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This is my first car so naturally there is some hardcore attachment, but especially so because my dad bought it for me as he loved Celicas back in their heyday. I had to retire it due to problems piling up, and boy is it good I did. It was only a few months ago I got my dad’s 96 Rav4 signed over to me and I was able to enjoy not having to half-fix it every few days. Somehow, it was running better than it should have been.I just got around to giving it a real go over the other day and was amazed the thing was even starting. I initially stopped driving it mainly because the front right strut and rack had both blown, and I’d already crashed the car once because of the rack ( a problem to be fixed after everything else is solid and I have the money, though I already have the fender and door I need, just not the ability to fix the post).
I was really just keeping it clean since it was sitting and I went in to clean the throttle and saw the rubber hose had completely detached but for a tiny shred of rubber at multiple point son the flex party. After that I figured I needed to go in closer, so I pulled everything I could off the throttle, took the battery out to inspect a few wires, and then decided to look at how bad my plugs were out of sheer curiosity. Oil literally exploded out of the spark well it was so pressurized. The first, second, and 4th spark plug were flooded in increasing seriousness, but the 3rd was miraculously dry. (Apparently the rubber grip in a spark plug socket grips the spark plug better than the socket itself. So much oil accumulated so quickly that by the third plug the rubber detached and I didn’t noticed it until I had undone the 4th and it wouldn’t pull out. My bet would have been on it not pulling out because it was just too oily, not that the rubber came undone!) I’m still far from an expert but my assumption is the seal failure went unnoticed, or rather the excess was burned off, until it sat, wherein the oil had time to leak out. That put a dent into any “minor” repair ideas I had. I’m rebuilding or replacing that whole engine, but we’ll see which when I get to that point.
So right now I’m in the process of marking everything and disassembling it piece by piece. I do at least have a solid alternator and AC unit for sure, so I pretty much know the limits of what is wrong at this point. My problems are pretty much in the rack, suspension, and engine, with the first two being relative easy fixes thanks to the engine removal.
Debating whether or not to bother with replacing my drum brakes or retrofitting discs onto them. I haven’t read too much on that so I’ll probably base my decision on the opinions of those more experienced.
When the day comes all of this is done, I’ll be saving my dollars for a trip to a good body shop for an exterior makeover. No idea when that may will be what with my job situation at the moment, but for every step I take I’d like to document it seeing as its my first work on a car to this extent. I’ll post some HD photos of the initial tear down and all future repair steps for the sake of history and maybe even helping someoone in the future with any quirks I come across.
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Well, I did my best to seal the intake tube up and adjusted some REALLY bad gaps in the spark plugs. It seems to run a lot more efficiently but it is still a bit unpredictable on the low end. That part was definitely not a factor when I parked the car originally, so I’m going back over everything I reassembled to make sure it’s all clean and properly torqued, starting with checking the spark plug wires.
After that I need to figure out my erratic temperature gauge. There shouldn’t be any air as I spent a good deal of time letting it air out of the cap so hopefully it’s related to a bad reassembly. The thermostat is pretty new so I’d be surprised if it was bad as opposed to me just not torquing the hose down well.
Once this is evened out the fun stuff starts. I’m looking at good money coming in again so I see a visit to my body guy in the near future. I still need a whole new trunk assembly as the one I have is a temp from pull apart I didn’t mind attaching to the murderously messed up hinges. I may let them deal with that as well simply because I suspect the problem may be related to a previous owners botched body repair after having worked on said hinges multiple times and yet they still slowly tear the skin off the trunk.
After that, fun fun fun. More on that soon and I’ll post some full shots once I finally clean the interior up just for a frame of reference once I’ve done all I intend.
[quote=”BobbyMcPrescott” post=62949]Well, I did my best to seal the intake tube up and adjusted some REALLY bad gaps in the spark plugs. It seems to run a lot more efficiently but it is still a bit unpredictable on the low end. That part was definitely not a factor when I parked the car originally, so I’m going back over everything I reassembled to make sure it’s all clean and properly torqued, starting with checking the spark plug wires.
After that I need to figure out my erratic temperature gauge. There shouldn’t be any air as I spent a good deal of time letting it air out of the cap so hopefully it’s related to a bad reassembly. The thermostat is pretty new so I’d be surprised if it was bad as opposed to me just not torquing the hose down well.
Once this is evened out the fun stuff starts. I’m looking at good money coming in again so I see a visit to my body guy in the near future. I still need a whole new trunk assembly as the one I have is a temp from pull apart I didn’t mind attaching to the murderously messed up hinges. I may let them deal with that as well simply because I suspect the problem may be related to a previous owners botched body repair after having worked on said hinges multiple times and yet they still slowly tear the skin off the trunk.
After that, fun fun fun. More on that soon and I’ll post some full shots once I finally clean the interior up just for a frame of reference once I’ve done all I intend.[/quote]
The low end might be, plugs (ofc) TPS(Throttle position sensor) (MAF – Mass airflow Sensor), Throttle body-Wire assembly, vacuum hoses/connectors.
Buy MAF cleaner, clean out MAF, remove TPS and clean throughout.
USe the remainder to clean out vacuum hoses, throttle body plate, anything that is supposed to move, stuck throttle wire is also common after some age 🙂 but it’s usally about cleaning it abit and minor adjustments.
I also spray the intakes a bit, through every small hole to open them, many of the actuators and such, runs soo smooth afterwards.No advanced science really, it’s a tuneup i’ve done quite often, my little brothers saab was so bad that we gained 30 hp.. you rarely see gains in performance in measurement, but that one was so bad it was degrading performance.
A healthy engine feels faster due to response, and it’s my favorite thing as it costs nothing and adds soo much![quote=”BobbyMcPrescott” post=62949]Well, I did my best to seal the intake tube up and adjusted some REALLY bad gaps in the spark plugs. It seems to run a lot more efficiently but it is still a bit unpredictable on the low end. That part was definitely not a factor when I parked the car originally, so I’m going back over everything I reassembled to make sure it’s all clean and properly torqued, starting with checking the spark plug wires.
After that I need to figure out my erratic temperature gauge. There shouldn’t be any air as I spent a good deal of time letting it air out of the cap so hopefully it’s related to a bad reassembly. The thermostat is pretty new so I’d be surprised if it was bad as opposed to me just not torquing the hose down well.
Once this is evened out the fun stuff starts. I’m looking at good money coming in again so I see a visit to my body guy in the near future. I still need a whole new trunk assembly as the one I have is a temp from pull apart I didn’t mind attaching to the murderously messed up hinges. I may let them deal with that as well simply because I suspect the problem may be related to a previous owners botched body repair after having worked on said hinges multiple times and yet they still slowly tear the skin off the trunk.
After that, fun fun fun. More on that soon and I’ll post some full shots once I finally clean the interior up just for a frame of reference once I’ve done all I intend.[/quote]
The low end might be, plugs (ofc) TPS(Throttle position sensor) (MAF – Mass airflow Sensor), Throttle body-Wire assembly, vacuum hoses/connectors.
Buy MAF cleaner, clean out MAF, remove TPS and clean throughout.
USe the remainder to clean out vacuum hoses, throttle body plate, anything that is supposed to move, stuck throttle wire is also common after some age 🙂 but it’s usally about cleaning it abit and minor adjustments.
I also spray the intakes a bit, through every small hole to open them, many of the actuators and such, runs soo smooth afterwards.No advanced science really, it’s a tuneup i’ve done quite often, my little brothers saab was so bad that we gained 30 hp.. you rarely see gains in performance in measurement, but that one was so bad it was degrading performance.
A healthy engine feels faster due to response, and it’s my favorite thing as it costs nothing and adds soo much!Thanks for the advice. I actually ended up doing pretty much everything you mentioned right after my last post only to find out the core of the problem was, as has become predictable now, a result of me pulling something apart and letting it sit long enough that I forget I fudged with it. Being OBD1, this car isn’t too helpful with codes until I can buy my own scantool for it. In this case, I had removed the entire distributor assembly and forgot that I had never timed it. In all fairness it was an easy mistake to make considering I just shoved it back in haphazardly and yet somehow got close enough that it ran damn well for an un-timed engine. Ran like shit compared to what it did, but not enough to set off any alarm bells, especially when we were operating under the assumption the distributor hadn’t been touched in the 3 years since a shop replaced the entire ignition system.
So anywho, that immediately made it run like a champion comparatively. Have been driving it about 2 weeks now and then a few days ago I had some heavy misfiring start around 4k RPM, and it slipped down to as low as 1.8k while I was testing it. I wasn’t entirely sure where to start other than doublechecking the spark wires until while testing the misfire a cloud of white smoke and the distinct smell of burning gas filled the air. I dug up my dad’s multimeter and, surprise, the 22 year old fuel injectors are all reading from 15-15.4 OHM and they should read exactly 13.8.
Works out great as I intended to replace those next regardless, and now I don’t have an excuse not too :). All the little stuff is making a huge difference. The exhaust was practically falling off when I first ran it again, and now I’ve fixed every major problem it had. Once I get these injectors in it goes back to boring stuff like new sway bar links and boots for the struts if I decide to bother salvaging the existing components. I was relatively convinced the housing for the struts was stripped and nearing uselessness, but I’m leaning more toward Goodyear being incompetent as it has yet to come back out despite the abuse caused by a low car on bad roads and no remaining boots. We didn’t even use any thread locker, so I’m a little perplexed as far as that goes. Replacing the whole assembly would be a LOT easier though, and leave no room for old stuff to fail and require me to fudge around with springs of death twice as opposed to not at all.
Thanks for the advice. I actually ended up doing pretty much everything you mentioned right after my last post only to find out the core of the problem was, as has become predictable now, a result of me pulling something apart and letting it sit long enough that I forget I fudged with it. Being OBD1, this car isn’t too helpful with codes until I can buy my own scantool for it. In this case, I had removed the entire distributor assembly and forgot that I had never timed it. In all fairness it was an easy mistake to make considering I just shoved it back in haphazardly and yet somehow got close enough that it ran damn well for an un-timed engine. Ran like shit compared to what it did, but not enough to set off any alarm bells, especially when we were operating under the assumption the distributor hadn’t been touched in the 3 years since a shop replaced the entire ignition system.
So anywho, that immediately made it run like a champion comparatively. Have been driving it about 2 weeks now and then a few days ago I had some heavy misfiring start around 4k RPM, and it slipped down to as low as 1.8k while I was testing it. I wasn’t entirely sure where to start other than doublechecking the spark wires until while testing the misfire a cloud of white smoke and the distinct smell of burning gas filled the air. I dug up my dad’s multimeter and, surprise, the 22 year old fuel injectors are all reading from 15-15.4 OHM and they should read exactly 13.8.
Works out great as I intended to replace those next regardless, and now I don’t have an excuse not too :). All the little stuff is making a huge difference. The exhaust was practically falling off when I first ran it again, and now I’ve fixed every major problem it had. Once I get these injectors in it goes back to boring stuff like new sway bar links and boots for the struts if I decide to bother salvaging the existing components. I was relatively convinced the housing for the struts was stripped and nearing uselessness, but I’m leaning more toward Goodyear being incompetent as it has yet to come back out despite the abuse caused by a low car on bad roads and no remaining boots. We didn’t even use any thread locker, so I’m a little perplexed as far as that goes. Replacing the whole assembly would be a LOT easier though, and leave no room for old stuff to fail and require me to fudge around with springs of death twice as opposed to not at all.
[quote=”BobbyMcPrescott” post=65998]Thanks for the advice. I actually ended up doing pretty much everything you mentioned right after my last post only to find out the core of the problem was, as has become predictable now, a result of me pulling something apart and letting it sit long enough that I forget I fudged with it. Being OBD1, this car isn’t too helpful with codes until I can buy my own scantool for it. In this case, I had removed the entire distributor assembly and forgot that I had never timed it. In all fairness it was an easy mistake to make considering I just shoved it back in haphazardly and yet somehow got close enough that it ran damn well for an un-timed engine. Ran like shit compared to what it did, but not enough to set off any alarm bells, especially when we were operating under the assumption the distributor hadn’t been touched in the 3 years since a shop replaced the entire ignition system.
So anywho, that immediately made it run like a champion comparatively. Have been driving it about 2 weeks now and then a few days ago I had some heavy misfiring start around 4k RPM, and it slipped down to as low as 1.8k while I was testing it. I wasn’t entirely sure where to start other than doublechecking the spark wires until while testing the misfire a cloud of white smoke and the distinct smell of burning gas filled the air. I dug up my dad’s multimeter and, surprise, the 22 year old fuel injectors are all reading from 15-15.4 OHM and they should read exactly 13.8.
Works out great as I intended to replace those next regardless, and now I don’t have an excuse not too :). All the little stuff is making a huge difference. The exhaust was practically falling off when I first ran it again, and now I’ve fixed every major problem it had. Once I get these injectors in it goes back to boring stuff like new sway bar links and boots for the struts if I decide to bother salvaging the existing components. I was relatively convinced the housing for the struts was stripped and nearing uselessness, but I’m leaning more toward Goodyear being incompetent as it has yet to come back out despite the abuse caused by a low car on bad roads and no remaining boots. We didn’t even use any thread locker, so I’m a little perplexed as far as that goes. Replacing the whole assembly would be a LOT easier though, and leave no room for old stuff to fail and require me to fudge around with springs of death twice as opposed to not at all.[/quote]
hehe, definitely
My primera was really sluggish (it’s infinity g20 in US.) and I did alot of cleaning, replacing cheap parts and it welt like a proper car again, struts, multilink-bar (upper link) tie end rods and cheap engine cleaning, oils, plugs n filters.
made the car run like a champ.Keep it up!
[quote=”BobbyMcPrescott” post=65998]Thanks for the advice. I actually ended up doing pretty much everything you mentioned right after my last post only to find out the core of the problem was, as has become predictable now, a result of me pulling something apart and letting it sit long enough that I forget I fudged with it. Being OBD1, this car isn’t too helpful with codes until I can buy my own scantool for it. In this case, I had removed the entire distributor assembly and forgot that I had never timed it. In all fairness it was an easy mistake to make considering I just shoved it back in haphazardly and yet somehow got close enough that it ran damn well for an un-timed engine. Ran like shit compared to what it did, but not enough to set off any alarm bells, especially when we were operating under the assumption the distributor hadn’t been touched in the 3 years since a shop replaced the entire ignition system.
So anywho, that immediately made it run like a champion comparatively. Have been driving it about 2 weeks now and then a few days ago I had some heavy misfiring start around 4k RPM, and it slipped down to as low as 1.8k while I was testing it. I wasn’t entirely sure where to start other than doublechecking the spark wires until while testing the misfire a cloud of white smoke and the distinct smell of burning gas filled the air. I dug up my dad’s multimeter and, surprise, the 22 year old fuel injectors are all reading from 15-15.4 OHM and they should read exactly 13.8.
Works out great as I intended to replace those next regardless, and now I don’t have an excuse not too :). All the little stuff is making a huge difference. The exhaust was practically falling off when I first ran it again, and now I’ve fixed every major problem it had. Once I get these injectors in it goes back to boring stuff like new sway bar links and boots for the struts if I decide to bother salvaging the existing components. I was relatively convinced the housing for the struts was stripped and nearing uselessness, but I’m leaning more toward Goodyear being incompetent as it has yet to come back out despite the abuse caused by a low car on bad roads and no remaining boots. We didn’t even use any thread locker, so I’m a little perplexed as far as that goes. Replacing the whole assembly would be a LOT easier though, and leave no room for old stuff to fail and require me to fudge around with springs of death twice as opposed to not at all.[/quote]
hehe, definitely
My primera was really sluggish (it’s infinity g20 in US.) and I did alot of cleaning, replacing cheap parts and it welt like a proper car again, struts, multilink-bar (upper link) tie end rods and cheap engine cleaning, oils, plugs n filters.
made the car run like a champ.Keep it up!
[quote=”BobbyMcPrescott” post=30831]This is my first car so naturally there is some hardcore attachment, but especially so because my dad bought it for me[/quote]
makes me me think of my 91 grand marquis my dad bought me… best gift i ever got 🙂 have fun[quote=”BobbyMcPrescott” post=30831]This is my first car so naturally there is some hardcore attachment, but especially so because my dad bought it for me[/quote]
makes me me think of my 91 grand marquis my dad bought me… best gift i ever got 🙂 have fun
Needless to say I’ve been working on my car’s driveability lately, and it’s been… Interesting. My left side seems to have failed hard, with the inner tie rod being completely trashed and the axle pictured above looking like it was the victim of some strongman competition to rip an axle in two with one’s bare hands. There wasn’t even a single tear in any of the rubber, so this ancient axle would probably still be working fine if not for whatever caused this premature failure of multiple components.
Next up: Electrical shit. Pretty sure the voltage regulator in the alternator blew as the car will overload if you give it too many RPMs. After that started happening, the thermostat and RPM gauge have since gone haywire. After I get that stupidity dealt with, it’s time to tackle the coil springs and boot.
Needless to say I’ve been working on my car’s driveability lately, and it’s been… Interesting. My left side seems to have failed hard, with the inner tie rod being completely trashed and the axle pictured above looking like it was the victim of some strongman competition to rip an axle in two with one’s bare hands. There wasn’t even a single tear in any of the rubber, so this ancient axle would probably still be working fine if not for whatever caused this premature failure of multiple components.
Next up: Electrical shit. Pretty sure the voltage regulator in the alternator blew as the car will overload if you give it too many RPMs. After that started happening, the thermostat and RPM gauge have since gone haywire. After I get that stupidity dealt with, it’s time to tackle the coil springs and boot.
the other things are all about replacing, buy a FULL bushing kit while your at it 🙂
poly bushings is okey, I do like upgraded rubbers, but if you are budget minded those poly’s are cheaper, and easier to install 🙂[quote=”BobbyMcPrescott” post=69359]
Next up: Electrical shit. Pretty sure the voltage regulator in the alternator blew as the car will overload if you give it too many RPMs. After that started happening, the thermostat and RPM gauge have since gone haywire. After I get that stupidity dealt with, it’s time to tackle the coil springs and boot.[/quote]
Trouble shooting, remove possible source of problems.
Charge up battery as much as you can, or daisy chain a couple to have ALOT of power avaiable.
Disconnect Alternator
start car, check for symptoms.
still there, verify ground wires, have a dremel, 25-30 usd kits are fantastic!, clean ground surfaces.
Enjoy! 🙂Most issues are related to ground, my engine have 4 ground spots, remove one and stuff starts happening.
even my subframe is grounded, and removing it causes interference in my stereo.. ground is important 😉
Might just be that 🙂
if not… grrr on your behalf.the other things are all about replacing, buy a FULL bushing kit while your at it 🙂
poly bushings is okey, I do like upgraded rubbers, but if you are budget minded those poly’s are cheaper, and easier to install 🙂[quote=”BobbyMcPrescott” post=69359]
Next up: Electrical shit. Pretty sure the voltage regulator in the alternator blew as the car will overload if you give it too many RPMs. After that started happening, the thermostat and RPM gauge have since gone haywire. After I get that stupidity dealt with, it’s time to tackle the coil springs and boot.[/quote]
Trouble shooting, remove possible source of problems.
Charge up battery as much as you can, or daisy chain a couple to have ALOT of power avaiable.
Disconnect Alternator
start car, check for symptoms.
still there, verify ground wires, have a dremel, 25-30 usd kits are fantastic!, clean ground surfaces.
Enjoy! 🙂Most issues are related to ground, my engine have 4 ground spots, remove one and stuff starts happening.
even my subframe is grounded, and removing it causes interference in my stereo.. ground is important 😉
Might just be that 🙂
if not… grrr on your behalf.Well, a LOT has been dealt with since my last post but I almost can’t even recall it all at this point. Of major note is I figured out how to properly set my alternator belt which prevented the constant slippage and power loss from that direction in addition the other problems. The belt runs alongside a smaller belt and while the alternator belt has no tensioner, the other belt does and adjusting it alongside tightening the alternator stopped them from rubbing during large turns and it hasn’t slipped since. The voltage regulator was definitely blown and only showed signs of this at RPMs 10x if times higher than the local shops could test it at. The replacement alt works flawlessly.
I just got done finishing up a full strut replacement, and during this I was forced to go ahead and do the right side axle, though in retrospect I’m REALLY glad I did. I mistakenly assumed both OG axles were about the same age as the left had definitely been replaced and had failed as the right one was also starting to show signs of doom. In fact, the left had been replaced and failed in however many years, whereas the right axle was the same axle installed at some plant in 1990. Needless to say it felt fine staying right where it was and I had to coax it into the light. It’s location made pushing it out impossible so I had to crawl under the car and wrap a chain around it from the back side and slide the other end through to the right side such that the chain could not move forward without the axle coming out, ran it through the removed wheel, and tied the other end to the rest of the axle that had fallen the hell off when I moved the hub to get to the strut. Using the old axle as a kick stand and the tire under me as a sort of slide hammer weight, I lifted up with my hands and kicked the fuck out of it until I got the perfect symmetrical kick and it flew out into the back of my head. Getting the new one in was no easier, but far less colorful a story.
Well, a LOT has been dealt with since my last post but I almost can’t even recall it all at this point. Of major note is I figured out how to properly set my alternator belt which prevented the constant slippage and power loss from that direction in addition the other problems. The belt runs alongside a smaller belt and while the alternator belt has no tensioner, the other belt does and adjusting it alongside tightening the alternator stopped them from rubbing during large turns and it hasn’t slipped since. The voltage regulator was definitely blown and only showed signs of this at RPMs 10x if times higher than the local shops could test it at. The replacement alt works flawlessly.
I just got done finishing up a full strut replacement, and during this I was forced to go ahead and do the right side axle, though in retrospect I’m REALLY glad I did. I mistakenly assumed both OG axles were about the same age as the left had definitely been replaced and had failed as the right one was also starting to show signs of doom. In fact, the left had been replaced and failed in however many years, whereas the right axle was the same axle installed at some plant in 1990. Needless to say it felt fine staying right where it was and I had to coax it into the light. It’s location made pushing it out impossible so I had to crawl under the car and wrap a chain around it from the back side and slide the other end through to the right side such that the chain could not move forward without the axle coming out, ran it through the removed wheel, and tied the other end to the rest of the axle that had fallen the hell off when I moved the hub to get to the strut. Using the old axle as a kick stand and the tire under me as a sort of slide hammer weight, I lifted up with my hands and kicked the fuck out of it until I got the perfect symmetrical kick and it flew out into the back of my head. Getting the new one in was no easier, but far less colorful a story.
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