Snagglepuss Build Thread Lenny's New Whip

[Lenny]

now answer my questions please ;)

Thanks George,

I'm working at the moment but ill have a look at 9am aswell as take some pictures of coolant colour etc.

Cam cover oil seal is leaking, has been for a while,

And

Its leaking a small drop of coolant from the pump, i didn't worry about it as its soon being replaced,

I've not noticed it overheating or the needle going over half way but ill examine closer after work and report with images,

Can sometimes hear a bubbling inside the dash though, could that be heater matrix or somthing?

[georgen]

well it doesnt sound too good from what you say but you still have to do checks, the problem here is the leaky pump for two reasons,

1. as it leaks you will be loosing water but you cant tell if its going into oil or not.

2. as the system has a leak it wont pressurise to its correct level which will affect flow around your engine.

bubbling could either be air in the system, when this happens normally after changing the coolant it can be a pain causing overheating sparatic needle indications and too much pressure in the system, or a badly overheating engine that at that point turns its water to steam and thats what you here rattling around pipework.

But Im afraid the leaky waterpump is going to put a spoke in the wheel and make the diagnosis a lot harder, If it was mine because i would do it my self I would replace head gasket using a head gasket kit, would also get head skimmed and pressure checked and refit with new water pump and timing belt, drop oil and refill and run a while then do another oil and filter change, but as I would not be paying for labour would be a lot cheaper.

[Lenny]

well it doesnt sound too good from what you say but you still have to do checks, the problem here is the leaky pump for two reasons,

1. as it leaks you will be loosing water but you cant tell if its going into oil or not.

2. as the system has a leak it wont pressurise to its correct level which will affect flow around your engine.

bubbling could either be air in the system, when this happens normally after changing the coolant it can be a pain causing overheating sparatic needle indications and too much pressure in the system, or a badly overheating engine that at that point turns its water to steam and thats what you here rattling around pipework.

But Im afraid the leaky waterpump is going to put a spoke in the wheel and make the diagnosis a lot harder, If it was mine because i would do it my self I would replace head gasket using a head gasket kit, would also get head skimmed and pressure checked and refit with new water pump and timing belt, drop oil and refill and run a while then do another oil and filter change, but as I would not be paying for labour would be a lot cheaper.

Thanks,

Ill do the checks mate, I've fitted a high pressure radiator cap, last i checked the pipes were impossible to squeeze when engine running,

Not lost more than 500ml of fluid if that amount at all in say 500km

I've got a turkey baster type extractor, ill pull out some coolant later,

The mechanic i go to is independent so doesn't have a shelve of Toyota parts to throw on the car and bill me for that too.

Ill be supplying all parts,

But who is going to skim the head?

And how much labour you reckon?

Ill try listen for the bubbling later and see if i can hear it or even video it,

[Lenny]

hold up soldier, their is some basic tests first before splashing money about.

1. are you loosing coolant

Think I'm losing a small drip from the water pump side of the engine because the odd time 8 notice a tea spoon spot on the ground.

2 if you run car without coolant cap on does water jump out

Yes, i first opened the bonnet this morning and extracted a small amount of coolant from the tank,

I then compared it to the colour of the stuff that's still in the bottle,

Coolant from car:

Next to coolant still in bottle:

Now although the stuff from the radiator seems to have a brown tint, its almost the same colour,

I've smelt it and smells like rubber..

I've created a video of engine start with cap open,

Just waiting for photobucket to display i5 for me, but almost immediately the coolant starts to rise when the engine is started as you can see here and soon in the video when available:

3 can you see any oil residue in your water, you now what i mean, the pretty colours lol

From looking in to the radiator: i think it looks a shade of brown,

But when i actually extract some of it, seems to be 85% pink with a tint of 15% brown

What do you think of the images:

Rust in coolant from radiator core

Or

oil in the system ?

4 can you smell petrol or oil if you sniff in the coolant tank

No, I've had a smell of it,

And there's a strong smell like rubber or that smell you get when you walk in to a bicycle shop lol fresh rubber smell

5 when at running temperature are your hoses rock hard

Yes,

When cold they are a bit squeezable but after running the engine at idle and 2,000rpm the hoses had gotten quite hard and more difficult to squeeze,

[Lenny]

well it doesnt sound too good from what you say but you still have to do checks, the problem here is the leaky pump for two reasons,

1. as it leaks you will be loosing water but you cant tell if its going into oil or not.

2. as the system has a leak it wont pressurise to its correct level which will affect flow around your engine.

bubbling could either be air in the system, when this happens normally after changing the coolant it can be a pain causing overheating sparatic needle indications and too much pressure in the system, or a badly overheating engine that at that point turns its water to steam and thats what you here rattling around pipework.

But Im afraid the leaky waterpump is going to put a spoke in the wheel and make the diagnosis a lot harder, If it was mine because i would do it my self I would replace head gasket using a head gasket kit, would also get head skimmed and pressure checked and refit with new water pump and timing belt, drop oil and refill and run a while then do another oil and filter change, but as I would not be paying for labour would be a lot cheaper.

The bubbling i used to hear when starting the engine has stopped since I've put it back on the road, the only burble that remains is the hole the exhaust before the cat which is causing a bubbling sound effect and popping. As you will hear in the video,

No white or blue smoke coming from the rear on start up or engine running until i hit say 4500rpm then i get a small stream of white on and off.

I've had it running for 20 minutes this morning with the fan switched off but the temp needle didn't rise more than expected. Coolant fan also tripped in and out on the radiator.

Confused.com

How can the coolant look brown but come out pink?

Also here's the oil cap,

Unfortunately i wiped away the small bit of white scum off it the other day, i should have left it,

Theres a strong pressure coming from the oil cap opening if opened when the engine running, not sure if that indicates anything?

And the replacement head gasket i was looking at seems to be just a gasket itself says its a .9 TRD 20v blacktop 4AGE upgrade head gasket,

If required, what else would i need to complete the job,

Sorry for all the questions and hopefully the information I've provided here is somewhat useful to helping diagnose.

Ill add the videos when available to link on photobucket.

Cheers

[georgen]

the mechanic would know someone to skim, or at least he should, if someone tried to charge me 450-500 for labour I would kick him in the stots.

when i said coolant jump out I meant jump like a hose lol, it will rise as the waterpump will be pushing it around and would go easiest route, out a open cap.

the colour I would not worry about as when you changed coolant although you flushed, you would never get all the old out hence the slight colour change.

by hard hoses the car has to be at normal temp with cap on so the thermostat has opened better after a run out, when i say hard i mean hard.

and you should wipe the crap off cap, after all it could just be what I said at first condensation off your car standing so long, if this the case your getting your knickers in a twist for nowt :P

I would sort tyres first Lenny and get it out and drive it and monitor the situation. you will no if your putting water into bores as the white smoke you would see is steam and normally if you leaking water into oil way, the chances are it wont take long before you can see and smell it in the coolant, the catch 22 here is if you pay for cambelt and water pump to be fitted then turns out to be head gasket you will end up paying more in labour than getting the entire jobs done at one time. there are additives out there for sealing head gaskets, K seal I have used and has fixed very small leaks in the past but it will turn you coolant brown, the others I have not tried but claim 100% guarantee or you money back, and permanent fix. big statements but a mate who stocks this kind of stuff in his shop says there genuine. Steel seal is one.

always let the engine warm up fully before giving it guns aswell.

[Lenny]

Thanks very much for all the advise mate,

Ill get the tyres sorted, tax and exhaust,

Monitor the oil cap and coolant level book the MOT then gather the parts together for full service,

I fear K seal and the likes would reduce the performance of the vehicle in the long run,

If labours not going to be over 500 then id nearly pay the money for head gasket while I'm there to prolong reliability.

I have been guilty of driving a tad hard when cold but only the first week i had it on the road

[VickiW]

:-(

[Lenny]

MCM are back with over one hour long video from there recent visit to Japan,

Gotta love the 48th minute of the vid where there at a Japanese car meet and the side skirt falls off the car and that's in the home of the people who brought us "Tiger Seal" best car body kit adhesive in da world,

Check-it-out y'all ;)

Lovin the Levin even more after watching this

[Lenny]

[georgen]

MCM are back with over one hour long video from there recent visit to Japan,

Gotta love the 48th minute of the vid where there at a Japanese car meet and the side skirt falls off the car and that's in the home of the people who brought us "Tiger Seal" best car body kit adhesive in da world,

Check-it-out y'all ;)

Lovin the Levin even more after watching this

Link would be good Lenny :P

[Lenny]

Link would be good Lenny :P

This should work mate:

[georgen]

thats only 3.27 minutes long not an hour mate

[Lenny]

[Lenny]

thats only 3.27 minutes long not an hour mate

Very sorry mate,

Please see the link above to the video "KEi to the city"

Update:

Ive phoned the guys whom fitted the duplex exhaust on the focus and remapped it, got in touch with them today and made an appointment for next week to have the replacement Cat fitted to the Levin and get the exhaust leak sorted,

Perhaps straighten the back box too, depending on price I'm at for the essential repairs first.

The guys are masters at creating exhaust systems and well i should have gone there in the first place but i thought the local mechanic would have fixed all the leaks but unfortunately not...

Seems the flange joining the cat on both ends has decayed and is "firp fap fap" when laying off the throttles,

So to get the job done right first time, ive made an apointment to see the professionals and have it sorted for the MOT

They are 127km drive away from me but well worth the journey,

They said on the phone they dont really like fitting second hand parts as they generally break in a few months, but in this case a few months time is all i need to borrow,

Once ive gotten the MOT done, i can send a copy of the cert to the insurance company whom will then give me the insurance cert for the windscreen,

I can then work on sorting timing belt etc.

If this fix on the exhaust can last me until the end of April/ start of may,

i should then have pieced together a 2.5" 200 cell cat and the Varex remote 2.5"-4"exit remote muffler,

ill go back to the exhaust specialist to have the two parts fitted aswell as custom bending the pipes to fill in the gaps between cat and varex to make it all sing,

The manifold should stay good for me hopefully until Christmas ill then look in to purchasing the legendary fujisubo 4-2-1 extractor manifold from Japan for the ultimate Church Organ style experience really let that twin cam bwaaa! Like it should :D

Hopfully next weeks visit doesnt cost me much, hopefully get the two tyres aswell but we will see,

Will be a reliefe to have the exaust sorted

[VickiW]

thats only 3.27 minutes long not an hour mate

just not good enough leonardo!!!

[Lenny]

just not good enough leonardo!!!

ya dirt bird

[Hassen]

Just finished watching Kei to the City. I had to watch it over 2 days! Really worth the wait as they had not uploaded anything since last year! Can't wait for the new season to begin.

Lenny, you going back to Souhan in Trim for the exhaust? Their work is pretty impressive.

[mick85]

Lenny a quick compression test an sniff test this checks for exhaust gases in coolant this will tell u your head gasket but also in cold weather u will always get bit cream at oil cap an bit white smoke it's usually from short drives to work or shops condensation build up in engine

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC

[mick85]

Lenny a quick compression test an sniff test this checks for exhaust gases in coolant this will tell u your head gasket but also in cold weather u will always get bit cream at oil cap an bit white smoke it's usually from short drives to work or shops condensation build up in engine

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC

[Lenny]

Lenny, you going back to Souhan in Trim for the exhaust? Their work is pretty impressive.

I will be mate,

I've gotta purchase the Varex remote muffler and 200 cell sport cat first, then bring it to them for fitting and filling in the gaps to create the full system,

Next week is just a repair job to get me through the MOT the job local mechanic done on it didn't last the week that it was on the road, getting louder the more its been driven, seems his exhaust fitting skills aren't as good as his mechanical skills, so instead of throwing him another 90 euro to further educate himself on the art of exhaust fitting on my car.

I figured better cut out the middle man and go straight to the professional,

Ill get a price on fitting the new system while I'm there,

I will then be able to gauge a time frame for piecing together the bits and having them fit it.

Souhans are IMO the best custom exhaust specialist in Ireland aswell as the only registered Magna flow dealer in the country, will be a privilege to have them piece together the new system.

Shame its all hidden under the car because its a streamline work of art, perfect welds and everything.

Lenny a quick compression test an sniff test this checks for exhaust gases in coolant this will tell u your head gasket but also in cold weather u will always get bit cream at oil cap an bit white smoke it's usually from short drives to work or shops condensation build up in engine

Thanks mate,

Ill get it checked before having the timing belt done etc. But it has been doing 24km trips each way to work and home at night and early mornings so its looking like its been caused by cold starts and short journeys thankfully,

But ill get the compression test done and sniff test before having timing done etc.

Cheers

[Lenny]

Update:

Done a bit of searching on Ireland's free adds websites, found one called Adverts.ie also available as an App on Android,

Long story short

I'm off on an 8 hour road trip in two weeks time,

Collecting a replacement rear bumper as the fixings are broken on the drivers side brackets, been like that since purchase, maybe an easy fix but picked up a replacement for 40 euro, a better option for fitting the custom rear lip from Russia as the replacement bumper will be a smooth fit.

Also on the road trip ill be collecting a set of Trueno headlights with indicator units, these will look much better on the black body instead of the existing chrome units

And finally the last part of the trip involves collecting a replacement interior glove box compartment which hasn't sustained any scratch damage unlike the one currently fitted to the Levin.

The list of parts to purchase for the exterior is almost complete now,

Just to purchase the rear lip,

And keep an eye out for a carbon fibre bonnet, blend in nice and subtle on the black car, aswell as shaving 15kg off the front end.

Never expected to get this far in to the project without having to purchase a single item from Japan its mad,

PJDM

Paddy Japanese Distribution Market

[Hassen]

Looking good there Lenny. Where abouts are you going in your trip round Ireland?

[Lenny]

Looking good there Lenny. Where abouts are you going in your trip round Ireland?

Due to risk of possible jeopardization i generally don't like discussing where I'm going and what I'm doing on the open internet i generally prefer to post progress as i have been and done it,

But just this once I've to go to Monaghan town, Kingscourt Co.Cavan, and Ardagh Co.Longford think ill break up the journey though ill do Cavan and Ardagh on the Saturday, stay in my mothers in Co.Monaghan Saturday night and go to Monaghan town on Sunday to collect the glovebox before returning home to co.wexford.

Lucky to have the locations in a streamline direction, i know postage is always an option but given the rarety of the trueno lights for sale and the size of the glovebox, unlike the focus: the glovebox door doesn't come separately its one big unit as you can see in the image below:

Postage on the three items would be around 60 euro the diesel would cost around 80 euro, not as much waste packaging to dispose of, and in some cases i meet fellow enthusiasts and a log of names & numbers to connect other enthusiasts to that are in search of AE111 parts,

I think i was a squirl in a past life lol i get great enjoyment out of locating a piece for the car, going and meeting the person directly then taking it home cleaning it up and fitting the piece to the car almost better than s*x it has a few days or in some cases a few weeks build up to the climax,

Bit by bit projecting the image in my mind on to the car in the drive growing the love.

[Hassen]

Jeez Lenny. Kudos to you for driving that much to pick up all these parts. Btw, how do you find the time to do all this? I wish I had your enthusiasm. Maybe Vicki knows your secret to such energy :P