Eliana, my mostly-stock 2001 PFL

[inigopete]

@Joesson that's a superb idea, thank you! I've got a carpet shop just over the road from my shop, so I'll have a chat with them.

Good shout about the steering column seal, I'll check that. I'm pretty sure the leak is from the dent in the seal around the driver's door window, more or less straight above the interior door handle. When I picked up the car, for some reason there was a small metal tab pressed around the seal - top right in this photo:

IMG_4246 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

I remember asking on here about it when I first got the car, because it seemed to be a source of water ingress, and also wind noise at higher speeds (that's an old photo). I've since folded the tab out - what's the point of that tab anyway? - and the seal has expanded slightly, so the wind noise has gone down, and the seal against the glass is improved but still allows a few drops through when the car's getting rained on. I think this is the historic source of the moisture and slight mouldy smell that's been there for the last year or so.

I've ordered some Liqui Moly rubber care stuff which I'm going to use on all the seals, which I hope will expand them a bit and increase their flexibility, and hopefully keep further moisture out. I'll obviously test that before I fit new underlay and re-fit the carpet! Any advice on what I should do with that silly metal tab?

P.S. good point about the screws in the centre console - weirdly, they were the rearward one on the driver's side and the forward one on the passenger side! Which makes me think at some point someone's lost a couple of them. Touch wood, I haven't had a problem with the handbrake so far - I've always tried to do the caliper-resetting pedal pumping when I park at home, before applying the handbrake. So at the moment it's biting well at 5-6 clicks, which I'm happy with.

P.P.S. I'm going to attempt to swap the seat backs while they're out, to move the worn sections from the driver's seat belt, to the passenger side.

[J88TEO]

Small metal tab should be folded outwards not bent like that.

[inigopete]

@J88TEO thanks! Fortunately that's what everyone else on here said when I asked about it, so I folded it outwards back in autumn, but there's still a bit of a dent in the rubber seal and I think that lets in rain when it's coming down hard at the right angle.

However, @Joesson - look at that... :O

IMG_7279 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

[J88TEO]

Usual culprit.

[Joesson]

@inigopete
That has seen better days!
I got my new seal from TCB. I used a smear of silicone grease where the seal meets the column.

[inigopete]

I had a busy few days last week!

A package arrived from J-Spec (less than 24 hours after ordering - thanks Andy!) so the first job was to take the front plastics out, and to replace the windscreen wiper linkage. The rattly linkage was replaced with one with nice crisp pivots and a chance to clean the area just forward of the windscreen out.

IMG_7311 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

[inigopete]

Next, to lift the front end off the ground (remembering to chock the rear wheels) and investigate that coolant leak. Looks like I found the source. :/

IMG_7329 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

It looked like it was only from the hose, around where it was clamped. I removed the rusting clamp (that wasn't as easy as I'd expected - they're very springy!), pushed the hose a little further along the metal pipe and fitted a new jubilee clamp to hold it in place. I hope this has fixed it.

[inigopete]

I hadn't spent a lot of time under the front end and had planned some work on the steering, so had a bit of a clean up while I was in there. I'd had occasional odd combinations of warning lights coming on during the winter, so I've been disconnecting all the connectors, cleaning with contact cleaner and re-connecting as I've spotted them.

I thought I'd double-check the earth connectors, behind the fuse box. The bolts were pretty stiff but started loosening... until they sheared. :/

IMG_7308 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

(in the background of the image)

...there's not a lot of spare wire and I didn't have a lot of spare time, so the simplest solution seemed to be to use the rear-most bolt from the fuse box. I put a wire wool disc on the drill and removed the paint from the surrounding support, made sure all the surfaces I wanted to be electrical contacts were shiny metal, used some contact cleaner and bolted it all together.

IMG_7309 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

IMG_7310 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

I re-connected the battery, turned the ignition on and all seemed well. No warning lights, no issues... fingers crossed!

[inigopete]

I'd bought some Liqui Moly Gummipflege seal restorer and worked it into all the seals, especially that problem area under the Stupid Clip on the driver's side. I hope it's restored enough flexibility that it seals better now - we haven't had any hard rain to test it out yet, but it's looking slightly better, I think.

I'd bought some W5W LED bulbs (after checking them out very thoroughly to make sure they were canbus-safe) and replaced the boot lid brake lights with them. I nearly had someone in a Land Rover drive into the back of me the other day, and wanted to make sure I was maximally visible as drivers of colossal vehicles don't seem to notice MR2s. They're red LEDs so the colour is pretty much the same from the outside (I knew white LEDs would make the brake lights look a bit orange when bright), and have had no electrical problems since fitting them.

[inigopete]

The next job was a big one, but it made sense to do it while I had the seats, carpets and centre console out: replace the speakers. I chose Focal 165 speakers for this, because I've got a pair in the Sensible Car and they sound lovely.

There are various guides around, including this one on here but the main information I needed was how to remove the door cards, which I found via this great video:
https://youtu.be/qHEjCLGzRm8?si=k648vU2wiajO5k44

IMG_7319 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

...and then the various forum posts on here and Spyderchat which prepared me for re-using the stock speaker parts. This made fitting the woofers much easier, because the stock speaker surrounds have the right internal diameter, so as long as you're happy cannibalising the stock speakers, you have a ready-made mount that's relatively easy to fit the new woofer into.

IMG_7325 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

IMG_7326 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

While the door card was off, I used some Soudal butyl flashing tape on the inside of the door panel. I didn't go nuts, but I think a little bit of sound deadening / booming reduction is better than nothing.

They went in well, eventually, and I removed the stock tweeter plastics from the top of the door card, modified the Focal angling ring and hot-glued it to the door card. I fitted the crossover on the inside of the inner door skin, making sure throughout that nothing got in the way of the window as it went down.

It was a time-consuming job but the second door / speaker set was much quicker than the first because I knew what to do by then. It's all gone together well and sounds very nice even with the stock radio. It's louder when it needs to be (not that that's what I was after), and much much clearer.

P.S. looking at the inner door skin photo, it seems like there's provision there for a three-way speaker setup - has anyone done this? Was it a factory option at some point?

[inigopete]

Next job was an important one: replacing my slightly-concerning rusty steering universal joint. I'd ordered a decent used one from J-Spec in the past, and a gaiter kit from @Snelbaard and, following the revelation above, a new "lower dust boot seal" from MR2-Ben which took a couple of days longer than expected to turn up.

The bolt around the steering column was a little awkward to remove but lots of wire brushing, lots of soaking with Brunox followed by a hefty amount of leverage and the bolt remover socket recommended by @Gaz mr-s and it finally came free.

Removing the UJ from the steering rack was another matter though! I didn't want to damage the rubber shield around the shaft as it enters the rack, so I had to find a way to hit the UJ up away from the rack, along the direction of its splines. I double-checked I'd completely removed the bolt on the other end of the UJ, inside the car, so that it had somewhere to move, away from the steering rack, then basically lined up a drift as well as I could and tried to swing a hammer as hard as possible in the tiny space forward of the UJ, without clouting the fans on the back of the radiator, any power steering piping, the cross-member, or my knuckles... I failed at that last one, a bit.

But eventually it started coming loose, and finally it was free of the steering rack. As other people have noted, it's really important to make sure your wheels are pointing dead ahead, and the steering wheel is centred, and everything that can turn is marked to make sure it stays in place when you fit the new UJ. Otherwise your steering wheel will be perpetually off-centre when you're driving straight ahead, which would definitely irritate me on my car.

I wire-brushed the steering rack splines before reassembling and it all went together neatly with plenty of grease, anti-seize and shuffling and knocking it back into place.

IMG_7344 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

IMG_7340 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

The next step was to flush through the power steering fluid...

[inigopete]

As well as replacing the murky-looking power steering fluid I wanted to clean out the motor in the pump. I found this guide over on Spyderchat to be super useful for this:

https://www.spyderchat.com/threads/how-to-clean-out-your-power-steering-motor.154934/

I sucked out the reservoir's fluid with a syringe - it didn't look nice:

IMG_7345 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

I was glad I was outside when cleaning out the motor - there was a LOT of reddish-brown dust in there that I didn't particularly want to breathe in. The brushes / commutators before:

IMG_7346 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

...and after:

IMG_7347 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

And I also cleaned out the metal cap very thoroughly, and had to really take care and use some sticky grease (Motorex 2000, the stuff I use on bicycle bearings) to hold that wavy washer in the bottom of the cap when re-assembling, but it all went back together smoothly.

Then it was time to refill the reservoir and flush the system through. I re-connected the outlet pipe, the lower metal one, to the pump, as I re-fitted the pump, but left the return pipe (the rubbery one held on with a metal clamp), the upper one, disconnected and set it up with the end draining into an old 2l milk container.

I used Ravenol E-PSF fluid, it was CLEAR and colourless, which told me a fluid refresh was definitely rather overdue! After starting the engine, running it for a few seconds to power up the pump, then switching it off, I went through a few cycles of topping up the reservoir, turning the steering wheel fully to one side, watching the fluid level to make sure it wasn't below the bottom of the reservoir, then turning the steering wheel fully to the other side. Then top up the reservoir and repeat.

I got through about 1.5l (one and a half bottles) of fluid before I decided the returning fluid draining into the milk carton was looking pretty clear, although it was still a bit yellow. I re-connected the return pipe and re-fastened the clip, fully topped up the reservoir (to the COLD MAX line), put the cap back on and then lowered the car back down to the ground and took it for a test drive.

It felt superb! The steering no longer had any slack between turning the wheel and feeling the wheels respond (it didn't have a lot before, but the new UJ was definitely crisp-er than the old one), the pump was noticeably quieter, and the steering felt lighter. Definitely a success.

[inigopete]

I'd also fitted new underlay under the carpet before re-fitting that, then the centre console, then the seats:

IMG_7317 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

I'd dried and cleaned the underlay under the carpet forward of the seats while it was out of the car, leaving it in the sun on three or four successive hot sunny days after spraying liberally with Dettol, and it seems to have removed the smell, so I re-used that. Not least because its thickness is shaped to match the contours of the footwell. I added a layer of underlay over the top as well, to perhaps help with some sound-proofing.

[inigopete]

One more thing I wanted to do was smarten up the headlights a bit. They'd been cloudy since I bought the car last year, and while I was giving it a bit of love it seemed a good time to have a go at them.

The front plastics were still out, so I removed the top bolts holding the bumper on, the two bolts holding the bumper to the wheel arch and front nappy, and cautiously tried to loosen the lower bolts securing the headlights... which BOTH sheared as I tried to remove them! I didn't have time to properly drill them out but there looked to be enough material there to slot the lights onto and secure them, so for now the stubs of the bolts are just left in place. I hope they hold!

Before:

IMG_7349 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

I used the one-step polish in the photo and a dual-action polisher with a coarse disc on relatively low speed, and was slightly amazed that they cleaned up very quickly. Only about four minutes' polishing, then wiping it off with a soft cloth, left this result:

IMG_7350 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

...which I'm pretty happy with! I masked off the surrounding area with some newspaper and sprayed them with some UV-protecting gloss lacquer, left that to dry while I had a cup of tea, then carefully replaced the main bulbs with some Osram Night Breaker Silver H4 bulbs, which I'd been meaning to do for a while, and fitted the headlights back in.

I thought I'd check out the radiator while I had the bumper gently leant away from the front cross-member. It's not a nice sight. Having ticked a few jobs off the list, I've got at least one new (big) one on it!

IMG_7348 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

P.S. and I then gave the car a very thorough wash and clean and took it on a 400-mile round trip up to Essex, over to the Cotswolds and back, to pick up my oldest friend and then hang out with several other old friends to celebrate a 50th birthday. It was a gorgeous sunny weekend, we had the top down the whole way, and back, and the car behaved flawlessly. As ever, it was a joy to drive.

I'm calling that a win!

[Gaz mr-s]

👏👏👏👏👏👏

[tadekk]

Superb work! The photo above is the AC condenser. Does your AC still work?

[inigopete]

Superb work! The photo above is the AC condenser. Does your AC still work?

Ah! That's both a relief (it's not the car's main cooling system that's so knackered) and an explanation - the AC does not work. I hadn't investigated it at all since buying the car last year; I very rarely have reason to use it (top down unless it's raining, mostly!) but driving with an old friend on motorways at the weekend in temperatures over 30 degrees, it would have been useful to be able to put the top up and turn the AC on.

This leaves me with a quandary: buy a new condenser and fix the AC, or delete the whole system? Pros and cons...

New condenser:
+ working AC
+ keeps car's original spec
+ helps re-sale value of car
- costs £££
- takes time
- might be a can of worms, needing drier, o-rings, +++?

Delete AC:
+ saves weight
+ simplifies car
+ probably relatively easy to do, needing only time and tools I already have
- reduces re-sale value of car
- leaves button on the dashboard that looks like it should do something, but doesn't
- means reduced de-misting, or cooling the car on really hot days / motorways

Do nothing:
+ very easy - no time or tools required
- continuing background irritation that a part of my lovely car doesn't work the way I'd like it to!

[tadekk]

This leaves me with a quandary: buy a new condenser and fix the AC, or delete the whole system? Pros and cons...

20+ year old AC system that has been not been sealed for unknown time will almost certainly be an expensive can of worms (especially relative to overall value of the car).

If your considering fixing it, get an independent mobile technician to gas it temporarily to confirm

• how bad the leak is (my 156 was proper gushing),
• if it is only the condenser leaking (most seals would have dried up), and
• if the compressor kicks in when gassed (might have seized).

On my 1999 Alfa 156, I caught it in time and "only" had to replace the condenser which with labour came to over £300. I'm glad I paid for someone to do it, as I would not have been able to separate the condenser joints fused to the fragile pipework. It worked OK for next 2 years - it was definitely leaking in other places, but I sold the car before it all escaped.

I'm not sure if working AC affects the value of a convertible, and J-Spec will sell you a heater panel with no AC button if you wish. That said, I am happy my MR2 is working and intend to keep it that way

Also, if you delete AC perhaps keep the old condenser in place, as it does protect the radiator (sacrifically)

[bobo83]

This leaves me with a quandary: buy a new condenser and fix the AC, or delete the whole system? Pros and cons...

Have you decided where to fix the AC? I am faced with the same dilemma.

Also, did you find new condensers for sale ?

[J88TEO]

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/car-parts/condenser-10455/toyota/mr-2/mr-2-iii-zzw3/14535-1-8-16v-vt-i-zzw30
Sorry ...OOS!

[puma2]

  all i can say is keep up the very good work your doing nice to see your handy work and well documented  

[inigopete]

@puma2 thank you - helps me remember what I did when! (although I do have a geeky spreadsheet too )

@J88TEO that's a great thing to keep an eye out for, thanks.

@bobo83 I'm sitting at the "do nothing" stage at the moment, mainly because I haven't looked for someone who can competently work on it... and because it's the cheapest option!

[jvanzyl]

As well as replacing the murky-looking power steering fluid I wanted to clean out the motor in the pump. I found this guide over on Spyderchat to be super useful for this:

https://www.spyderchat.com/threads/how-to-clean-out-your-power-steering-motor.154934/

I sucked out the reservoir's fluid with a syringe - it didn't look nice:

IMG_7345 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

I was glad I was outside when cleaning out the motor - there was a LOT of reddish-brown dust in there that I didn't particularly want to breathe in. The brushes / commutators before:

IMG_7346 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

...and after:

IMG_7347 by Pete Owen, on Flickr

And I also cleaned out the metal cap very thoroughly, and had to really take care and use some sticky grease (Motorex 2000, the stuff I use on bicycle bearings) to hold that wavy washer in the bottom of the cap when re-assembling, but it all went back together smoothly.

Then it was time to refill the reservoir and flush the system through. I re-connected the outlet pipe, the lower metal one, to the pump, as I re-fitted the pump, but left the return pipe (the rubbery one held on with a metal clamp), the upper one, disconnected and set it up with the end draining into an old 2l milk container.

I used Ravenol E-PSF fluid, it was CLEAR and colourless, which told me a fluid refresh was definitely rather overdue! After starting the engine, running it for a few seconds to power up the pump, then switching it off, I went through a few cycles of topping up the reservoir, turning the steering wheel fully to one side, watching the fluid level to make sure it wasn't below the bottom of the reservoir, then turning the steering wheel fully to the other side. Then top up the reservoir and repeat.

I got through about 1.5l (one and a half bottles) of fluid before I decided the returning fluid draining into the milk carton was looking pretty clear, although it was still a bit yellow. I re-connected the return pipe and re-fastened the clip, fully topped up the reservoir (to the COLD MAX line), put the cap back on and then lowered the car back down to the ground and took it for a test drive.

It felt superb! The steering no longer had any slack between turning the wheel and feeling the wheels respond (it didn't have a lot before, but the new UJ was definitely crisp-er than the old one), the pump was noticeably quieter, and the steering felt lighter. Definitely a success.

Great post- I will be doing this in the best future.

[inigopete]

Well, it's been a long time without an update...

In October I bought some "Car Gods" dark blue polish and had a go at the whole car, including the hard top, with it and the DAS, one panel at a time. It made a big difference, although that blue stuff goes everywhere - I still need to clean up the black plastics where they've got blue smears on them. :/

Last week I changed the oil, oil filter and air filter, cleaned the MAF sensor and pre-emptively Brunox-ed the post-cat O2 sensor in case I need to remove it. I got a one-off P0136 error code, which is Bank 1 Sensor 2, which I _think_ is the low-down hard-to-access pig-to-remove one. But 50 miles later it hasn't reappeared.

Which is good, because I had an MOT today... which it failed.
"Parking brake inoperative on one side Nearside Rear
Parking brake efficiency below requirements."

The handbrake's not working on one side - I'd been meaning to service the rear calipers over the summer. Looks like I might also need @Carolyn's recent guide on replacing the handbrake cables. Is it best practice to do those at the same time?

[Carolyn]

The handbrake's not working on one side - I'd been meaning to service the rear calipers over the summer. Looks like I might also need @Carolyn's recent guide on replacing the handbrake cables. Is it best practice to do those at the same time?

There's all kinds of things that might be causing the poor handbrake performance. It's probalby worth going through making sure all is as it should be with the caliper before getting stuck in to cables.

If you do have a stretched or stiff cable, you might as well do both so you noly have to lower the tank once.