The friggen celica lives!!!!
Not having much time or money to throw at it hindered a speedy fix once it was discovered the advertised problem wasnt the only one.
After getting it and gutting the cat I found that the exhaust hosuomg in the turbo had eaten itself away around the turbo. After 5 different used turbos i finally got one that wasnt cracked on. The exhaust housing dual entry design on the early CT26s are known for this. Finally getting it all together I wasnt happy to find it still doing exactly the same thing.
At this point the cruiser had just been taken out of commission with a bent control arm so I needed something fast for andrea. Found a mint little zx3 01 jetta 5 speed for her. $1k later it was hers and the celica sat for a while. Work got busy so my time was cut down on it. There isnt much info out there on the 1st gen 3sgte in the ST165s as they were only put in the celica all trac which means not that many out there. The mr2 is a 2nd and 3rd gen 3sgte as is the st185 celica.
Lack of a port to tap in to on the fuel rail meant I put that off. All threads I read and people I spoke to said it was either timing or an electronic sensor anyway. Tested the AFM, came out good. Tested the TPS came out good but a shop that specializes in these told me that can still be bad so I replaced it with an OEM unit. No change.
Swapped out ecu with known good one no change. Checked timing, it was right.
Disabled the turbo pressure sensor to see if it was activating the cut. No change
Checked spark it was good.
Went through the list of new parts the PO and PPO put on.
Plugs, wires, cap rotor, fuel pulsation damper, fuel pump, all air hoses.
Checked every vacuum line 80s toyota here so think a turbo 3fe. That took forever since many run under the intake manifold. All looked good and no change when running and checking with carb cleaner.
Couldnt find the SST needed to check the fuel pressure from the cold start injector anywhere. So finally just got one that replaced the banjo bolt on the filter. First 3 the shop sent me were the wrong thread.
Finally got a good one and the pressure was super high. 70 psi at idle over 100 when reved.
Didnt act like it was flooding and running rich though.
Changed out the FPR, no change and pressure still the same. Hmmmm
Ran a return line from the FPR to a fuel can. No change.... so not a clogged FPR or return line. Could there be a clog in the rail?? Most likely not and dint feel like tearing that out until last resort, not easy to get to.
I pulled the fuel pulsation damper instead. Not really having a way to test it and the thing looked brand new I pulled it out of curiosity. After getting it off i thought i had lost the washer for it but didnt see one come off with it. Strange as that would almost certainly cause a fuel leak i looked at it closer only to see a small copper crush washer jammed up in it. Essentially blocking fuel flow. Anyone that has installed one before knows this washer isnt a copper crush washer but more of a washer with sectioned cut out to allow the fuel by. Ordered a new one since there was no way I could get the washer out of where it was jammed.
Took 2 to get the right one. Installed it yesterday and put the car back together. Runs amazing for a 30 year old. Not the fastest car on the block with 200hp and 200tq but drives like new. Except the exhaust leak because i snapped two studs removing the cat/down pipe.
5 cent part was the cause of all of this.
If Toyota had put a port to check fuel from the factory it also.would have made the diagnostic easier LOL. Bit you live and learn.
Now the question is I have 3 cars that are "mine" and I need to cut it down to one. Cruiser, LS430 and the all trac. Which one do I keep?? Or do I sell them all and get a 4x4 van? No really I need to sell two and use that money to pay debt.
Years ago they ran an ad program "Just Do It"
