SCed questions

[bigbirdSCed]

hey guys, been workin on gettin the car runnin right since i got it and different little problems seem to come up yall may be able to shed some light on.

1. how do ya tell if the auto tensioner is worn? the belt seems a little loose but does not vibrate when reving. at WOT it feels liek boost is inconsistant but the boost guage says otherwise, it stays just a hair under 4psi.

2. im replacing my o2 sensors soon to get the car from dropping codes and get it out of safe mode but the car runs better IN safe mode. is this because its running rich?

3. the previous weeks the car has ran real odd, like nothing ive seen before. my battery went out so i replaced it. when i plugged it back in the car idled REAL rough and ran even worse. i was gettin boost and the car was accelerating really slow and running rough (this was at moderate throttle) but after a while it smoothes out. this has happened twice after resetting the ECU. the first time i got an "excessive EGR flow" and the second i got an "insufficent collant temp closed loop fuel" code(ive already replaced the collant temp sensor for the same code) (this is unrelated to the first problem as far as i know)

i realize these last 2 arnt really related to forced induction but i figured they might be a result of havign a SC. any advice or input would be great.

Bird

[unbalancedwood]

Hey, what codes is your car throwing?

How do you know it is in safe mode?

only ask because i have the P0125 & P0135 codes also, I just replaced the 02 sensor a year and a half ago...weird.

(ps, thanks for those bulbs they work great!)

[Ruski]

for the car acting different after replacing battery and resetting ecu. this is because the ecu lost its memory. the ecu remembers your type of driving and the amount of air/fuel ration and things like that

[DatSRBoi]

What all mods are done to your car?

"mainly" if you have any codes involving engine or sensor wise you are most likely in limp mode... You will know because the car doesn't pull hard like it use to.

As for your car idling weird or acting weird, check all your vacuum hoses, sometime they majestically come loose and can cause a leak somewhere.

The belt tensioner does not go bad that easily.You can extra tension your belt by getting a shorter one to avoid belt hoping at WOT since back in my days I do notice that our TRD tensioner are not tight enough at high speeds as I like (Corvettes and G35 sc kits are tighter on theirs. Even a friends prelude SC tension is better). Most likely it should not rob you this power but try a shorter belt to see if its better.


Lastly avoid resetting the battery. The longer the better until you start fixing stuff. That way it can help us better know if any other late codes are suppose to show up. What fuel are you using? Make sure you are running the highest octane 93 i believe as you can to avoid knock sensor knocking.

An another thing is what kind of spark plugs are you running and are your spark plug wires up to date? Old worn down stuff can usually rob power. I recommend using NGKs.. I know allot of people use iridium plugs but when your boosted I recommended getting copper head plugs. They do not last as long but they do run allot cooler. Sometime new oil changes makes a difference too.

As for the battery going dead how old is it? If its old then thats nothing new. If its fairly new under 1 to 2 years old then check your alternator as well. On boosted car with all the belts being allot longer I believe that it does put more strains on everything. if your alternator is weak I recommend getting a Toyota highlander alternator since its stronger and can make sure your cars getting its full electrical needs for being boosted.

Remember our cars are not the happiest boosted.


Its really hard to diagnose these things unless I'm there seeing it.

[Dawgz]

hey guys, been workin on gettin the car runnin right since i got it and different little problems seem to come up yall may be able to shed some light on.

1. how do ya tell if the auto tensioner is worn? the belt seems a little loose but does not vibrate when reving. at WOT it feels liek boost is inconsistant but the boost guage says otherwise, it stays just a hair under 4psi.

2. im replacing my o2 sensors soon to get the car from dropping codes and get it out of safe mode but the car runs better IN safe mode. is this because its running rich?

3. the previous weeks the car has ran real odd, like nothing ive seen before. my battery went out so i replaced it. when i plugged it back in the car idled REAL rough and ran even worse. i was gettin boost and the car was accelerating really slow and running rough (this was at moderate throttle) but after a while it smoothes out. this has happened twice after resetting the ECU. the first time i got an "excessive EGR flow" and the second i got an "insufficent collant temp closed loop fuel" code(ive already replaced the collant temp sensor for the same code) (this is unrelated to the first problem as far as i know)

i realize these last 2 arnt really related to forced induction but i figured they might be a result of havign a SC. any advice or input would be great.

Bird

1) the tensioner would have a squeek if its worn out, get a tensionometer (sp) and check the tension, it should be @ 120.

2) ?

3) Well when u replaced ur battery, the time u took ur battery out and put the new one in, resets the ECU, and itll run rough to remap the fuel curve for the next 50-100miles... it idles rough durring this time too, then it fixes itself.

[Akfahad]

are your knock sensors ok? May be another reason why it goes into limp mode.

[facevedo17]

I recently replaced my batterry too and when I started the car it was very rough at idle , the next day check engine light came on and the follwoing day it went away .......I wonder if im in need of an alternator

[bigbirdSCed]

thanks for the replys guys.

the SC is the only engine mod. im watin to install teh EBC and safc NEO to get this thing runnin right. other then that i just have exhaust mods(cat and catback)

the battery has been replace and teh alternator is in good operating condition. i replace teh onld bat with a yellow top and no problems since cept when i had to diconnect it for various stuff. makes sense that it has to remap though. and teh codes did go away if i didnt erase them.

ive always used 93 octane so im good there.

teh o2 sensor codes were bad circut on bank 1 and 2 sensors and slow response. several have told me that means time to replace so i got thoes commin straight from toyota.

im honestly not sure of the spark plugs. thats one thing i havnt replaced since i got the car but the previous owner told me he had replaced them about a thousand miles before i got a hold of her. the wires are ok from what i can tell.

teh vacume lines on this are baffling, not cuz i cant understand them but because its hooked up is a totally different way from teh TRD SC instructions. but the boost guage shows correct vacume and boost, theres jsut not much power.

im also lookin at gettin a replacement engine. 97 1mz 45k miles(mine has 170...ouch).

one last thing i was told to ask about was teh ECU. is it possible for these things to go out within 200K miles. what symptoms do they show when they do?

thanks again guys, as ya can tell im very new to this whole boosted thing.

[Dawgz]

come to adams place when king and i are there!

[Akfahad]

no fuel mods done yet, right?

If there have been and it hasn't been tuned yet, could be another reason.

[Astro]

There were 2 ways to route the vacuum hoses, 1 setup before the EBC came out and 1 after the EBC. TRD decided to change it.

Also, look into getting Jim's fuel mod done. This is very important.

[DatSRBoi]

hmmm.... 170K miles on your car?


I am 90% for sure that fuel filter you have on there is old and clog...............

Why regardless who the last owner was, change the plugs again for peace of mine. The last thing you want is to go WOT on a worn down clog plug.

[bigbirdSCed]

no fuel mods at all. but i was trying to get jim's fuel mod for it. at least to start. how do i get in contact with him, just email him?

ill definatly change the fuel filter, any recomendation as to what kind/brand to get.

and yeah 170K miles. alot i know but the engine and trans, aside from the few problems runs well with only a small leak in the valve cover gasket on the rear bank. hopefully a new motor will fix that

[Dawgz]

no fuel mods at all. but i was trying to get jim's fuel mod for it. at least to start. how do i get in contact with him, just email him?

ill definatly change the fuel filter, any recomendation as to what kind/brand to get.

and yeah 170K miles. alot i know but the engine and trans, aside from the few problems runs well with only a small leak in the valve cover gasket on the rear bank. hopefully a new motor will fix that

U know king rite?

He's gonna come by, and theres a store around here that sells the aeromotive equipment used for Jim's Fuel mod, were gonna try to duplicate it, cause i have the fuel mod installed on my car. If u want, we can probably get u one too, unless u wanna come with us too?

[Akfahad]

no fuel mods at all. but i was trying to get jim's fuel mod for it. at least to start. how do i get in contact with him, just email him?

ill definatly change the fuel filter, any recomendation as to what kind/brand to get.

and yeah 170K miles. alot i know but the engine and trans, aside from the few problems runs well with only a small leak in the valve cover gasket on the rear bank. hopefully a new motor will fix that

Jim's contact info:

Jim @ Foreign Affairs
2315 SE 11th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97214
503-236-2871

I don't know if he's got these laying around or if he'll require more than just one to make, but at least find out what he says.