1992 Toyota Celica All-Trac Turbo

I received my replacement clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder from RockAuto, and so I went out to my garage to do the replacement job.  Most everything went smoothly except for the stubborn nut connecting the hard line to the clutch cylinder and the air in the system upon installation.

Surprisingly, the parts from RockAuto were the right parts.  In the past, I’ve received many wrong parts (intended for a Celica GT-S, mostly, instead of the All-Trac) so it’s always a bit of a gamble with them.  But the prices were really cheap, so it’s no big loss for me to take the chance, hehe…

The master cylinder was suprisingly easy to remove.  Disconnect at the clutch pedal, unscrew 2 screws holding the cylinder assembly to the firewall, and then with a little wiggling (without removing anything else: shocking, I know!) it came right out.

The slave cylinder requires you to remove the one bolt holding the hard line to the tranny first, then the two bolts holding the cylinder itself to the tranny.  And then I tried to unscrew the bolt holding the hard line to the cylinder and it didn’t budge and I was starting to strip the bolt…  So I sprayed my trifecta of PB Blaster, Freeze-Off, and Deep Creep on it.  It didn’t do much.  So then I remembered my trusty Vise Grip.  The Vise Grip enabled the nut to come loose finally.  So other than this 1 hour snag, things went smoothly.

I took this chance to replace the standard rod with the SpeedSource extended clutch rod (which really isn’t needed unlesss you have an aftermarket pressure plate), but I figured I’d do it now since I bought it years ago and would eventually need to replace my clutch and pressure plate anyways…  I was also going to replace the soft line with the SpeedSource braided stainless steel one, but it’s not as accessible without dropping the tranny, and I was in a time crunch (started this on a Friday night and needed my car this weekend) so I’m putting this off for later.

I proceeded to refill and flush out the clutch hydraulic system with fresh new brake fluid.  I thought I had done a pretty decent job, but apparently upon starting the car and testing it, I didn’t.  Pedal wouldn’t come up off the floor, as before…  I didn’t give my hopes up, and kept feeding fluid through the system, noticing air bubbles still coming out.  I must have flushed/bled the system for a total of over 1 hour and finally got all the air out.  I know, in retrospect, I should have used my MityVac…

But in the end, air was out.  The pedal travel, due to the extended rod, is much shorter now to disengage the clutch.  Whereas before I had to press down about 95%, the clutch now disengages at about 20% down!  I tried adjusting the pedal a little bit so that it engages a little lower, but I figured I’d try it with this setting now and adjust it later.  I actually like the high engagement point as it allows for faster shifts, however it’s a bit harder to slip the clutch.  I’ll get used to it.

I’m glad I just got replacements instead of rebuild kits, as I saved a lot of time going this route.  And again, they were super cheap on RockAuto. 

This past weekend, the “occasionally sticking” clutch pedal has now gone to full-blown “sinks to the floor and doesn’t come up” mode.  It’s pretty bad in that I can get the clutch to disengage, but it will engage shortly after, therefore my being unable to slip the clutch.   Therefore unable to crawl or park without having the car jump, which of course is dangerous…  I had propped the pedal back up with my toes before, thinking I needed to bleed the clutch lines soon, but didn’t think it would fail this quick.  Note to self: when something is a little wrong, it’s the car telling me I should go take care of it soon, and that it’s giving me a grace period chance to address it.

So I did full on flush and bleed of the clutch system.  The fluid in the reservoir was a filthy brown, so I took it out (using a turkey baster) and flushed it with fresh new fluid, and bled the system until everything came out clear and free of bubbles.  So I thought I was done.  I start up the car, and nope, same problem.  Damn.  What I feared: The clutch slave cylinder and/or the clutch master cylinder is done for.  Just to be sure, I video taped the slave cylinder/rod with my cameraphone and pressed the pedal and flipped it up with my toes (because it goes to the floor and stays there).  And sure enough, when I first press the pedal, the rod moves the fork fine, but soon after, the rod retracts back into the cylinder (therefore engaging the clutch again).  And nothing happens when I manually lift the pedal back up.  So it can’t hold the pressure.  There’s a leak somewhere in the hydraulic system.

I ordered remanufactured slave AND master cylinders today.  I’m going to replace them all.  And finally, after all these years since I bought the parts, I’m going to replace the slave cylinder push rod with the SpeedSource extended rod and also the SpeedSource stainless steel clutch line that I’ve had sitting around.  (I was saving them up for the inevitable clutch replacement job).  It shouldn’t be *too* hard, as it looks like both cylinders are in fairly accessible locations, compared to rest of the car that requires a hand contortionist and/or removal of 100 parts to get to 1 part.  These could be my famous last words, lol…

I’ll be attacking this problem this weekend hopefully if the parts come in by then.

I went and hand-washed my car this weekend. Somehow I had amassed a lot of caked mud in my wheelwells, so I scrubbed those out.

I also tidied up the wiring underneath the dash for the distribution block, boost gauge (fixed wiring for the switched power source for it). It involved a generous serving of zip-ties, kinda like how my Lotus was put together lol.

I also wanted to fix my horn issue. I thought the stock rotating wire harness would do the trick, but it doesn’t fit: it’s too thick and has a harness connector that sticks out and doesn’t work with the Momo hub. So as another temporary fix, I took about 3 feet of wire, coiled it around and mounted up the steering wheel. It works more or less, but the wire, when it unwinds, now sticks out a little where there is a gap between the hub and the steering column shroud. It’ll do for now until I can find a more elegant solution. I’m sure there are aftermarket coil wire things I can get?

I did two trips to Atlantic City; uneventful drive, which is a good thing. A/C blows ice cold I can’t keep it running because my hands feel freezing…

I finally got to fix my air conditioner just in time for summer (we hit mid/high-80s this weekend here in New York City).

I took out the condenser and swapped out the expansion valve myself, replaced all the o-rings, and then put it back.  Then took it to the shop where they tried to replace the receiver/dryer with this unit I bought from RockAuto, but it didn’t seal properly:  The hole was larger than the original stock one.  So we just changed the o-rings and reused the dryer, doing a full evacuation of the system.  They put in about 1.5 cans of R12 (2nd can I got was leaking).  Probably needed about 1/2 a can more, but it was cold enough so we didn’t want to puncture a whole new can, so I said just to leave it like that.

So note to self and to other owners: get the receiver/dryer OEM from Toyota.

So all in all, there are no leaks in the A/C system, and it blows really really cold (gotta love R12…) and I’m ready to take on summer driving now…  :). Planning on a road trip to Atlantic City next weekend for my wife’s birthday~

Hello 2011~!!  Haha…  Long time no update again…

So I am now down to 1 car.  I sold my Exige about a month ago to another autocrosser in Florida.  Up until the last day where I drove it to the dealership to drop it off, I really enjoyed driving that special car…  Nothing like it…  But on the flipside, I’m glad I finally made the choice to sell it and get rid of all of my cars given my current phase of my life, financially and otherwise.  I will be back soon enough once things are more settled in my life.

So the ST185 has been doing “daily driver” duties for me the past few months now.  I got a NYS Inspection a few weeks ago and it passed.  I also got a ticket for it while parked right outside my condo because I didn’t realize it expired…  $65 grrrr.  NYC roads will kill any car, but so far it’s been good, except for not starting and the battery going dead on me.  Well, turns out it was a stupid reason and I never detected it for YEARS because my car was always attached to a Battery Tender/Charger in the garage at home, but these days being parked in public garages and streets, etc. the battery never got recharged (due to failed alternator (or so I thought)).  What happened was the alternator fuse was blown all this time and I never knew.  Having replaced that, all my mysterious electric gremlins disappeared in one fell swoop:  My steering wheel tilt-away works now, my power door locks work consistently now, and also my alarm / remote door locks work now…

So my car is now used to do grocery shopping and furniture pickups (bought a condo last year and still furnishing my apartment) and driving me and my wife around…  Summer is coming up soon, and realizing that this is our only car now, we’re gonna need A/C…

So I’m looking around for a good air conditioning shop around the area.  Going to diagnose for any leaks and refill with R12.  I already ordered the o-ring gasket kit, receiver/dryer, and bidding on a few cans of R12 on eBay

One other thing on my to-do list is to wire up my horn button.  I found the horn wire on the harness and I soldered up a connection wire to connect the button to the harness, hooked it up through my Momo hub and then at the first turn of the steering wheel realized why that was a fail.  Haha…

There is no simple way to run the wire to the horn without having it get twisted when turning the steering wheel.  Either mount the yellow/black spinning thing back on, or get a really long length of wire for the horn so that there is enough to wrap around 2.5 turns or whatever it is without getting disconnected from the horn button (this the solution I’m leaning towards), or find some other way to wire it up.

I realized that I needed the horn because driving through Manhattan NYC-style aggressively requires generous use of the horn.  And I can’t play ball with all the crazy taxi drivers out there without a horn, so I put it higher on my to-do list, hehe…

I hope everyone is doing well…  Sorry for being away months at a time…  However, I will have some exciting news for everyone soon.  Hint: I’m working on an online/web business that has to do with cars, and I know it will be of interest to you, so you’ll be one of the first to know before the business launches!

I’ve been using my Celica as my daily driver, so to speak, these days, and the years-long electric issues I’ve had finally came to a close 2 weeks ago… And it’s the stupidest thing. So I wanted to share, just so it is documented and hopefully you will all check this one thing before delving into driving yourself mad replacing things that doesn’t need to be replaced… That one thing: The alternator fuse (or fusible link to be technically correct)…

Problem:
1) Car doesn’t start. Battery doesn’t recharge.

I never noticed this before because I always had my car hooked up to a battery tender and don’t drive much, and as soon as I park, I hook it back up. So it masked the fact that the alternator was never recharging my battery at all to begin with!! Haha… ><

With the car running, the voltage at the battery was only 12.x V, indicating that the alternator was not charging it. I replaced the battery. I also took out the alternator and had it bench-tested at Autozone and they tested it as OKAY, putting out a good 14.x V and proper amperage. I still suspected it and bought a newly rebuilt alternator.

2) Tilt-Away Steering Column does not work.

I tested the entire circuit according to the BGB. It always pointed to the ECU as the problem. So I replaced the Tilt-Away ECU… two times… which didn’t work. So 3 different ECU units didn’t work. Either I’m having bad luck with parts or something else is amiss… I sort of put that on the backburner as it’s not a critical issue.

3) Door locks with weird behavior. Remote door lock (of aftermarket alarm system) doesn’t unlock/lock car. In fact, alarm system doesn’t work at all.

Sometimes the doors would auto lock as I get in my car, sometimes not. Most of the time, my door unlock button doesn’t respond and I have to lock/unlock the doors manually. The alarm, I looked at the fuses under the dash, all good. Checked all fuses and they were good. (…or so I had thought…).

4) When I get on the brakes, lights dim in the dash.

A sign of a weak alternator, right? So I was going to replace my alternator.

–> So before I was going to replace my alternator, I figured, okay, let me try to trace my problem poking around with my multi-meter as any diligent DIY auto nut should do… Alternator checked out fine– putting out 14.4V at idle. Okay, not alternator. Checked resistance from alternator to battery. Hmmm, non-continuity there… So I think, damn, somewhere along the wire from the alternator to the battery is bad… I look up the wiring diagram thinking I’m gonna have to yank out the wiring harness to inspect the wires… So the wire from the alternator goes through the wiring harness through the intake side of the engine and then goes through the… FUSE BOX… which then goes to the battery. Oh, so maybe the fuse is blown? I had thought I always checked all the fuses… Well lo and behold, the 100A Alternator Fuse was blown… I put the two ends together and VOILA!! I see the voltage at the battery was 13.x V and I was happy. And then I go back into my car and turn off the ignition and pull out my key and my steering column tilts up. What the…? And the next day, I hit the unlock button on my door and the doors unlock and lock consistently. So thought, wait, maybe the alarm works…? And what do you know, it works…

So a slew of electrical circuits, not only the alternator, is tied to the ALT 100A fusible link or more correctly, depends on a good regulated voltage that comes from having a battery hooked up to the electric circuit.

And oh, I also did the newbie mistake of fighting with that fuse for 45 minutes destroying it trying to yank it out like a regular fuse, only to realize that the two blades of the fuse are SCREWED to the fusebox. GG. (see this thread for another guy with the same issue; should have looked it up here first, lol: http://www.alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10580&start=0 )

$4.15 shipped on eBay for the fuse (BTW, part # is Bussmann #FLM100 – bought from this guy: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI … 0733789668 ), and I’m happily on my way… Ended up returning both the new battery and new alternator ($400 that I spent that I didn’t need to). So there you have it. Check your fuses first before troubleshooting any electrical issues. Double check, triple check, and swear to yourself that you checked every single one of them.

My electric gremlins: Case closed!!

also posted on AllTrac.net: http://www.alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=41050

I was thinking a little bit with my heart and not my head when I made the decision to keep the AT instead of my E46, but it’s my last guilty pleasure of at least keeping a car that is much more special and unique than a BMW. And in some ways, it’s more special than the Exige, although that car truly is something special too– I hope later down the line to get another Lotus (new Exige or Evora or whatever they may have at the time?), as long as they stay true to their roots– simple, lightweight, fun, soulful…

I still love the AllTrac even for all its flaws. Because you know what? Not everyone has one, and it’s just a special car with a special history from an era long forgotten by most except the fun fanatics (like you all) that appreciate it. Toyota will never ever make another car like this ever again. As exciting as the LF-A is, it’s not the same thing, and it doesn’t have the same pedigree. And that is worth a lot… Realistically, though, the next car I will most likely get will probably be another Bavarian car, lol–which will fulfill my wants and also be acceptable to the most important lady in my life, hehe… M5 or M3 sedan…    But now I’m getting ahead of myself…

(Sorry I’m so loquaious; I’m a bit drunk right now, just came back from my company’s Christmas party (top shelf open bar is dangerous, my friends…)~~ *hick*   )

i’ve been driving my car more often lately as now it’s my only practical car. i have two things to take care of now:

1) shocks: i need to dial them down, LOL. i have the konis on full stiff front and back. they were fine @full stiff for day-to-day driving on Long Island and other long distance drives, but not in New York City!

2) battery: i think my battery is dying. i thought it was a starter issue, but yesterday was the second time that my car didn’t start after sitting overnight without a battery tender (previously it was after the Bear Mountain meet). the voltage reads 11.7V and the car just won’t start with that kind of charge. with the car running, i only get about 12.8V, not 13-14V as you would expect. though it could be the alternator, i think it’s the battery if even after driving around (assuming it’s fully charged from it), and i park it, the battery immediately reads 11.7V again. so i ordered a new Optima RedTop, Group 35 this time. (I had 34/78 before– 35 is smaller). the current one i had since april 2007, so it’s been 3.5 years – if that doesn’t cure it, then i will suspect the alternator. i don’t think it’s my starter.

Photos posted: http://picasaweb.google.com/mike325ci/1 … eMountAVCR

including photos such as:
AVC-R Solenoid Mounted to Stock Airbox Bottom:

Koso Boost Gauge, custom mounted:

Thermostat replacement — had to file down the end of this bolt to enable the housing to slide out (A/C Compressor has a bolt sticking out and there is no way to take it out without filing it down (or removing the compressor)):

—- Also, today 7/25/2010 I did about an hour’s worth of work:
1. Finally hooked up my DIY Fuel Cut Defenser. Did a clean install using wire harness. The instructions I had were for an MR2 and the wiring color for my Turbo Pressure Sensor was different, but luckily I was able to find it in the Electrical Wiring Diagram (for 1993). The VC line is pink and the PIM line is red and the GROUND line is brown, FYI. I didn’t get a chance to test it, just soldered it up and that was it.

2. It got too dark outside, but I was going to wire up the AVC-R to the ECU harness. I’m also going to use a 6-wire harness to make a clean install. Allows for disconneting the AVC-R if needed and it’s just cleaner that way. Also going to convert my soldered two wires to the ECU harness from the Turbo Timer to use a 2-wire harness as well so that it’s cleaner. That’s next weekend.

I finally got to work a little bit more on the car this past weekend.

7/17 ~ 7/18/2010

(1) Coolant Flush: I had run the Prestone Radiator Flush for the past ~400 miles, and did another complete reverse flush and filled with Dex-Cool. I changed the thermostat (with Gates Racing 170F) and radiator cap (with a JDM ARC 1.3bar ), and changed 3 of the coolant hoses. I didn’t do the HFH or the back long ones yet. The hoses were hard to do and I cut my hand up pretty badly doing it.

(2) Boost Controller: While I had stuff off the coolant hose change, I hooked up the rest of my AVC-R (hoses to/from the wastegate actuator). I found a good place to mount up the solenoid valve– I drilled four holes into the site of the bottom of the stock airbox and it fit perfectly and it’s very secured. I know most of you don’t run stock airboxes any more, but I thought I’d share that. The pressure sensor I mounted next to my sender for my boost gauge, on the right side firewall, and T-tapped the boost gauge’s vacuum line. I have not yet hooked up the wiring to the ECU. That might be this weekend’s project.

(3) Interior: I mounted my Koso boost gauge properly in the steering column surround plastic. I need to redo the wiring to the distribution block as the wires for the gauge are too thin and has slipped out once already. Also find a more secure place to ziptie/mount the boost gauge’s computer/box thing. It’s sitting above the pedals under the dash now, but I think I’ll put them where the fuse panel is, that way I can access the “Peak” and “Warn” buttons easily.

I took photos but I forgot to take the CF Card out and bring it with me, so I don’t have any to upload I’ll post up later.

So not much going on in my car life. Lots of things happening in my personal life this year, so I’ve been a bit MIA. Still unsure about my garage situation. But I put my BMW up on the market. People who don’t “get it” don’t understand why I don’t sell my Celica (an older car by 8 years) and keep the BMW for all-around “daily driver” duties. I guess that’s the sensible thing to do. But the emotional thing is that it will be very hard to find another ST185 like this one and I am more attached to this car and it’s unique. BMWs are a dime a dozen. So that’s that– I’ll be down to 2 cars, maybe even 1 (gasp, I know, but I *might* sell the Exige too, if my racing life/schedule continues almost non-existent as it has been lately….)

Back on topic! I finally got to my car this past weekend (and drove an uneventful 110 miles): I finally wired up a power cable from the battery into the cabin, routed to a distribution block, and to all the internal electronics I had installed. I also hooked up my Koso boost gauge finally!

So the stock boost gauge isn’t terrible: You can’t get any readings off of it since there is no markings, except for the ZERO, and actually that is the only time the stock boost gauge is accurate (like a broken clock is right twice a day)… But it’s slow to respond (when boost drops off, the aftermarket gauge shows it immediately, the stock gauge is slow to move). So that’s what I noticed. I seem to be peaking at 10 to 10.5psi max, so I guess that’s good. Now that’s done, next on my list is to hook up the boost controller and DIY fuel cut defenser which I made but didn’t splice into the wiring yet. Also, I notice the car is starting to sit lower now: I think the springs have started to settle a bit…

In a few weeks I have a roadtrip up to Canada for the annual MR2 Meet there (taking my Exige) (http://www.ontariomr2club.com/CMR2E/CMR2E.htm), so I’m definitely looking forward to that. That means, no work on the Celica until after that, which realistically might be August >< Hehe…

Oh yeah, I finally bought and installed vented rear tails on the car too (finally!):

4/17/2010 Update

Also, I’m thinking about removing the ABS to improve the braking– I was talking with Cory today and he said that it made a big difference in braking feel so I think I’ll give that a try as well.

Only thing I did this weekend was route 3 wires through the firewall via the main harness loom– 2 for the AVC-R and 1 for the boost gauge. I mounted the boost gauge sender to the firewall, and I think I’ll also put the pressure sensor of the boost controller there too. The solenoid I think I’ll mount them to the cruise control metal cover (drill holes in that– there’s some room between that and the I/C cover).

I re-tested my tilt steering system. Now the tests point to the unlock switch on the ignition switch, not the tilt steering ECU as I had thought all along… Ugh…?! Didn’t have the energy to rip that out and test it– next time.

I also took out and cleaned up the door light triggers. I dunno what’s the best way to do it, but I cleaned it by spraying Seafoam into it, wiping out the dirt, and then lubricating them with spray lubricant. Maybe I should have used a jelly-type of lubricant? Well, they wokr consistently now, which was better than 1 in 5 times as before, heh.

No issues to report on my test drive today. Very stable on the highway and it handles beautifully. One thing, I think there’s a lot of noise and vibration into the cabin than before. A lot more than I had remembered, but it doesn’t bother me. It’s from the poly and solid mounts I have replaced the rubbers with, I’m sure. So if you were curious, yes there will be noticeably more vibration and noise if you replace them.

no update post is complete without some sort of photo, so here’s one i took before i drove off. shows the rallyarmour mudflaps and my exhaust tips.