LOL! Yeah, Slippery Slope!Yes that's the problem with upgrades. You keep finding new weak points!
Tony.
That's why I paid Mr. Shelby $650 for a pair of axles. Every autocross racer who was running the turbo Dodges were snapping CV joints coming out of the turns. Unfortunately he didn't have much magic to fix the weak transaxle in the Omni / Charger. The case itself would flex under the torque of the turbo motor forcing some misalignment that ate up mainshaft bearings. The factory Shelby Dodge cars had the ECU limited to 175 Ft. Lbs of torque for warantee reasons. Of course Mr. Shelby would sell you an ECU tuned up to over 200 Ft. Lbs and it's use would void your car's warantee, which I never had since I built my own car.
There were "girdles" and braces, and I had all of them. I used all the tricks Mr. Shelby and the rest of the Dodge crew told me, but I had to rebuild the transaxle every year or risk a self destruction event which happened once causing me to nearly crash the car......the front wheels locked at speed due to a bearing coming apart and the rollers winding up in the gears. The case fractured spilling parts and a lot of red stuff all over the road.
This reminds me of another secret Shelby told me. The factory recommended automatic transmission fluid in the manual transaxle, as did most auto manufacturers in the mid 80's. This was NOT the ideal fluid for the trans, it was done to boost the MPG numbers by about 1/4 an MPG. He recommended Mobil 1 engine oil in a specific weight which I can no longer remember.
Ummm, yeah.
The $10.00 dongle plugged in under the dash and smartphone app gave fault codes and all kinds of data/graphs.
Dan.
I own a FORD ELM327 OBD USB scanner designed to work with forscan. I'll give that a shot. Its got a switch on it which I think makes it compatible with ordinary OBD compliant vehicles and ford vehicles.
I've tried connecting to this '97 Vienta/Camry before with a different OBD usb adapter and couldn't get any communication from it. I've also tried it on various other Camrys and couldn't get any comms out of that either.
Maybe my OBD scanner is faulty. I know for certain that my Ford ELM327 modified one works fine as I used it on the Ford AU Falcon that I scrapped last year.
You must've had one of the XV10 widebody imports from Japan then because my car is made in Australia. It says so on the compliance plates. And on the Australian models they didn't have to comply with any OBD standards anywhere in the world and so therefore the OBD port simply doesn't exist on this model.
On the 1999-2001 models they had OBD ports but even them weren't OBD compliant, you can plug a tool into them and you will never get a response from the computer because the firmware simply doesn't support OBD fullstop.
The only port on mine that is underneath the dash is the diagnostic port and that is round, not rectangular, and that is a copy of the diagnostic port underneath the bonnet, and neither provide an OBD compliant signal.
All they do, as stated by the service manual, is provide test points for various sensors and the test points are digital outputs coming from the computer, one for each o2 sensor, one for the AFM, knock sensors, other stuff. etc.
And you stick a "SST" aka a "special service tool" or a piece of wire into E1 and another pin to get it into two test modes that you can choose from.
Making it most certainly not a OBD connector.
And I cannot see any OBD connector anywhere else on the car, and I looked thoroughly, and I've had this dash apart before.
I'm aware that on the US models you have to remove an ash-tray looking thing to get to the OBD connector, mine doesn't have anything like that.
like this: YouTube
But this is what I have to do: YouTube
And mine didn't throw any codes at all.
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Wrong engine coolant temperature sensor arrived today.
Going to go and buy another one from a local store tomorrow that will fit. For $90
One sensor has a M13 fitting, the other has M16, I need the M16 type. Despite both of them coming up in all catalogues as being compatible with my car only the M16 threaded one fits.
I wasted 3 days waiting for the wrong part to arrive from an ebay seller and another ebay seller sent me a faulty starter motor and that same seller sent me a starter motor that won't fit my car but is catalogued as if it will fit. That has got to be at least 3 strikes against the whole notion of buying car parts off ebay.
Oh yeah. I replaced the windscreen and it looks fantastic now. Like a brand new car. Even though O'Brien Glass also had problems with finding the right fitting glass for my car I'll let that one slide...
Going to go and buy another one from a local store tomorrow that will fit. For $90
One sensor has a M13 fitting, the other has M16, I need the M16 type. Despite both of them coming up in all catalogues as being compatible with my car only the M16 threaded one fits.
I wasted 3 days waiting for the wrong part to arrive from an ebay seller and another ebay seller sent me a faulty starter motor and that same seller sent me a starter motor that won't fit my car but is catalogued as if it will fit. That has got to be at least 3 strikes against the whole notion of buying car parts off ebay.
Oh yeah. I replaced the windscreen and it looks fantastic now. Like a brand new car. Even though O'Brien Glass also had problems with finding the right fitting glass for my car I'll let that one slide...
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I've not had a single problem with buying car parts off ebay, touch wood! However Peugeot's service box site where you put in the vin number of your car and you can get the exact part number suitable for your car, I'm sure has helped there.
There are two reasons I buy off ebay.
1. Some parts for my car are no longer available in Australia, but can often be found in the UK.
2. Even with international shipping included the cost of buying genuine parts from the UK is usually 1/2 to 1/3 the price I would pay for the same thing in Aus. If I don't need it in a hurry I'm happy to pay a lot less
Tony.
There are two reasons I buy off ebay.
1. Some parts for my car are no longer available in Australia, but can often be found in the UK.
2. Even with international shipping included the cost of buying genuine parts from the UK is usually 1/2 to 1/3 the price I would pay for the same thing in Aus. If I don't need it in a hurry I'm happy to pay a lot less
Tony.
Even in the US it is not uncommon to find several different non compatible parts used in the same vehicle of the same year.
Sometimes a popular car, engine, transmission, or other major component will be made in two different factories sometimes in two different countries. Even a parts counter guy in a major chain store may not know which part actually fits your car. Its likely that the radiator was sourced locally to wherever the car was made, hence the different fitting.
It took me several years to figure out that a 1999 Volvo V70 made in Sweden is NOT the same as a 1999 Volvo V70 made in Belgium. Mine was Belgian. Things like starter motors and sensors tend to be often different.
Often a single sourced vehicle may have gone through a "running change" sometime during its model year. We did this at work in an electronics manufacturing plant when a cheaper, or better part became available or sometimes just because a vendor pi$$ed us off, or the other way around.
I had a 1973 GMC van and needed a starter. Every one of the different starters listed for a 1973 GMC or Chevrolet van did not fit my engine. I asked the parts guy to look up a 1974 van and the starter was indeed different, and fit my van. They changed the mounting bracket sometime during the 1973 build year and the documentation didn't get updated until 1974.
This stuff happens with cars, electronics, and lots more stuff. Those of us who fixed tube type TV sets in the late 60's and early 70's will remember how many times the manufacturers own service manual didn't match the TV. I worked in a "Philco Authorized" shop. Philco was owned by Ford Motor Company at the time. Most of the TV sets were actually sold in Firestone Tire stores. We would get service books every year for all the new TV's. Every month or two we would get "bulletins" and "change updates" for all the stuff that changed during the past month or two. The independent shops were on their own, as were the independent parts stores.
I retired from a 41 year engineering career at Motorola. We did a good job of documenting our high $$$ police and public safety radios for large customers and Motorola owned shops. Even so, it took a month or two for the running changes to get out to the field, and none were released to non Motorola shops.
I'm sure the same thing happens in the automotive market. Ebay and it's independent sellers are way down the documentation food chain. You can't blame the sellers for this.
Sometimes a popular car, engine, transmission, or other major component will be made in two different factories sometimes in two different countries. Even a parts counter guy in a major chain store may not know which part actually fits your car. Its likely that the radiator was sourced locally to wherever the car was made, hence the different fitting.
It took me several years to figure out that a 1999 Volvo V70 made in Sweden is NOT the same as a 1999 Volvo V70 made in Belgium. Mine was Belgian. Things like starter motors and sensors tend to be often different.
Often a single sourced vehicle may have gone through a "running change" sometime during its model year. We did this at work in an electronics manufacturing plant when a cheaper, or better part became available or sometimes just because a vendor pi$$ed us off, or the other way around.
I had a 1973 GMC van and needed a starter. Every one of the different starters listed for a 1973 GMC or Chevrolet van did not fit my engine. I asked the parts guy to look up a 1974 van and the starter was indeed different, and fit my van. They changed the mounting bracket sometime during the 1973 build year and the documentation didn't get updated until 1974.
This stuff happens with cars, electronics, and lots more stuff. Those of us who fixed tube type TV sets in the late 60's and early 70's will remember how many times the manufacturers own service manual didn't match the TV. I worked in a "Philco Authorized" shop. Philco was owned by Ford Motor Company at the time. Most of the TV sets were actually sold in Firestone Tire stores. We would get service books every year for all the new TV's. Every month or two we would get "bulletins" and "change updates" for all the stuff that changed during the past month or two. The independent shops were on their own, as were the independent parts stores.
I retired from a 41 year engineering career at Motorola. We did a good job of documenting our high $$$ police and public safety radios for large customers and Motorola owned shops. Even so, it took a month or two for the running changes to get out to the field, and none were released to non Motorola shops.
I'm sure the same thing happens in the automotive market. Ebay and it's independent sellers are way down the documentation food chain. You can't blame the sellers for this.
You are going lean. I have turbo'ed car engines to almost 27psi. No melted pistons.... But they were forged alum alloy... strengthened rods... everything. But lean will melt anything. If in high boost..... add water/meth 50-50 injection to it to keep the temp just under melt-down. You can tell with a thermal couple in the exhaust manifold near the head as possible.
THx-RNmarsh
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Yeah The trouble is that my car was made in the very last days of the model run, dare I say right up to the cutoff date and it was probably hanging around on the car lot until 1999 as an unsold car as the newer model was being sold. But even so, even then going to a brick and mortar store and giving them a fake date will end up in the errornous year, it will end up in a part intended for the XV20 chassis despite that same database listing the part as intending for the XV10 chassis. If you type "Camry Vienta 1995 XV10" into their database you will get a part intended for the XV20 chassis camry made from 1997-1999. And I've seen this myself, its not the clerks fault, in fact the guy that I go to is a master mechanic he laughed when I went in yesterday because the database came up with some really weird part that doesn't fit at all.
The problem I think might be the fact that the americans have a 1MZ-FE engine in the XV10 chassis and have had that from 92-95 and that crosspollination of the US and AU/Asian database is whats causing a lot of problems. But that doesn't excuse the fact that its still difficult finding a part for an Australian made Ford Falcon that has NEVER been exported from the country. Its just bad database upkeep if you ask me.
I think I'll just buy parts off ebay if I have the Toyota part number handy from now on. That works perfectly fine for me. And for whatever I don't have part numbers for I'll go to a brick and mortar store and compare it to the photos in their database. I literally have to lean over the bench and ask them if I can look at their screen before I buy a part because my car is so kooky and their database is so errornous.
The actual model number on mine is VCV10R with the XV10 widebody chassis. But if you tap that into ANY database online or into any buisness around here its like my car doesn't even exist at all in any of them. Even if you narrow it down to 3VZ-FE engine with the A540E chassis you will still get parts intended for the XV20 chassis with the 1MZ-FE alloy block engine.
I literally had a guy roll up in a van the other day with glass meant to fit my mums camry which is the XV20 chassis intending for it to fit on my XV10 chassis camry. This is also not the first time I've had problems with finding parts on ebay, its been 6 times so far over the last 10 years that I've had problems finding parts for cars on ebay. Even inputting the engine model number and chassis type won't get you the right part, and the WORST part, they use a stock photo on their listings and the part that you receive is often not what the picture looks like.
So ebay sellers are NOT blameless, nobody is, even brick and mortar stores. What I'm saying is that the database is poor quality AND the ebay sellers don't even want to help out by giving us pictures of the actual parts.
You would think that at the very least they would check the database at least once and clear up any errors and save people some time. But its easier for them to continue to waste time for everyone than it is to just check their database once, or even offer suggestions to a pool and then by popular vote get the database modified.
But I'm not even concerned, I'm not pissed, nothing like that, because I have plenty of spare time available. I'm just concerned about everyone else who don't have the time and resources to do all of this running around. Or the money to be paying for return shipping on items that don't fit. Like me currently.
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The Australian Falcon may have not been exported but is is similar to several different Ford products carrying different names in the US. The older (60's) Falcons in your world look identical to the Falcons sold here. Some of the 70's flavors look like cars branded Mustang, Torino or Maverick in the US, depending on year. The later cars look like Ford Fusions currently sold here. I'm sure there are differences, especially with our unique emissions and safety laws, but under the skin they probably share a lot. Ford has done a lot to consolidate car lines all over the world for no other reason than saving money.
The US Ford Focus was a totally different car than the version sold all over the rest of the world until the current generation. Now they are all very similar. The European Focus was never sold here except for the turbo 5 cylinder Volvo C30 version which didn't sell well here despite being a rocket ship on wheels....with a little tweaking on the boost.
I melted several head gaskets and a few spark plug electrodes. One of my buddies got his piston crown so hot that he pushed the top ring down to the second ring (colapsed ring lands). He fried a few other parts too. It was one bad injector that caused one cylinder to run lean.
I ran plain water injection.......note to rookies plumb this into the system AFTER the intercooler. I used a Volkswagen fuel pump and a fuel injector for the water system. Use distilled water to avoid mineral deposits. As RNMarsh stated adding some methanol will boost the octane a bit more over plain water.
Another trick is to use an injector to spray water over the intercooler core when the boost goes over a certain threshold. I used 10 PSI so that the system never activated in "normal" street driving. It works wonders on a cool dry day, and so - so in the hot Florida summer.
This is how "helpful" ebay sellers are here at least:
*TOP QUALITY* Alternator For Toyota Vienta Vcv10r 3.0l 3vz-fe, | eBay
Recommends: DXA422
OEX Alternator 12V 70A Suits Denso DXA539 | eBay
Recommends: DXA539
*TOP QUALITY* Alternator For Toyota Vienta Vcv10r 3.0l 3vz-fe! | eBay
Recommends: DXA540
And when you go to the manufacturer website?
Home - OEX
No catalog available for download.
So in order to buy an alternator online I have to trundle on down to a place that sells alternators with my old alternator in tow and get them to sift through their paper catalog from oex in order to find the right part. Then rudely tell them that no, I don't want to buy it from them and that I'll buy it online.
I'm going to contact oex to get a copy of their catalog. But I shouldn't have to and I may not be able to if I'm not a business.
*TOP QUALITY* Alternator For Toyota Vienta Vcv10r 3.0l 3vz-fe, | eBay
Recommends: DXA422
OEX Alternator 12V 70A Suits Denso DXA539 | eBay
Recommends: DXA539
*TOP QUALITY* Alternator For Toyota Vienta Vcv10r 3.0l 3vz-fe! | eBay
Recommends: DXA540
And when you go to the manufacturer website?
Home - OEX
No catalog available for download.
So in order to buy an alternator online I have to trundle on down to a place that sells alternators with my old alternator in tow and get them to sift through their paper catalog from oex in order to find the right part. Then rudely tell them that no, I don't want to buy it from them and that I'll buy it online.
I'm going to contact oex to get a copy of their catalog. But I shouldn't have to and I may not be able to if I'm not a business.
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You politely say that you can't afford it now, you will look for a used or rebuilt one and maybe come back later when you have the money.....of course look the part when you do that....Don't show up in a Mercedes and expensive clothes and try to argue price.
I don't know the situation in Australia, but here we have junkyards, recycling centers or whatever you want to call the place where they drag all the wrecked, damaged or otherwise irreparable or unwanted cars to. These come in two kinds, those with a parts counter and they will pull the part for you, and those that will let you wander the yard, find what you want, and pull it yourself.
Both have a big book called the Hollander Interchange Manual. It lists all flavors of a particular part ever seen in your car, and all other cars that have been seen with the same part. They assign a Hollander Interchange number to that part, and some Ebay sellers post that number:
Hollander Interchange: The Best Tool for the Right Part
The books aren't cheap, but valuable info if you make friends with a junkyard operator that has one. A friend who raced cars managed to buy an old one from a junkyard.
After buying the turbo engine out of a wrecked 1984 Dodge Daytona for building my hot rod 1982 Charger, I had access to such a book in that junkyard, and run of the yard to shop for parts. Sometimes I could match up what I needed with something found in the book, then go buy it from a car dealership.....
For example there never was a fuel injected 1982 Charger, but there was an injected 1985 Charger. The book yielded the fact that the gas tanks were the same for both years, and the only difference between the years was the in tank fuel pump / gauge sender assembly. None of these cars were in the junkyard, so I had to buy the part from the dealership. A friend in a repair shop with a parts account at a local car dealership can save you about half the price on new replacement parts. That's where I got the $18 timing belts.
I did that a couple of times in the past and I thought that it was dishonest so I stopped doing it.
Watch the first Mad Max movie and you will see an aussie wrecking yard in that film when Max goes to get a tyre replaced. They don't look much different except the ones in the cities where I am have buildings/warehouses attached to them and wire fences all around.
The one over at Cardiff, Cardiff Auto Wreckers has a counter and they will go and get the part for you unless they can't in which case they'll ask you if you want to get it off yourself. I'm sure that I could go over there and get it off myself if I asked. Only problem is no wrecking yard locally actually has wrecked Vientas of my model. I have to look on ebay for wrecked Vientas with the 3VZ-FE engine and the part comes typically from Victoria.
And that is my problem, xxx,xxx many cars of my type got made and sold in Australia but I can't find them anywhere in the local wrecking yards. They all disappeared. I THINK that they all got exported to the Middle East and China as garbage.
Asian spare parts here are considered "rare". Now make that even more rare by the fact that the 4 cylinder engine outsold the V6 and I've got big problems.
I'll keep that in mind when I go meet my mechanic again maybe he has one too. I've never seen one being pulled out by a car wrecking yard here but I'll ask them.
I see you've played knifey spooney before. As Australians we like to make good friends with people behind counters with knives and various other weapons. Or so I see in the news fairly regularly.
I'm making good friends with a guy at the local Toyota dealership, I haven't yet tried this method on him though. Heres hoping that I can grease the wheels somewhat and get things cheaper. jk jk.
I've already decided on what kind of drive belt I want, a Gates FleetRunner Heavy Duty 6PK1050. But thanks for letting me know that I might be able to get a timing belt from Toyota for cheaper if I buy him a coffee and seranade him with a bunch of roses and a 6 pack of beer... how DO you make good friends with a local car dealership anyway?
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I've put Mobil Super 2000 X2 10w40 into the engine today by the way, along with a new Toyota oil filter. I filled up the oil filter all the way with oil and it immediately dropped to half full then I left it on the cement wall for a while and when I went back to it all of the oil was soaked up by the paper inside, I thought that was interesting. It took the whole 4 liter bottle, which is to be expected as the engine takes 4 liters.
The old oil that came out of it when it was in the catch pan was pitch black, but still golden brown on the dipstick. I thought it was rather interesting that the oil looked like water shimmering in the wind when it was in the catch pan. I'm thinking that some water or fuel might've gotten into it and changed its viscosity but I didn't see any rainbow effect on it nor do I have a way of testing if its contaminated, also the level on the dipstick didn't rise at all, so after considering the height registered on the dipstick is the same as it was before I'm thinking that it hasn't been contaminated. Its probably just 5w30, I can't quite remember the viscosity that I put in there.
Oh yeah I also washed and waxed the entire car, It looks great. But I've picked up some scratches from some cats wanting to **** on the rear boot which doesn't make me very happy. Also the paint on the passengers side front mud guard has come off as well as on the bonnet. But I know that the bonnet, rear passengers door, and front mud guard all need respraying anyway as the previous seller did a poor job of it.
I'm not too concerned about the paintwork, just as long as the main body frame of the car remains in good shape I'll be happy, and it still is. Everything else I can respray and I intend to at some point.
The old oil that came out of it when it was in the catch pan was pitch black, but still golden brown on the dipstick. I thought it was rather interesting that the oil looked like water shimmering in the wind when it was in the catch pan. I'm thinking that some water or fuel might've gotten into it and changed its viscosity but I didn't see any rainbow effect on it nor do I have a way of testing if its contaminated, also the level on the dipstick didn't rise at all, so after considering the height registered on the dipstick is the same as it was before I'm thinking that it hasn't been contaminated. Its probably just 5w30, I can't quite remember the viscosity that I put in there.
Oh yeah I also washed and waxed the entire car, It looks great. But I've picked up some scratches from some cats wanting to **** on the rear boot which doesn't make me very happy. Also the paint on the passengers side front mud guard has come off as well as on the bonnet. But I know that the bonnet, rear passengers door, and front mud guard all need respraying anyway as the previous seller did a poor job of it.
I'm not too concerned about the paintwork, just as long as the main body frame of the car remains in good shape I'll be happy, and it still is. Everything else I can respray and I intend to at some point.
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In the world of model aeroplane racing, I would describe our area of operation as '2 clicks from NEEE-EEE -Y-P' and we run 'water', no other way of getting 1/1 power / weight..... unless you Actually want to go thermal runaway Every run.
The Suzuki on methanol frazzles its plugs a bit - they might last three or four runs over 1/4 but WE like to change them every run to keep Sod and Murphy well away.
It does what it does and we know that it IS only the plugs frazzling cos we lift the lid every three events.
It runs German pistons, rods forged in Russia from British jet fighter wing spar, liners are Austrian iron / British chrome finish, some of the bits in the head are chromed too, crankshafts selected and fettled by two chaps who worked for Villiers Norton* and 'Rolls Royce'** and cylinder blocks / head blanks cast in the factory that made Reliant Robin blocks / heads...... and MRI scanner anulus'sss.
We have two engines of three built originally 25 years ago.
*'Punt Gun' John (lost contact, presumed deceased) worked on the development of the Norton Wankel and had things to say about plugs, sparks, fire, pistons and radially moving chambers.
** 'Mad' Allen (deceased) and I nominally worked for Rolls Royce under equal NDC.... his pay scale was Much Much higher than mine and when time allowed, had much fooling about with things / bits etc.
