My 1ggte and its health problems :S - Opinions?

[stidnam]

Hi all,

Well just under a year has passed and my ra28 with its 1g is finally running. However I believe that this stupid motor is cursed. Not only did it take the import company 6 months to get it to me, toll transport turning up on my doorstep with it on a flatbed and no way to get it off only to finally have it in my garage missing the instrument cluster and in unknown condition. Though I was told it had 80k km on it depsite me finding the timing belt changed once in its life and oil pissing out every seal imaginable. Anyway after sinking another $1000 into it to refresh it I finally chucked it in the car.

Anyway to cut a long story short my glee of getting it running has been somewhat dampened. When I first got it running it wouldn't idle. I worked out that someone had been playing with the dizzy and stuffed the alignment. Would love the import place to explain how they even decided on the cut when it wouldn't have been running properly. Anyway that was a minor problem so fixed that. It ran alot better after that. Felt sluggish but have put that down to being a 1g. Anyway decided that being boxing day would be a good chance for me to go down and finish off all the niggly bits before my emissions test.

The car blows a bit of white smoke on startup and figured that maybe the valve stem seals were a little tired. I decided to just check the oil for the first time since I had changed it. Pulled the dipstick out to find only a tiny bit of the tip had oil on it :S. The oil level was fine when I had filled it and I had checked it after it settled. Now 3 runs around the block and its hardly registering on the dipstick.

I took the oil filler cap off and was presented with this.



That was clean when I filled it. I also noticed that at operating temperature when the car is switched off you can hear a high hiss coming somewhere under the turbos at the front. I replaced all the water gaskets and orings up there as well so not sure if that is normal or I've got a leak (couldn't see any water/oil on the block) though I did notice when I got the motor that there was flakey surface rust on the side of the motor running down one of the turbo water pipes. Just presumed it was the gasket, checked the pipes and then replaced.

I haven't dropped the water out of the car yet. Thats the next step I suppose.

Any advice, opinions or experience regarding all this would be great. This is depressing. I'm to the point of just buying another car and putting this on the back burner.

stidnam

[jimmmayyy]

Doesn't look promising but have you checked the condition of the coolant at all? You say that you freshened it up.. do you mean thebottom end? If so you might be able to get away with putting a fresh HG in and checking the head for straightness/cracks. If the water is a bit murky then best to pull the head off and see whats going on.

[stidnam]

by refreshing I just meant changing water pipe gaskets/o-rings, thermostat, cam seals, front and rear crank seals, water pump, oil pump o-ring and seal, timing belt, clutch etc. You know all those things you'd expect to replace on an import motor.

The coolant system was grubby when I got the front cut. It needs a good flush and I had only put water in it so far as I didn't want to waste $40 worth of coolant. I have since dropped all the water and its rather brown and dirty.

stidnam

[jimmmayyy]

Ahh i see, Brown and dirty could be just corrosion?? If there is oil in the coolant however all bearings etc would be really copping it. Did they give you a warranty at all? It would probably be cheaper to get another used motor being a 1G.

[thechuckster]

have you dumped the oil and looked at it for coolant contamination? and the oil filter?

moisture under the cap came sometimes appear when motor is left to sit for considerable period of time

but that milkiness does suggest oil being emulsified by water.

dumb question but did you hook up the coolant/oil lines to the turbos correctly?

[stidnam]

haven't dropped the oil out yet or whats left of it.

With the 1g the oil feed and return lines are all hard lines so it would be a pretty big effort to plumb a water line in . Did make me go and check though in a moment of panic.

I was just supprised by the sludge under that cap after only a few runs around the block. Probably not even a total of 15min run time. Actually you'd have to add the times i've run the car in the garage and quick noise test out the front so maybe 1/2 hour time .

stidnam

[3BarSuperstar]

If the motor has only been run for short periods and then turned off you will get that blown head gasket look under the cap. It's condensation that builds up from just warming up and cooling down again. Rotarys are really bad for it. It use to happen to mine all the time.

I'd still check it out though. Do you have access to a TK tester? I'd be more concerned about how much oil it's using. If the head gasket was gone it may have leaked into a cylinder and started to rust and then when you started it the rings may have been damaged. See how many kms you do before you need to top the oil up!

[jak]

the importance of coolant in aftermarket engines!!

water just simply doesnt cut it. it would boil in a split second. and the temp overall would be above average.

take off the oil cap and run ur finger accross the underside of the cam cover see what comes out.

Jak

[IN 05 NT]

as mentioned above the milkyness in the cap just looks like condensation.... i wouldnt get worried yet, UNLESS you took the cap off to find that sludge everywhere through the motor...

i'll be back in next wed, so pop in wed nite and we can do all the usuall tests, pressure test and a tk test...

change the oil/filter and coolant at the same time (sell you some work supplies cheap) it is an import motor, so it would be a good idea to run some fresh oil, then dump it and replace.

blake

[stidnam]

sweet thanks. I did change the oil once. I'm about to do it again tonight and the oil filter. Also picked up some coolant flush stuff to flush the cooling system out properly. I'll see how things go after that.

Should actually take some pictures while I'm at it and put up a ride thread.

[brett_celicacoupe]

yep looks like condesation.


my 1g oil cap looked the same after the install. the engine had been sitting for a few months. i freaked and though it was HG but it went away after a week.

2JZ did the same but i ignored it and it went away also