5mgte mystery solved (a bit long)
Got my 5mgte auto sorted out in a day by my wrench, Tony Ortega.. I just had a 20 mile tour in it and it runs fine. This was just a week after we found the wiring mixup in the 7mgte auto. Now with both operating the problem will be to get some breakin miles on them.
The 5mgte horror story has some lessons in it. In 5/01 the 5mge head gasket blew. Some months later, I hooked up with Ortega who had the 7m turbo pieces and put them on the dead engine. Jack at Jack’s Fuel Injection said he had a late Cressida engine from his mother’s car, that he had overhauled some time before. We made a deal to install it. My plan was that he could tune the turbo and set the cartech rrfpr with the install. He seemed to run a good shop, was hands on with carbs, had a project 350 in a Ranger.
Seemed like a good idea that took a couple of MONTHS. First they hooked up an oil line backwards and fried the bearings. Out it came, in with new bearings. Then there was a coolant leak between the head and the block. Off with the head to mill it 4-5 thousandths. He commented that it ran lean on his machine and he couldn’t figure it out. He finally quit the job and said to come take it away. I drove it (limped it) the 6 miles from the shop to my house in Feb/02. It would buck and fail at any load just past idle and the check engine light would come on at 1900 rpm unloaded.
It sat until time for Vegas 02. I had it detailed and Phil Dupler came over and manually set the rrfpr similar to his. With Phil following me, I drove it the 10-12 miles to the Luxor. As I pulled in someone said I seemed to be dripping oil. Checked and found the front crank seal had blown and no oil on the dipstick. Many thanks to Don Lew who trailered it back to my house for me. So there it sat until September when I had Ortega put the front seals in. I also drained and replaced the fuel. I parked it till now.
After Tony got the 7mgte running right, he turned to the 5mgte. It took only a day and a knowledgeable guy to straighten it out. What we found :
LEAN and STUMBLE UNDER LOAD – The Cartech rrfpr was hooked to the fuel line TO the engine (not to the Tank)….should have been in the return line. Duh. How did a FI/Carb guy like Jack’s with the instructions in hand do this?
TIMING - retarded about 10 degrees It looks like they didn’t short the check connector maybe because they had broken it off the wires.
CHECK ENGINE LIGHT – After I got a check connector on, a code 52 showed. Looked like the knock sensor wasn’t plugged in (or so I thought) Turns out there was no knock sensor AND there was no place for one on the block. WHAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!! 5Ms from 85 on have knock sensors. Tony tacked a bung on to the block. The GOOD NEWS is that the engine must be an early model with lower 8.8 compression.
So why didn’t I just take it to Tony Ortega instead. Welllllllll. After he put the turbo pieces on, I lost track of him. He didn’t have a shop space at the time. Jim Coble with a Pease/Culbertson 7mgte conversion connected me with Roy Cruz with a locally done 7mgte conversion. Roy took me over to that shop and, bingo, it was Ortega. So full circle, the 5mgte project got me my 7mgte and completed the 5mgte. I now have a great Toyota wrench and resource. Tony is a MKIII guy connected to the local drag scene.
Got my 5mgte auto sorted out in a day by my wrench, Tony Ortega.. I just had a 20 mile tour in it and it runs fine. This was just a week after we found the wiring mixup in the 7mgte auto. Now with both operating the problem will be to get some breakin miles on them.
The 5mgte horror story has some lessons in it. In 5/01 the 5mge head gasket blew. Some months later, I hooked up with Ortega who had the 7m turbo pieces and put them on the dead engine. Jack at Jack’s Fuel Injection said he had a late Cressida engine from his mother’s car, that he had overhauled some time before. We made a deal to install it. My plan was that he could tune the turbo and set the cartech rrfpr with the install. He seemed to run a good shop, was hands on with carbs, had a project 350 in a Ranger.
Seemed like a good idea that took a couple of MONTHS. First they hooked up an oil line backwards and fried the bearings. Out it came, in with new bearings. Then there was a coolant leak between the head and the block. Off with the head to mill it 4-5 thousandths. He commented that it ran lean on his machine and he couldn’t figure it out. He finally quit the job and said to come take it away. I drove it (limped it) the 6 miles from the shop to my house in Feb/02. It would buck and fail at any load just past idle and the check engine light would come on at 1900 rpm unloaded.
It sat until time for Vegas 02. I had it detailed and Phil Dupler came over and manually set the rrfpr similar to his. With Phil following me, I drove it the 10-12 miles to the Luxor. As I pulled in someone said I seemed to be dripping oil. Checked and found the front crank seal had blown and no oil on the dipstick. Many thanks to Don Lew who trailered it back to my house for me. So there it sat until September when I had Ortega put the front seals in. I also drained and replaced the fuel. I parked it till now.
After Tony got the 7mgte running right, he turned to the 5mgte. It took only a day and a knowledgeable guy to straighten it out. What we found :
LEAN and STUMBLE UNDER LOAD – The Cartech rrfpr was hooked to the fuel line TO the engine (not to the Tank)….should have been in the return line. Duh. How did a FI/Carb guy like Jack’s with the instructions in hand do this?
TIMING - retarded about 10 degrees It looks like they didn’t short the check connector maybe because they had broken it off the wires.
CHECK ENGINE LIGHT – After I got a check connector on, a code 52 showed. Looked like the knock sensor wasn’t plugged in (or so I thought) Turns out there was no knock sensor AND there was no place for one on the block. WHAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!! 5Ms from 85 on have knock sensors. Tony tacked a bung on to the block. The GOOD NEWS is that the engine must be an early model with lower 8.8 compression.
So why didn’t I just take it to Tony Ortega instead. Welllllllll. After he put the turbo pieces on, I lost track of him. He didn’t have a shop space at the time. Jim Coble with a Pease/Culbertson 7mgte conversion connected me with Roy Cruz with a locally done 7mgte conversion. Roy took me over to that shop and, bingo, it was Ortega. So full circle, the 5mgte project got me my 7mgte and completed the 5mgte. I now have a great Toyota wrench and resource. Tony is a MKIII guy connected to the local drag scene.
