lead to believe I have Hybrid turbos fitted as well. Also the car is BPU. However, when I first purchased the car a few months back the car boosted great, and when the 2nd turbo kicked in it pinned you back in your seat. Lately, the car seems to be lacking a lot of power. Its highly noticeable and defiantly not a case of me just getting used to the power. Also when accelerating from stand still with your foot to the floor, when the car tries to change up gears it struggles and looses power and makes a very strange noise. Back to the boost thing, sometimes it will still reach above 1 bar, and sometimes it will not boost past .7 bar. I’m not sure if one of my turbos has gone, or a split hose or something?

5) Another issue which has started around the same time as the above point is that when I am accelerating quickly, when I hit about 90mph the car suddenly lost power and the big warning light along with the Engine light came on. This has only happened twice since I have owned the car (Start of Oct this yr) once about a month ago, and once a couple of weeks prior to that.

I did not think it was fuel cut as I have had fuel cut before in this car, but it was at a much higher speed. And also the engine light did not come on; it was just the big warning light. Also the fuel cut only lasted a matter of seconds whilst the boost levels dropped and then full power was restored. These other two times recently, when I lost power, especially the 1st time, from what I can remember, the car felt like it was going to stall on me and I had to pump the accelerator to get the power back. After that the power came back.

I have not had this warning light or issue lately, although all the other points are on a regular occurrence.

Cheers for reading!

Dave

OK Don't panic yet, and avoid the fool who upset you saying you'd bought a lemon - anyone in the trade should know how unconstructive that sort of thing is to say. And it doesn't sound too bad at the moment, the git was probably trying either sell you a four grand engine rebuild (which is too much) or buy it off you for peanuts. That done with, lets attack the list:

 

The issues

 

1) I am loosing engine oil from the blow off valve, somewhere at the back of the engine, and there is oil down by the turbos as well.

 

The turbo and engine area is probably cuased by an old worn out seal around the cam covers. Don't cost much, can be fitted easily enough if you can wield a spanner, a quick fix. The BOV always carries some PCV blowby oil in it, as they get older the pipes can get baggy and oil leaks out from them as air leaks out. Replace the pipes, jubilee clip them on if necessary, see if you still have a problem. It shouldn't be excessive, dripping quantities of oil though.

2) Sometimes in the morning the car seems to struggle to start 1st time. When it doesn’t start, it always starts instantly 2nd time. However, if the car is cold, if I go to drive it down the road, and come to a junction and hold the car using the foot brake (say for 15 seconds) and then take my foot off and apply the gas, the car sometimes stalls?.

Probably overfuelling a bit.

3) My car seems to be using quite a lot of petrol. Not sure if its running to rich. I only seem to get around 230miles driving it normally. I have heard from other people with the same car that it should be a fair bit more than that. (by the way, just replaced o2 sensor as well)

*you* just replaced the sensor or someone else did? The high fuel consumption and the stalling seems to indicate an overall rich running car. You need to check your diagnostic codes ( error codes

4) My car does not seem to be boosting correctly. I am lead to believe I have Hybrid turbos fitted as well. Also the car is BPU. However, when I first purchased the car a few months back the car boosted great, and when the 2nd turbo kicked in it pinned you back in your seat. Lately, the car seems to be lacking a lot of power. Its highly noticeable and defiantly not a case of me just getting used to the power. Also when accelerating from stand still with your foot to the floor, when the car tries to change up gears it struggles and looses power and makes a very strange noise. Back to the boost thing, sometimes it will still reach above 1 bar, and sometimes it will not boost past .7 bar. I’m not sure if one of my turbos has gone, or a split hose or something?

The lack of power may be your second turbo not coming online. If boost drops to about 0.4bar past 4000rpm and the car struggles, do not keep your foot in as this is overspeeding your turbo and will shorten its life, and also causes detonation due to the overheated air. Do a search on here for "late second turbo" and so forth, and also check the FAQ section for the Sequential System pipework and how it works and what happens when it goes wrong.

Your error code check might raise a code 42 which is the speed sensor - that may explain the gearchange issues. The lack of boost could also indeed be attributed to a boost leak, especially with a strange noise - have you got a boost gauge and if so can you make a note of what boost levels you see throughout at what revs? Is the noise a whining howling one or what? Can you record it somehow?

5) Another issue which has started around the same time as the above point is that when I am accelerating quickly, when I hit about 90mph the car suddenly lost power and the big warning light along with the Engine light came on. This has only happened twice since I have owned the car (Start of Oct this yr) once about a month ago, and once a couple of weeks prior to that.

I did not think it was fuel cut as I have had fuel cut before in this car, but it was at a much higher speed. And also the engine light did not come on; it was just the big warning light. Also the fuel cut only lasted a matter of seconds whilst the boost levels dropped and then full power was restored. These other two times recently, when I lost power, especially the 1st time, from what I can remember, the car felt like it was going to stall on me and I had to pump the accelerator to get the power back. After that the power came back.

I have not had this warning light or issue lately, although all the other points are on a regular occurrence.

Again, check your error codes. That does sound like fuel cut to me. A boost gauge with a peak hold function could tell you what boost you hit - anything over 1bar with no FCD and it's fuel cut city. Without more diagnosis or behavioural info I can't say what else it could be at the moment.

Cheers for reading!

 

Dave

It's now hometime for me so don't expect a rapid followup

-Ian

OK Don't panic yet, and avoid the fool who upset you saying you'd bought a lemon - anyone in the trade should know how unconstructive that sort of thing is to say. And it doesn't sound too bad at the moment, the git was probably trying either sell you a four grand engine rebuild (which is too much) or buy it off you for peanuts. That done with, lets attack the list:

*you* just replaced the sensor or someone else did? The high fuel consumption and the stalling seems to indicate an overall rich running car. You need to check your diagnostic codes ( error codes

Dave replaced the sensor himself (with a brand new one from Nic) this weekend, so I would hope that the sensor is returning a sensible signal. I don't know whether he's done an ECU reset since, but I guess he'd be better reading any fault codes before resetting, and seeing if any remain.

Again, check your error codes. That does sound like fuel cut to me. A boost gauge with a peak hold function could tell you what boost you hit - anything over 1bar with no FCD and it's fuel cut city. Without more diagnosis or behavioural info I can't say what else it could be at the moment.

I believe he's got a FCD fitted though, I seem to remember when he showed me the spec it had a TRL VFCC. It might be worth mentioning at this point that he does have Hybrids, and as far as I know it has no fuelling control beyond a Walbro pump and an Aeromotive FPR - Dave can you confirm this. The hybrids are just over a year old from Turbo Dynamics.

It's now hometime for me so don't expect a rapid followup

Thanks for your input Ian - I know Dave appreciates it.

Mike

Hi Guys, thanks very much for your input from the pair of you! Ian, i sent you a PM after I read your post, you may of gone home by then though. To to confirm some points above, I do have a Thor FCD which is set apparently set to 1.25 bar, and I do have a Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator.

I have not checked any codes as of yet, but I will try and have a look at that over the weekend, as im not going to get time before hand.

Another issue which i forgot to mention in the above list is that my engine/engine oil seems to get very hot very quickly. If the car has been runing, and you undo the oil cap, or pull out the dipstick, there is quite a bit of smoke coming out! Any ideas on that one?

I think I am the fool in question This fool still says it's knackered, and it needs an engine build or a good secondhand engine. You know me, I tell it as it is

hahaha

Hi Chris, I wasn’t going to mention your name as I didn’t want to come across as I was doubting you or bad mouthing you.

I still not got 3-4k for a rebuild though haha, not even close.

Like I said in the above few posts, the car is still going, and according to Hyper sports and another garage, they said I was defiantly not running on 5 cylinders, and after driving it as well they said they were 100% on that matter. I mean the car is still able to get up to high speeds and still going as it was when I took it to you in October, nothing has changed. Obviously im not saying your wrong at all, (I hope your very wrong though for my sake!) but going off what I have said how in the sentence above, and what the other garages have said in brief, do you think it could be anything "less minor" than what you original thought, and just say that it is running on all cylinders? Really would still like your input, I just want a way around spending 3-4k so obviously im looking at every option available to me.

Cheers again guys. Anyone want to add ANY ADVISE, COMMENTS, THEIR SIMILAR EXPIERENCE PLEASE FEEL FREE!

Ian is spot on with the troubleshooting, so no further comment needed there

http://www.travelsofdistinction.com/images/don_t_panic_button.jpg

just yet, it might still be something simple

I think I am the fool in question This fool still says it's knackered, and it needs an engine build or a good secondhand engine. You know me, I tell it as it is

I'm sorry I'm sorry

You have to understand I had the context of what Dave said, I was expecting the usual "shonky garage trying it on" which is normally a pretty accurate place to start from, and the woes listed all had reasonable potential explanations...

Finding out that the oil smokes out the dipstick tube and filler cap once it's warm is a lot more worrying than any of the symptoms posted originally though I also found out that the work done on installing turbos and going BPU was by Slow Brain/Paul Kent/MaxGT which is also very concerning

-Ian

Still say it has piston / bore / ring issues and has terminal blow by. it was certainly not on all six pots when you brought it here. it may have oiled a plug and it's now cleared. Bear in mind I only opened the bonnet and had a look and listen. I stand on saying it needs a rebuild though

Hi all

Just thought I would jump in and add some info, since this was formerly my car!!

As some of you already know, I have had non stop problems since buying this dam car, but the time has come to start to fix it now that christmas has gone! Not that I have any money to be honest. I took it to one person, and they said I was looking at a full engine rebuild and it would be around £3-£4k. As you can imagine, i almost cried, as I only had the car for just over 4 weeks and im told I have bought a heap of poo! The bloke said, that he had a shot gun if I wanted to borrow it to go shoot the guy I bought it off as there is no way that this has happened in a space of 4 weeks of ownership, or failing that, burn it and claim on insurance LOL.

I'd rather you didn't kill me. It was running fine when I sold, as testified by the test drive. There were no oil leaks apparent either, as we had a good look under the hood after driving down the dual carriageway at 120 leptons on full boost.

My new Supra has also given me nowt but trouble (as everyone in this thread already knows!), but it was running fine for the previous owner so I just chalk it up to really bad luck.

He asked what i paid, which was £7800 and he almost fell over laughing and said I had been had big time! Gutted to here all the above is a huge under statement!

Well, it was about the right price for a 'decent' BPU at the time. Prices do seem to have dropped a lot in the last few months. (I'm sure you did enough hunting on the likes of Piston Heads, Autotrader and this forum to know that is true.)

However, since then, i have took it too a couple of other places for 2nd opinions and it doesnt look to be as bad as what was 1st said. Still bad enough though, but may not be a case of an engine rebuild! Ill know more at weekend.

Glad to hear it.

2) Sometimes in the morning the car seems to struggle to start 1st time. When it doesn’t start, it always starts instantly 2nd time. However, if the car is cold, if I go to drive it down the road, and come to a junction and hold the car using the foot brake (say for 15 seconds) and then take my foot off and apply the gas, the car sometimes stalls?.

 

3) My car seems to be using quite a lot of petrol. Not sure if its running to rich. I only seem to get around 230miles driving it normally. I have heard from other people with the same car that it should be a fair bit more than that. (by the way, just replaced o2 sensor as well)

The car used to have an Aeromotive FPR with a gauge. If it still does and you think it's overfueling, you could take a look at the fuel pressure and lower it a bit if it looks high. Also might be worth fitting a wideband sensor.

4) My car does not seem to be boosting correctly. I am lead to believe I have Hybrid turbos fitted as well.

It *does* have hybrid turbos fitted. You even have the yellow slips to prove it. They are only about a year old.

Also the car is BPU. However, when I first purchased the car a few months back the car boosted great, and when the 2nd turbo kicked in it pinned you back in your seat. Lately, the car seems to be lacking a lot of power. Its highly noticeable and defiantly not a case of me just getting used to the power. Also when accelerating from stand still with your foot to the floor, when the car tries to change up gears it struggles and looses power and makes a very strange noise. Back to the boost thing, sometimes it will still reach above 1 bar, and sometimes it will not boost past .7 bar. I’m not sure if one of my turbos has gone, or a split hose or something?

I am gutted for you that these things are happening. My conscience is, however, slightly relieved that these problems have developed since you bought the car. If it sometimes boosts past 1 bar (with the baffle out it used to hit about 1.2), but then sometimes only 0.7, it sounds more like a valve or actuator issue.

A major point of concern that I certainly can't argue over is who fitted the turbos. Yes, it was done by the infamous three-legged-racehound. You live and you learn... But, in Paul's defence, I never had any troubles with the turbos after they were replaced. (I remember posting on here when he did the BPU work, including the hybrids. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face for weeks!) Suffice it to say, most people weren't so lucky...

I hope it turns out to be something less serious than a rebuild. During the limited time we spent together, I immediately came to the conclusion that you were a really decent guy. It seems that good guys get more than their fair share of strife. IMHO, I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that this is just the kind of thing we (Supra owners) have to get used to, when running cars modded beyond spec.

Good luck. Hope it's sorted soon.

Well, Chris, YOU WERE RIGHT!

After taking it into Hyper Sports they had the car for a couple of hours to figure out the list of problems I gave them, and also to sort out a few minor issues at the same time (tighten up the gear shifter, change the rear discs, as I couldn't get them off for the life of me!)

When I went to collect the car and find out the issues, Chris (from Hyper) said that hes afraid that it was bad news!

After doing compression tests he found that all were firing, however, cylinder 3 was very low compared to all the others. He said that it was 52psi and apparently they should be all around 200psi. After going through all the problems he said that I probably had a cracked piston or something, and that I had serious problems with the breathing system.

Anyway, after a bit of a chat etc he had pre done a quote for all the work that would be required, and it came to £2500 in total. Which included 30hrs labour at £45/hr, set of piston heads, remove engine, check turbos are ok and a few other bits. (Not got the info to hand so sorry for not including all the info, ill update when I have it too hand)

So Chris (Wilson) sorry for not taking your word, but as im skint I obviously had to get a second opinion , and keep my fingers crossed TIGHT .

They also recommended maybe getting a good second hand engine, however, like Chris Wilson had said to me, its a gamble!

So im back to square 1! Not good at all, as I have no cash AT ALL to fix a problem of this size, and what with just getting a house and living alone I cant see me having much cash to sort it any time soon! Gutted!

I should never of sold my lovely 45MPG 2002 Golf GT TDI 130pd edition! To get a 1994 Mr2 turbo, WHICH HAD FUELLING PROBLEMS AS WELL!, and then to sell that and get a loan out to pay for this car, which is now broke, needs an engine rebuild, which has left me with no cash spare to fix, as every last penny pretty much went into buying this car. Gutted

Sorry my diagnosis was right, I knew it wasn't what you wanted to hear at the time, and I feared I was about to witness the first suicide in Lower Heath for years. It was a classic text book example of piston / bore trouble I'm afraid.

I may have a good used TT engine coming in soon, but whether that helps I don't know, as just fitting it will cost a fair bit. If you wanted to sell it as it is I might be interested, but my offer may take you over the brink

Chris, please could you PM me a cost for your engine and fitting etc if you could please, and any more details on it. What mileage has that done?

Yep, im sure your offer would make me top myself

Cheers again Chris

I'd have to use the turbos and control gear off your engine and fit them to this one, along with all your ancillaries. Being a used engine it would have no warranty whatsoever. I guess somewhere in the region of 2k would see it in and running. I'd cut my losses and get rid of it as it is, but it's your call. What if the engine has ancillary problems, like smokey turbos?

That would compare to a full and proper engine rebuild of your engine at about 5K.

Hi all - been reading this thread with interest as I occassionally have a stalling problem with my 1995 N/A Auto. She stalls when engine is cold or warm and its always when i come to a stop at junctions etc. She doesn't judder or anything - the engine just stops - always starts again first time no problems and then all is ok. I can go for a couple of weeks without her doing it, but then it'll happen a few times in one week. She has had a full service and spark plugs changed etc and the garage was told about problem but couldn't find anything wrong apart from a bit of water in the wells of the spark plugs (which they dried out). She has no other problems.

Any ideas? Is it the piston issue you mentioned or an overfueling problem, or something else?

Very very unlikely to be a piston problem. More likely a sensor problem, or air / vac leak somewhere.

Very very unlikely to be a piston problem. More likely a sensor problem, or air / vac leak somewhere.

Please excuse my lack of technical/mechanical knowledge - would it be a sensor for the fuel/air mix? When i bought the car the guy before me had fitted a different air filter - - would that be affecting anything if it wasn't done right or is not suitable for car? I do have the original to put back on if that would be best?

I have cured a few cold start / warm up issues on N/A's by replacing the stock air box and paper panel filter. Even if you have no issues I personally strongly recommend the stock air box and filter just for engine performance and longevity. I am not that far from you if you have issues. Good luck.

Cheers Chris - will try and get the stock one back on this weekend