Just bought a TTE turbo - very excited!

[Rubber Ducky]

Boost spike sorted! I removed the spring and ball from the boost controller and the spike had gone - very relieved. It now pulls cleanly on full throttle at just over 0.5 bar of boost. There's a slightly funny noise above about 5500RPM where the engine sounds like a buzz saw - is this normal? Could it be something like the timing chain tensioner on its way out?

[shnazzle]

Excuse my ignorance but by removing the ball and spring from the valve, aren't you negating the purpose of the valve? Without the ball/spring it's always leaking boost isn't it?

[s12vea]

You might as well just remove the boost controller.

Between 3-4K it should be making 0.67 bar as a guide

[s12vea]

Or 9.72 psi

[Rubber Ducky]

Excuse my ignorance but by removing the ball and spring from the valve, aren't you negating the purpose of the valve? Without the ball/spring it's always leaking boost isn't it?

You're removing the gate feature, but the valve still restricts the flow, allowing you to raise the boost. There's no boost leaking.

[Rubber Ducky]

Or 9.72 psi

My gauge isn't that accurate!

[Rubber Ducky]

Well after 10 days of ownership, I've done quite a bit. The high RPM rattle was just a heat shield - easily sorted.  I've replaced a few bits - steering column lower UJ, camchain tensioner, a lambda sensor, the stereo and aerial.  The annoying alarm (for which I only received a single fob) has been ripped out.  New rear tyres too.  And I've changed the boost gauge.

It's all coming along quite nicely except for one thing - it likes a drink of oil. The main suspect is the piston rings (it's an early 1zz, after all), but it could be valve seats or turbo bearings.  Anyway, it's off to Bonsai Garage in Weston Super Mare next Friday - fingers crossed...

[skippa]

Good luck...it sounds like your gradually sorting things out
How many miles have you done to suspect high oil consumption?

[s12vea]

You shouldn't be noticing oil consumption so early. How much have you used in ten days?

[1979scotte]

Turbo oil seals
Turbo oil return or feed.
Thats what i would be looking at.

[Rubber Ducky]

Initial oil consumption rate seems to be about a litre every 250 miles.  I'll see what the garage say on Friday, but I'm fearing the worst.  Not a happy bunny...

[s12vea]

Best of luck

[SuperArt]

You could always put the kit in a different car and sell off body, chassis and interior parts to recoup some funds.
Fingers crossed for you.

[stevex]

Removed for now.

[jvanzyl]

Just wondering what happened with this? Did Bonsai sort it out?

[s12vea]

It was sold last week on eBay. I imagine the problem was resolved  s:( s:(

[stevex]

Nope, he sold the car on - to me, wish I had found this thread earlier, and I did scour the internet for threads on TTE mk3's didn't find anything typical. Just found this today when I registered to look for some background info on TTE conversions in general.

*REMOVED ADD*

No mention of any issues in that add, sounds great right? He said it just wasn't for him, I did think only a few months ownership was suspicious, but I liked the little thing and he seemed an honest gent at the time. I now I find out it's his second MR2 roadster so clearly he did like them and thought they were for him!

I asked before purchase about the motor and if it lost oil, he said it didn't. Also lied to me about a few other things I asked about such as boost and the controller (he said he never touched it since purchase and it was always running stock), as it raised some suspicion about running high boost and I was concerned, he also claims to have changed the valve stem seals at the end of May along with the chain tensioner. However, in this thread he changed the tensioner in March, so I doubt he even did the valve stem oil seals like he told me. When I went to drive the car away after doing the deal, he threw the rocker cover gasket in the car and said he didn't use it, I thought it odd. Change the valve seals and replace a 16 year old gasket with a 16 year old gasket when you already bought a new one? Clearly it would suggest he didn't do any further work on the car and just decided to pass his misfortune onto an unsuspecting punter. So all in all I am not too happy. What was supposed to be a fun time having a cool little runaround to save my daily driver and for the wife and I to use has turned into something all together sour and ruined the experience. It's a shame because I do love the little car, but now I don't know. I might just get the engine sorted and then sell it on, I'll obviously take a loss, but now it's taken away the enthusiasm and fun out of it all. All this in just one week  s:( s:(

I never sell rubbish or fob people off, I seriously look after my vehicles and possessions and always get them sorted, so it seriously bugs me when someone does it to me, you expect things to go wrong with an old car, hence not even bothered about the suspension and other bits. But to outright lie to me and deceive me to buy the car is low.

I paid £3600 for the car, the rear suspension needed sorting so I've changed that already and fitted new Sachs OE shocks on the TTE springs. Had some tidying of body work and interior which I am working through but, the plugs are black, it had lost oil just getting it home and there is oil on top the pistons. Either it is the valve stems and he didn't change them or it's sticky oil rings I guess from the research I have done.

Bansai did a leak down test, smoke pro test on the turbo (whatever that is) and it all came out ok, they advised him valve stem seals to which as I said he told me he had done (provided a receipt for parts, but as we know I have the gasket here, maybe the seals are still sat in his garage too).

My best guess is, he either bought the seals and decided it was too much effort to change them, then decided to sell it on. Or maybe he had a go at fitting them, genuinely did use the old gasket (why?), found out it was still burning oil three weeks later and decided to pass it off to someone else.

I sent him a message saying about the problems already and it was a bit off, I just asked for a goodwill gesture from him for clearly fobbing me off with a duff car, he couldn't even admit it though, he just came back and said he was honest about the car and this must be a new fault since my ownership (within 5 days, 150 miles, and a few of those sat in the garage having the suspension sorted and some other bits and bobs tidied).

Seems RubberDucky *EDIT* was no more than a common crook, much like the person that sold it before him, that chain will end with me - I've actually got morals.

I do kinda feel for the guy, in one way I mean he bought a car with issues, looks like he paid £3900 and probably did spend a few hundred on it. But passing it on to me and trying to cover things up and just outright lying is pretty low, and that's what has got my back up. If he'd have said sorry and sent me like a small gesture I would have said ok, but he basically blocked me and ignored me after the message I sent. (*Edit, he did say he sent me a message, I never received it for some reason)

I'm now looking for someone decent to do a reasonably priced rebuild or overhaul of the engine. First price I got was from rogue and it was more than the car was worth lol, so if anyone knows of anyone, let me know.

There is a local chap that builds race engines that a friend knows, I might ask him to do some work on it on the side, might help keep the costs down. I mean the other option is that I could pull the valve cover and change the seals (again or for the first time who knows) and see if it does resolve it. I could also do a soak on the pistons to see if that helps in the interim. Another option is buying a second hand 1zz and just rebuilding it on a bench then getting it swapped one weekend.

There are some positives at least, the car's mileage (just under 52k), and MOT's stack up, 2 owners and it has service history, and the interior cleaned up well. Now the suspension is sorted if I get a few marks on the bodywork done, refurb the wheels to a high standard it will be looking very nice. If I can get the oil issue sorted for a reasonable cost then it will save a nice little mr2 roadster before it is too late.

[jvanzyl]

wow... man I'm sorry to hear about this... I saw the add on eBay and thought it strange that another Turbo had come up for sale again, just didn't realise it was the same one!

First up, location! If you let people know where you are based, I'm sure a fair few people will come out of the woodwork to lend a hand!

I can provide you with a decent shopping list for a soft rebuild courtesy of Carolyn (all the prices are the best you're likely to get) comes to about £300 but pretty much everything is new then.

I think "Ilovejapcrap" also bought new pistons with his rebuild from MAG, and they weren't too much at all really when you think of what you're getting.

You can take comfort in the fact that your turbo kit alone is work £2000 minimum. So if you ended up taking off the car and then selling the car stock (as an oil burner) you may not do too badly. But in all honesty I think most of us would love to see it carry on with a rebuilt engine  :-) :-) :-)

[wotugonado]

Unlucky, that's sh1tty to be fair and a lot of dough for a pre facelift. As jvanzyl says the turbo kit is worth a few quid so if you decide to cut your losses it will get you a chunk of your cash back. I will throw my hat in the ring and say if you do sell the turbo I may be willing to make you an offer for it. But getting the car back on the road would be the preferred option....

[stevex]

Thanks guys.

I'm in Swindon, Wiltshire.

Appreciate that Jvan, if you could PM me some more info re the list and where to get it from that would be really appreciated.

I guess you guys are right, at least the genuine TTE kit is worth a bit of cash, it also has an SP exhaust apparently. I'd like to get it sorted really rather than parting out the turbo kit and selling the rest spares or repair. It could be such a nice little fun car. I was well chuffed when I bought it as it ticked quite a few boxes (RWD, convertible, small engine, not bad on fuel, turbo fun  s:) s:) ). Now though, when I see it, it just gives me a bad feeling, that excitement and fun that I should be having went down the pan in just a few days of ownership. I don't want to go on but to be fair I am gutted. I even sold my mint motorbike that I'd built and replaced everything on over 5 years to make way for a new toy / runaround, and this is how it ended up. So yep, I've given up biking and ended up with an old oil burning toyota in the garage :/

Alarm bells did ring in my head when he mentioned valve stem seals, and the receipt for Bansai only a few weeks prior, that with the three month ownership thing should have sent me running. But like I said he showed me a receipt for them diagnosing to valve stem seals, and a receipt for the seals and claimed to have done them. He seemed like a well spoken, honest / decent chap - lesson learned I guess.

The other thing is I checked for smoke when driving it, couldn't see any noticeable smoke under boost or when ticking over. I later found out it only seems to smoke if you rev it at standstill and the turbo spools up a bit and you let off. Something I am not in the habit of doing to be fair. I took it for a spin, knew the handling needed a little work and the body and that was it. I was in two minds, was on my way to go and see a mk2 turbo up north when he accepted my offer, now I know why.

Anyhow, these motors are all new to me. Any help or advice would be super appreciated. If I can get it diagnosed and a plan sorted then I will have some options I think.


Thanks.

*edited due to typos on phone*

[Carolyn]

Might as well rebuild the engine you've got.  It's the same amount of work and you save £3-400 on buying another engine for rebuilding.  It's a lot of work, but very rewarding.

If you've got what it takes to take the engine out, then you'll manage a rebuild too.

I've rebuilt a few and now I'm actually enjoying my own rebuild in my own car.  The car was a bad oil burner (like yours) when I bought it.  I put in low mileage 04 engine. It also went through oil but at nothing like that rate.  I rebuilt the original MR S engine and then it sat for several months as I was able to live with the 04 engine.  Ding Day gave me the impetus to get on and put the original back in.

I'm 66 and I do find the heavy work onerous these days, but I did it single-handed.  Mind you, we've got a massive workshop and enough tools to sink a battle ship.

It's worth taking off part of the turbo outlet and seeing of it's oily inside.  However, at that rate of consumption, it will probably need valve seals and piston rings.

[wotugonado]

Measuring oil use would be good start. They can actually drink oil but still be with Toyota tolerance, but from reading this thread I don't think your going to be that lucky  s:( s:(  .  2zz engine swaps are becoming quite popular, so a post on here may get you a known 1zz engine for reasonable money.

[stevex]

Thanks for the reply Carolyn, the only thing is I really could do with having the car movable, it's still moderately usable / movable in it's current state as it stands. Maybe if I can just find a dirt cheap 1zz to build beside the car.

I haven't removed the pipes on the cold or hot side of the turbo yet, I'll see if I can take a look later thanks. The only sign of oil at the moment is on the plugs (threads and base of the plugs) and damp pistons in the plug holes. Also I took it round the block just now to collect my daughter from school. The slight hesitation / misfire is back occasionally when poodling around at low RPM.

Wotugonado, true, I emptied out the old black rubbish that was only half full, and put fresh 5w40 fully synth in last night with a new filter (shell helix ultra). I've only taken it down the road, still as clean as it was when I put it in, so I guess no lose nasty sludge kicking around that's drained straight to the sump. I guess I'll use it a few times to pick my daughter up this week then check oil again at the end of the week.

Another thing too, the plugs in it are the wrong ones, it's running vk16's the stock ones for a non-boosted engine, Toyota recommend colder 20's to stop detonation. Not that it will do much good changing them right now as they will be gummed up within a few miles.

[Carolyn]

Hi Steve.

Just open up the pipe from the turbo to the throttle body, (or to the intercooler).  You might just be suffering from blown oil seals in the turbo!!  The turbo can be resealed.  That's an awful lot of oil of you can see it on top of the pistons.

[stevex]

Thanks I did this and it is clean, only sign of oil is a spot on the turbo return feed into the sump, it's damp and mucky.

Sounds like it is either Valve Stem Seals or Oil rings.