somebody robbed my MA70 of its power!

[EldarO]

Hey all,

As per BHG related illness, my supra has been off the road for two weeks.

i received it back this morning.

Now, the car is not running as it should be, at a guess, maybe 30% of its power, i took it to my mate, who observed that the timing has been advanced to maximum allowed by the little slide adjustment thingy.

Now, what we think it is, is that the knobs that re did the head and gasket, when they re installed the head, set it the timing one tooth out, and instead of taking everything back off (power steering etc.) to bring it back by that one tooth, they just used the slide adjuster thing to retard it as much as they could, till they could get it running.

i could, and probably do, have advancing/retarding the wrong way around, but you get the idea.

Symptoms the car has:
- running with only 30-40% power
- the turbo doesnt seem to be making boost, although i can hear a slight bit of reversion when i let off, NO WAY near what it was like before
- theres a strange howl, that looks like its taken the place of the turbo whine, the only way i can describe it is, the howl when you blow into the top of a bottle.
- when we lift the bonnet after driving it, we cant really hold it, its that hot.
- it absoloutley MUNCHES through fuel, im talking 5-10 litres in 50-60 k's

The temp guage doesnt move from half way once up to temp, and yes it works, because it is cold, then works its way up to half way when its warmed up.

i havent REALLY been putting my foot down, just enough to see what all of the symptoms are, and ill continue to drive it sedatly until i can get it in for the guys that did it to have a look.

other than those symptoms described, nothing else is evident.

Eldar.O.

[Draven]

take it back to them, tell them problems you've found, and demand they fix it?

[EldarO]

Draven, that is exactly what i will be doing, although im trying to see if anyones had these problems, and whether driving it is going to mess it up even more....

Eldar.O.

[whatthe?]

Mine makes a sound exactly like that when it half blows off an intercooler pipe. Just after it starts to spool you get a hooting noise. Chech the pipe exiting the compressor, its the one I most commonly blow off.

This will also cause it to run awfully rich under boost, as the AFM will be fuelling for more air than is actually ending up in the manifold, hence sucky fuel economy.

[EldarO]

Mine makes a sound exactly like that when it half blows off an intercooler pipe. Just after it starts to spool you get a hooting noise. Chech the pipe exiting the compressor, its the one I most commonly blow off.

This will also cause it to run awfully rich under boost, as the AFM will be fuelling for more air than is actually ending up in the manifold, hence sucky fuel economy.

i swear, you are a god, you've helped me out more with this car than anyone in WA has, bar Ken_T and Wildsupra, love you guys

Rep for you, and ill check all the pipes tomorrow, this sounds like exactly what is happening

Cheers man!

Eldar.O.

[Cressida91GLX]

Also it is improtant to comment that the temp guage on 7MGE is not the best one. It creeps up to the mid but still does not tell you the story. Change it or install another one to have a rough idea of the temperature in the car. Some one identified this problem on toyotacressida forum..Also try to baby you car for 1000Km. Than go for rough testing and remember to tighten your bolts after 4-5K km (at least will give you some indication if the HG is settled and good enough).

[EldarO]

Also it is improtant to comment that the temp guage on 7MGE is not the best one. It creeps up to the mid but still does not tell you the story. Change it or install another one to have a rough idea of the temperature in the car. Some one identified this problem on toyotacressida forum..Also try to baby you car for 1000Km. Than go for rough testing and remember to tight your bolts after 4-5K km (at least will give you some indication if the HG is settled and good enough).

i already have another temp guage in there, as a pre-BHG thing, unfortunatley i installed it too late to avoid BHG.

Baby it.... i kinda tried, i ended up kinda belting a mate corolla...

still, its sittign in the green on both temp guages, i should also mention that the dash is digital..

Eldar.O.

[EldarO]

Alright, all last night the car drove well, i raced a mates corolla to the speed limit and lost, then did a rolling start and p00ped on him, to the speed limit, turbo lags a bitch.

Things i found out:
The car definatley makes boost,
The car definatley doesnt make full boost...

I woke up this morning, tightened all the cooler hoses i could, and took it out for a drive, the first 5 mins or so was sedately driving it, then i gave it a bit.

The car has definatley picked up, its probably about 50% or so now, but that hooting noise is still evident, the only hose clamps that i couldnt reach were the one on the back of the turbo, and the next one down in the piping.

As per Whatthe?'s experiences, im damn sure that this is my problematic pipe.

What i need to know now is, how the hell do i get to the bastard?

i was thinking of taking the power steering resorvoir off and having a look, and going from there...

It'll have to wait till tomorrow though.

on a good note, the cars temp is rock-steady, and only rises a few degrees when im giving it a bit of stick, its not losing coolant, and oil is all good, something rare for 7M's that ive owned

Eldar.O.

[whatthe?]

Did you take off the concertina (AFM) rubber pipe? I find that it's pretty easy to get to the IC piping coming off the turbo with that out of the way. Just watch out for the one little vacuum hose attached to the bottom of the concertina, everything else is on top and easy to get to

[EldarO]

ah, okie dokey, cheers for that Matt!

ill have a gander at it tomorrow or something!

Eldar.O.