Sorry to hear it's still giving you grief. I'm surprised you have an EGR valve. My S16 doesn't and it's a 95 model....
I had a look at the compressor clutch today. I think it's the issue. The thing has gotten so hot it has melted the nylon in the nylock nut! I guess it was slipping and overheated. Probably the bearing noise I'm hearing too.
Now to decide whether to get a puller and take it off and see about getting a replacement. If it is all that is wrong will beca relatively cheap fix as hopefully I can do it in situ. If the problem is more though. I'll have wasted $100+
Tony.
I had a look at the compressor clutch today. I think it's the issue. The thing has gotten so hot it has melted the nylon in the nylock nut! I guess it was slipping and overheated. Probably the bearing noise I'm hearing too.
Now to decide whether to get a puller and take it off and see about getting a replacement. If it is all that is wrong will beca relatively cheap fix as hopefully I can do it in situ. If the problem is more though. I'll have wasted $100+
Tony.
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VenusFly. Sorry you’re still having trouble.
Could be the egr valve even if disconnected. Carbon builds up on the intake side valve and it leaks exhaust into the intake when it shouldn’t
Could be the egr valve even if disconnected. Carbon builds up on the intake side valve and it leaks exhaust into the intake when it shouldn’t
Just changed the spark plugs on my 2012 civic for the first time in 100,000 miles. You have to take a bit of bodywork apart to access the plugs. They look not bad to me considering the mileage. The metal under the plastic cowl looks like a factory strut bar. A pain to remove for servicing but nice they stiffened the chassis.
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I have to say I have worked on assorted 1980s engines without EFI and assorted 1990s-2004 cars with EFI.
I will gladly take the computer.
I remember my mom making us kids be quiet in the car while she started it just so she could hit the gas at the right time to get it to catch.
I remember stuck chokes, stuck floats. Vacuum hose #27. So may vacuum hoses.
Also, EFI started showing up about 1978 roughly.
When all is working right, having the right amount of fuel and the perfect spark angle sometimes gets you an extra 100,000 miles out of the engine. Also it avoids spark plug changes. I recently pulled apart a 2000 Honda CRV with 195,000 miles on it and had to be pleased with the lack of carbon ridge at the top of the cylinder and the general cleanliness of the pistons.
I will gladly take the computer.
I remember my mom making us kids be quiet in the car while she started it just so she could hit the gas at the right time to get it to catch.
I remember stuck chokes, stuck floats. Vacuum hose #27. So may vacuum hoses.
Also, EFI started showing up about 1978 roughly.
When all is working right, having the right amount of fuel and the perfect spark angle sometimes gets you an extra 100,000 miles out of the engine. Also it avoids spark plug changes. I recently pulled apart a 2000 Honda CRV with 195,000 miles on it and had to be pleased with the lack of carbon ridge at the top of the cylinder and the general cleanliness of the pistons.
We had a fuel injected VW in 1971, was great in the Midwest winters!
That convenience was balanced by the need to clean the terminals inside the various connectors in order for it to work properly, they hadn’t figured out the moisture proof connectors yet.
That convenience was balanced by the need to clean the terminals inside the various connectors in order for it to work properly, they hadn’t figured out the moisture proof connectors yet.
yes.
Next question.
Thanks!
The problem is I cleaned that entire system out thoroughly and I think I made sure that the EGR valve was closing and moving properly but I cannot be 100% sure.
That makes me a little less guilty about removing mine if I have to because I cannot find an EGR valve that works to replace it.
I would agree with that. The bearing noise would be the bearing not the clutch, so once you get in there you'll have to pull the old bearing off and replace it. Might be best to leave it to an A/C shop to do but if you feel confident enough then try it. It looks like a used prophylactic.
Be careful any spacers that come out of in between the clutch and the compressor aren't lost. Those spacers are necessary to keep the proper clearance so that the clutch isn't always engaged even when the clurch is off and so the correct tension is placed on the clutch when its engaged so it doesn't slip. You need a feeler gauge to set it properly. If the clutch is worn it needs replacing along with the bearing. I think eric the car guy on youtube gave me this advice.
YouTube
You might get lucky and find a new clutch and bearing on ebay.Just take note of all of the part numbers and put those part numbers into ebay.
No more questions. This interview is over.
I'm going to enjoy my weekend with french Camembert and ginger beer and star trek tng.
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That looks like the same engine that's in my 2008 Element. I have 105K miles and the only things that have been changed under the hood are the engine oil (whenever the car asks me for it) and the battery (number 3 went in about a month ago).
Fortunately there is no timing belt, but the serpentine probably needs changing, as do a few other things.......It's hard to mess with something that just works though. The only other things I've changer are the brakes (now on third set, but I pulled a heavy trailer for about 10K miles) and power window regulators.
Still I would try to find the components necessary to make the EGR system work again.
It may be worth trying to plug your EGR valve closed and see if you can get the car running halfway decent first. If the diaphragm is cracked, you could have some vacuum loss. May be better to plug the vacuum hose controlling it and also make sure there is no leakage on the vacuum inlet.
The EGR usually gets stuck open from too much exhaust deposits and should not normally be open. Some just get clogged and just do not work. EGR is usually closed during heavy load on the engine so a stuck open EGR would likely mess up heavy acceleration.
A friend had a hatchback VW of some kind, don't remember the name. Since we lived a stones throw from the Atlantic Ocean cleaning the green growth out of all the connectors was a yearly ordeal. I believe this was pre WD40, but we had LPS. Ditto all Fisher solid state stereos.
I remember needing to resolder a big resistor inside the brainbox on a fuel injected car of some sort around 1970, but I can't remember if it was that VW. There weren't too many injected cars back then. The resistor would get hot enough to make the solder brittle, then road vibration would make it crumble. The car would start to fun funny, backfiring and stumbling, then just die.
It is. The civic si has the “hot rod” version. 11:1 compression a bit bigger cams and different tuning. Mine has been trouble free for its 100,000 mile life and that’s saying a lot with me as the operator. I have track time coming up the next three weekends. People that know the car are no longer surprised when it laps cars with 2 and often 3 times the power it makes.
I haven't been on a race track in about 20 years, and if I were to race again, the "Toaster" as Elements are often called, wouldn't be the vehicle of choice. I used to race autocross, AKA the parking lot Grand Prix, where small nimble vehicles like a Civic are the car of choice and all racing is car VS clock, no car to car action.
The engine in the Toaster seems willing to spin the tires any time I hit it hard and I don't have the OEM size installed. I went 20mm (215 VS 195) wider but a lower profile to gain the equivalent of 8 % higher final drive ratio. I did this for pulling a heavy trailer up grades and through the mountains, but that mod alone totally altered the handling and acceleration capabilities of the car, both in a good way. There were several suggestions in the Element Owners Club forums on how to make more power in my Toaster, but I decided to leave it alone. It has served me well hauling junk for 9 years (I took the seats out).
I'm sure that driver skill has more to do with it than the car. I may have had more power than my buddies with similar cars, but the guy who drove like grandma often beat me. Having too much power that comes on quickly can make you slower fighting understeer coming out of the corners spinning front wheels.
The engine in the Toaster seems willing to spin the tires any time I hit it hard and I don't have the OEM size installed. I went 20mm (215 VS 195) wider but a lower profile to gain the equivalent of 8 % higher final drive ratio. I did this for pulling a heavy trailer up grades and through the mountains, but that mod alone totally altered the handling and acceleration capabilities of the car, both in a good way. There were several suggestions in the Element Owners Club forums on how to make more power in my Toaster, but I decided to leave it alone. It has served me well hauling junk for 9 years (I took the seats out).
I'm sure that driver skill has more to do with it than the car. I may have had more power than my buddies with similar cars, but the guy who drove like grandma often beat me. Having too much power that comes on quickly can make you slower fighting understeer coming out of the corners spinning front wheels.
You guys think its better to have an EFI system do you? At least all of you knew what was wrong with your carburetted cars and knew how to fix it straight away even your mum and dad knew what was wrong. You knew exactly what component was at fault and how to at least jimmy it to get it to work.
Okay, a carburetted car hasn't got any of these things to go wrong:
Hundreds of electrical connections and wires
Fuel pressure regulator
Idle Air Control valve
Throttle position sensor
Oxygen sensors (As many as four in a modern car)
Fuel pump
Air Flow Meter/Mass Air Flow meter, Intake air temperature sensor
I challenge anyone to debug any of these various sensors without an OBD2 connector there to tell you what is wrong straight away.
Without OBD2, which I remind everyone came as a result of government mandate, the manufacturers didn't want you initially to be able to diagnose your own car. You are completely and entirely lost.
I also challenge anyone to actually take a look at the emissions and fuel economy from a well tuned carburetted car with a basic and simple hall effect ignition computer. I used to own one and it was very fuel efficient, yes it lacked power but not as much as you think, the lack of power wasn't necesserially the fact that it was carburetted rather that the compression was lower than a more modern EFI car was. And no there are high compression carburetted cars out there.
And carburetted cars are independent of the Exhaust gas recirculation system and the catalytic converter. You can have both of these emission control systems without EFI.
EFI is purely a fuel delivery system and it provides a marginal increase in fuel economy and power output, which I question weather or not it is actually worth it, it does after all add weight and complexity to the entire car.
I'm 99% certain that you can get the same output and performance, with a lower weight because of the lack of EFI systems, with a carburetted car. Carburettors are very advanced of themselves too, they aren't dumb systems. They use hydraulic and vacuum operated valves and solenoids and electronic heaters (electronic choke) and tubes to do some very advanced tasks on an engine while warming up and running and even when high throttle output is required.
Anyone who has read about how a Holley or Weber carburettor should know this to be true.
The only argument against carburettors left is that, as tubelab has pointed out, the intake manifold and cylinder walls are still covered in unvaporised fuel in a carburetted car. And that is a very good argument because it means that EFI cars last longer than carburetted cars because in EFI cars the cylinder walls are covered in oil instead of fuel. But I for one would rather rebuild the entire engine than debug and remove and rebuild and replace an entire ageing EFI system, as cars age well into their 40s are there still going to be sensors and valves being made for them, or are modern cars going to simply be scrapped? All of those expensive progressivley harder to get proprietary electrical connectors.
The future will tell weather or not people will be willing to remove the entire wiring loom from a car and replace it when it ages. Because that is what is required when an EFI system ages past beyond 30 years or more. All of those plastic connectors become brittle, wiring looms sag and get burnt and melted quite often. The fact is, plastic has no place in the hot bonnet of a car, yet it is there in leaps and bounds.
And guess what happens when you earth the 5v output from a car computer. The car computer is fried.
Having OBD2 most certainly makes things easier, but nothing is easier about having to replace an entire wiring assembly/loom and replace ageing sensors, which are expensive to say the least, and replace an ageing EFI computer.
It just doesn't add up to me. The scales are tilted in favor of carburettors. But this doesn't mean that its a sane option. You still have complete control of fuel delivery with EFI which does weigh the scales in favor of EFI.
But it still doesn't mean that carburettors are or should be the most demonized thing in a car. carburettors are awesome.
All carburetted cars, with hall effect and vacuum advance ignition systems require, is a rebuild kit on the carburettor, and a chip underneath the distributor, or a new distributor, every 25 years or so.
If I had a choice of EFI or carbed engine in my car, if I was to do a rebuild, I would pay out the nose to get a carburetted one, because at least then all of the parts are made from metal not plastic.
Okay, a carburetted car hasn't got any of these things to go wrong:
Hundreds of electrical connections and wires
Fuel pressure regulator
Idle Air Control valve
Throttle position sensor
Oxygen sensors (As many as four in a modern car)
Fuel pump
Air Flow Meter/Mass Air Flow meter, Intake air temperature sensor
I challenge anyone to debug any of these various sensors without an OBD2 connector there to tell you what is wrong straight away.
Without OBD2, which I remind everyone came as a result of government mandate, the manufacturers didn't want you initially to be able to diagnose your own car. You are completely and entirely lost.
I also challenge anyone to actually take a look at the emissions and fuel economy from a well tuned carburetted car with a basic and simple hall effect ignition computer. I used to own one and it was very fuel efficient, yes it lacked power but not as much as you think, the lack of power wasn't necesserially the fact that it was carburetted rather that the compression was lower than a more modern EFI car was. And no there are high compression carburetted cars out there.
And carburetted cars are independent of the Exhaust gas recirculation system and the catalytic converter. You can have both of these emission control systems without EFI.
EFI is purely a fuel delivery system and it provides a marginal increase in fuel economy and power output, which I question weather or not it is actually worth it, it does after all add weight and complexity to the entire car.
I'm 99% certain that you can get the same output and performance, with a lower weight because of the lack of EFI systems, with a carburetted car. Carburettors are very advanced of themselves too, they aren't dumb systems. They use hydraulic and vacuum operated valves and solenoids and electronic heaters (electronic choke) and tubes to do some very advanced tasks on an engine while warming up and running and even when high throttle output is required.
Anyone who has read about how a Holley or Weber carburettor should know this to be true.
The only argument against carburettors left is that, as tubelab has pointed out, the intake manifold and cylinder walls are still covered in unvaporised fuel in a carburetted car. And that is a very good argument because it means that EFI cars last longer than carburetted cars because in EFI cars the cylinder walls are covered in oil instead of fuel. But I for one would rather rebuild the entire engine than debug and remove and rebuild and replace an entire ageing EFI system, as cars age well into their 40s are there still going to be sensors and valves being made for them, or are modern cars going to simply be scrapped? All of those expensive progressivley harder to get proprietary electrical connectors.
The future will tell weather or not people will be willing to remove the entire wiring loom from a car and replace it when it ages. Because that is what is required when an EFI system ages past beyond 30 years or more. All of those plastic connectors become brittle, wiring looms sag and get burnt and melted quite often. The fact is, plastic has no place in the hot bonnet of a car, yet it is there in leaps and bounds.
And guess what happens when you earth the 5v output from a car computer. The car computer is fried.
Having OBD2 most certainly makes things easier, but nothing is easier about having to replace an entire wiring assembly/loom and replace ageing sensors, which are expensive to say the least, and replace an ageing EFI computer.
It just doesn't add up to me. The scales are tilted in favor of carburettors. But this doesn't mean that its a sane option. You still have complete control of fuel delivery with EFI which does weigh the scales in favor of EFI.
But it still doesn't mean that carburettors are or should be the most demonized thing in a car. carburettors are awesome.
All carburetted cars, with hall effect and vacuum advance ignition systems require, is a rebuild kit on the carburettor, and a chip underneath the distributor, or a new distributor, every 25 years or so.
If I had a choice of EFI or carbed engine in my car, if I was to do a rebuild, I would pay out the nose to get a carburetted one, because at least then all of the parts are made from metal not plastic.
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Fuel pump......all cars have a fuel pump although early carbureted cars had mechanical pumps, driven by a cam lobe, and they did fail. The diaphram leaked, often spilling fuel into the crankcase diluting the oil.
Oxygen sensors (As many as four in a modern car).......after catalytic converters appeared (1975 in the US) the carburetor got a duty cycle solenoid driven by a computer which received feedback from the O2 and temp sensors. These systems were easy to defeat and my 1982 Dodge Omni ran better without it. No pesky rev limiter to spoil the fun either. Valve float limited the revs somewhere in the 7000+ range.......still I couldn't blow the $100 Omni up.
Many drag racers still run carbs and many can tune a carb to higher power output at a specific RPM that a fuel injected car. EFI was developed primarilly to meet tougher emission regulations.
The Carter Thermo Quad 4 barrel carb is made of PLASTIC! It appeared in the OEM US market under the hood of Chrysler high performance cars in the early 70's. Ford used them in Australia in the late 70's and 80's. At least they could be taken apart and tunes or rebuilt.
I had a 1985 Dodge Minivan with a Mitsubushi 2.6L engine. That thing came with a glued together plastic carburetor. The Chrysler dealer wanted $300 for a new carb so I proceeded to take the old one apart with a heated X-Acto knife. I managed to ream the junk out of the main jet with a guitar string and glue the carb back together again.
Leaving the element alone is probably a good idea. My motor is essentially stock. I have a secondary computer that allows adjustment of the fuel trim cam angles and timing all while watching the knock count. Running lean and preignition are almost instant death. I work with a couple of guys who drive late model Hondas with over 300,000 miles.
VenusFly I agree and disagree. The carb is simpler and can work well. I spent the first 20 years of my working life as a car mechanic and in this day and age I would only prefer a carb on collector or antique car that had one originally or on my lawnmower. I will admit that in its infancy the fuel injection was troublesome. Hard to fix and glitchy but the latest systems seem well worked out. You are correct the obd2 system is essential. As an example of why I like FI my cheap a$$ civic makes 200 hp from 2.4 liters or about 147 cubic inches gets well over 30 mpg and has a life expectancy measured in hundreds of thousands of miles.
VenusFly I agree and disagree. The carb is simpler and can work well. I spent the first 20 years of my working life as a car mechanic and in this day and age I would only prefer a carb on collector or antique car that had one originally or on my lawnmower. I will admit that in its infancy the fuel injection was troublesome. Hard to fix and glitchy but the latest systems seem well worked out. You are correct the obd2 system is essential. As an example of why I like FI my cheap a$$ civic makes 200 hp from 2.4 liters or about 147 cubic inches gets well over 30 mpg and has a life expectancy measured in hundreds of thousands of miles.
My one experience with fuel pump failure (thankfully only temporary) was on the steepest part of Victoria Pass in my morris 1100. I was heading back to Sydney from Forbes when the down pipe came away from the manifold (a common occurrence before I put a set of extractors on) I'd been driving for at least 200KM without an issue, but just as I was getting to the end of the overtaking lane on the steepest section (doing about 5000 RPM in 2nd gear, whilst overtaking a landrover) the engine just cut out. Talk about the worst place to have the car die!! I managed to reverse back into the nearside lane and started to think about what had died. Whilst poking around under the bonnet I realised that the exhaust coming out of the manifold was pointing directly at the fuel pump! The fuel pump had got so hot that the fuel vapourised in it!
I removed the windscreen washer bottle and gently dripped a couple of drips of water onto the fuel pump and it boiled away to nothing instantly. All I had to do was wait for about 10 minutes for it to cool down a bit, I then doused it with some water, and the car started fine. I took it a bit more easy and managed to make it up and over the hill and all the way back to Sydney without any more incidents.
Tony.
That'll do it!
I know on my old xf falcon I had to rebuild the fuel pump but nobody could sell me a rebuild kit for it so I had to just make do with the gaskets leaking a little bit.
The main problem was the intake manifold and the spaghetti of vacuum hoses. I simply plumbed up whatever was open and drove it like that for a while until I could figure out what was what. It turned out that someone had swapped one part for another on this car and one bunch of the vacuum hoses didn't go anywhere on this car. It was like a hybrid between one model and the next one up and the part with which one vacuum hose went to didn't exist. So I just clogged it up with a screw, no problems.
You can do that same thing on my car which is why I like it so much, its not as modern as other cars are.
I know on my old xf falcon I had to rebuild the fuel pump but nobody could sell me a rebuild kit for it so I had to just make do with the gaskets leaking a little bit.
The main problem was the intake manifold and the spaghetti of vacuum hoses. I simply plumbed up whatever was open and drove it like that for a while until I could figure out what was what. It turned out that someone had swapped one part for another on this car and one bunch of the vacuum hoses didn't go anywhere on this car. It was like a hybrid between one model and the next one up and the part with which one vacuum hose went to didn't exist. So I just clogged it up with a screw, no problems.
You can do that same thing on my car which is why I like it so much, its not as modern as other cars are.
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YouTube
^ The 4AGE is commonly converted back from EFI to Carbed.
I would have to make my own runners for my 3VZ-FE to be converted back to carb which means learning how to weld. The hard part would be getting the hall effect sensor in the distributor to play nice without a computer, thats assuming it doesn't already. And to feed that signal to the igniter. I suppose I could use an arduino.
I would need a test engine that works. And spare distributors and components that I can simply bolt onto the test engine to try them out on. Thankfully toyota has put part numbers on everything which makes finding the exact part that I need online very easy.
There are a few 3VZ-FE engines on ebay going off for $1,6 to $2k. I'll shop around though as I should be able to get one cheaper. Assuming that I ever do this at all. I need a job first before I even begin to think about this. A DCOE carbed 3VZ-FE would certainly open up possibilities for a lot of power and torque and throttle response out the wazoo. And if that isn't enough fun a dual turbo setup would make things even more insane.
I was thinking of joining a mens shed but don't know if its for the elderly only or what. Will have to do some enquiries.
^ The 4AGE is commonly converted back from EFI to Carbed.
I would have to make my own runners for my 3VZ-FE to be converted back to carb which means learning how to weld. The hard part would be getting the hall effect sensor in the distributor to play nice without a computer, thats assuming it doesn't already. And to feed that signal to the igniter. I suppose I could use an arduino.
I would need a test engine that works. And spare distributors and components that I can simply bolt onto the test engine to try them out on. Thankfully toyota has put part numbers on everything which makes finding the exact part that I need online very easy.
There are a few 3VZ-FE engines on ebay going off for $1,6 to $2k. I'll shop around though as I should be able to get one cheaper. Assuming that I ever do this at all. I need a job first before I even begin to think about this. A DCOE carbed 3VZ-FE would certainly open up possibilities for a lot of power and torque and throttle response out the wazoo. And if that isn't enough fun a dual turbo setup would make things even more insane.
I was thinking of joining a mens shed but don't know if its for the elderly only or what. Will have to do some enquiries.
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I described the failure of the in tank system on a 1989 Eagle Summit (Mitsubishi Mirage) already.
The other fuel pump failure happened on my very first car, a 1949 Plymouth Special. Mechanical fuel injection and the transistor had both been invented a few years before this car was made but it ran a one barrel carb on the flathead 6 cylinder rated at a powerful 97 horsepower. It ran a blazing 22. something in the 1/4 mile, which I would improve to the high 17's over several years.
The car had a mechanical "two-stage" fuel pump mounted on the side of the engine block, actuated by an eccentric lobe on the camshaft. One "stage" pumped fuel from the tank to the carb. The other stage was a "booster" in series with engine vacuum to create a steady suction which operated the vacuum pumped windshield wipers. Even in stock configuration the windshield wipers ceased operation when the gas pedal hit the floor. One of my many modifications was a "hot rod" camshaft custom ground by Harvey Crane. Crane Cams used to be a South Florida company and a sponsor of a friends racing hydroplane. He took my project as an exercise in memory and nostalgia, and I got a free camshaft. This lead to a reduction in windshield wiper performance which is a big deal in South Florida's rainy summers.
The car was running fine but I kept smelling gasoline, but could not find a leak. I soon began to notice that the oil consumption had decreased, and eventually the oil level began to increase and smell like gasoline. The fuel pump still pumped fuel, but leaked a bit of it into the crankcase.