I cant really tell which part you're referring to in the pics. But these cars do have heated throttlebodies, which have hoses that run to the coolant junction

This post has been edited by enderswift: Apr 12, 2014 - 4:17 PM

See how directly underneath the throttle body I pulled off the hose, and the second picture is the metallic connection point that the hose was hooked onto? This was my major leak problem. I have resolved it after some more research so its not the built in water/methanol injection port.


In summary after some heavy driving I have 0 leaks and 0 fluid loss or air in either the cooling system or intercooler lines.

Next will be diagnosing an annoying oil drip (looks to be originating from the oil pan). Not terrible but maybe 3-4 drops per hour or so.

Some new parts will be ordered and changed out in the next few weeks (brakes and radiator) and then I need to see what my valve tap issue is all about and why the wideband is 14.7 under boost. My guess is somethings up with the sensor itself.

Dear Diary...


On my way home from NJ right at the exit off of I-80 I heard a thud, and then a scraping noise....

No it's not that..... or that........


or that.....


The front drivers side fender well plastic had broken loose from the fender and was scraping up against my wheel. I thought ok, no problem that should be a simple fix.

Upon looking at it today after buying some hardware, I find two wires dangling down. After further inspection it looks like when the plastic broke loose, it severed the wiring for my intercooler pump.

What this in turn did is.............





Nothing, because I luckily wasn't boosting at all from the time I got off I-80 until I got the car home, but I was essentially running a turbo car with no intercooler (that's how the pro's do it )

Anyway of course I have off work today and it's the coldest day we've had in a couple weeks so this will be a weekend project weather permitting.



I will also be on the lookout for some actual GT-4's since I'll be in Europe from 5/7-5/20 visiting family.

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Apr 23, 2014 - 9:59 AM

Previously stated problems have been fixed as of today.

Soldered the intercooler pump wires back together, wrapped the #@!$ out of them with electrical tape, and did very minor wire management so the extra wiring doesn't hang down too far.

Re-attached the fender well/underbody plastic to the bumper and drilled new holes as needed to accomplish this.




I do have a question for those that know more than me:

I found my "valve tap"



What is this? What is it's purpose? And why is it "ticking"?

It hooks up to the top of the throttle body so my best guess is it's a vacuum sensor but I'm not particularly certain.






These repairs needed to get done today since my sister-in-laws car decided to commit suicide on the way back from NJ.

It was a 2007 Chevy Impala. Within 10 seconds we went from "inspect traction control" to "check engine light" to "reduced engine power" to SEVERE knocking.... to completely seizing up.
This was on an on ramp, however the car never even saw 4k RPM let alone redline...


(sigh) At least I found out AAA works pretty quick.

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Apr 27, 2014 - 5:32 PM

So I ran into an issue today after a fantastic drive.

Get in the car to go out to dinner with the wife, and the clutch feels a bit lower and softer. After a 1 mile drive to pick her up, the clutch is basically catching at floor level.

By the time I got the car back to the garage, it was engaging with the pedal on the floor and the car was creeping forward.


If you guys would help me out I'd appreciate it. What's the most likely cause?
I figure its either air in the line (although unlikely) or the cylinder went bad, but I thought maybe someone had this exact same experience and knew right off the bat what the problem was.

Common problem, especially with an aftermarket clutch. You need a new master cylinder. Buy a new Toyota part. Dont waste your time with aftermarket parts

Got all my parts in and went to work today on fixing the slave/master cylinder issue. Of course, the metal hydraulic lines were giving me a problem and the nut simply wouldn't let go, until it was at least partially round, so I'll be replacing that.

Question: Does Toyota make a tool for accessing the mounting bolts/nuts for the clutch master cylinder? Because that is placed in an absolutely ungodly place that I can't really access with a wrench, or socket. I even removed the lower part of the dash below the steering wheel but couldn't really access it. Feel free to drop some advise on how to remove that.

Since I didn't want the day to be a completed waste since I'm waiting on new parts at this point (as well as a tip on removing the master), I decided to rip the entire inside apart and start getting rid of things I will no longer need.
The inside of the car is pretty much empty with the exception of the carpeting. I removed the stock ECU and mounted the 3S in it's place for now so that's no longer sitting next to passengers feet, emptied out the trunk from a bunch of miscellaneous parts, wires, disconnected relays, random plastic pieces, etc. All those will soon be found in the "For Sale" section of the forum once I go through them, I just wanted them out of the car at this point in time.

Bonus: After removing the drivers seat, I found a nickel.

Haven't decided whether I'll be removing and selling the rear seats at this point in time but I'll cross that bridge tomorrow.

Will be going to Summit Point at the end of July for a BMW CCA event. My wifes boss is driving in the races and said I could take his race car out for some track time after the races are done for the day. As much fun as it would be to run around Summit Point in a track only E36 M3 race car with a built engine, I would much rather do it in the Celica. Recently got a significant promotion at work as well so there's a good chance (if the wife doesn't kill me), that I'll be able to get a standalone ECU by then since I have no intention of putting the car on the track, and having to watch the speedometer bounce repeatedly off 118MPH down the 3/4 mile main straightaway lol.

Again guys give me some tips for getting the master out, and as always thank you in advance for any advice you guys can give.

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Jun 22, 2014 - 3:55 PM

Code 54 popped up again. Got pissed off, went through all related wiring.

Re-soldered a few connections, replaced faulty connectors, replaced relay.
No code, full boost, full smiles. Code is permanently resolved.

Also finally found correct wheel key, used 4 foot pipe as extension on tire iron, and broke them all loose. Brakes will be changed this weekend, everything else in the wheel well looks good.

Nothing else for now. Still going to the track next weekend but won't be driving the Celica on the track. Will still be a nice long three hour haul there so I'm looking forward to that.

Glad to see it looks like everything is fairly sorted out now, hopefully you do well on the track.

SO......... lol

Today as I'm pulling into my garage (actually right at the driveway), the steering linkage decided to poop.

Anybody else have an educated guess to what else it might be?

I'm pulling into the driveway, and turning the wheel, and the wheels are not following the steering wheel. I've got the wheel full over and the wheels are about half over.

As I have the car stopped, I'm turning the wheel, and it's turning VERY freely. As far as I can tell it wouldn't be the power steering correct? If it was the PS I would expect to be able to turn the wheel normally but with much more resistance.


As a bonus as I was on the ground looking, I found a screw (not nail) embedded in my front driver tire.


Mo money Mo problems...

There is a direct mechanical link fro the wheel to the tie rods. Wheel, to pinion, to rack, to tie rods. If you're only getting half the travel as before then I'd guess the splines are stripped on the rack coupler.

This post has been edited by enderswift: Aug 1, 2014 - 11:39 AM

The coupler itself still rotates, but it physically moves left and right in the firewall cutout so I'm sure something's detached at the next point.

I'm able to go full left with the wheel very freely, and can go right until the coupler hits the side of the cutout, then obviously I encounter firm resistance.


While I am annoyed, I am happy this did not happen when I was far from home, or driving down the highway.

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Aug 1, 2014 - 11:40 PM

Took the vehicle to local Toyota dealership and they basically re-installed the steering rack. Apparently one of the mounting bolts decided to crap out, so they hooked it back up with a new one. (Yay all labor no expensive parts).

After I got it back I ordered some new rubber to resolve the screw in one front tire, and other one deflating due to dry rot at best guess.

Took it to my friend who works at a Hyundai dealership. (Sadly he couldn't give me a Genesis Coupe as a loaner for the day).


Alignment was fixed, tie rods were fixed, new tires were mounted and balanced, oil was changed (billed as "well we're already doing other work so hows $20 sound?" lol), work from Toyota was checked and verified as proper.


I now have General G-max AS-03's on the car (they're currently on sale and look to be a fantastic tire especially for the price).

Took the car for a quick spin afterwards and I can say it's refreshing to be able to point and shoot, and not have to worry about the steering wheel shaking itself apart, the car pulling me into a roadside ditch, and even the torque steer has been almost fully negated. The tires are nice and sticky, corner very well, and I can give the car WOT about an extra 1,000 RPM in 2nd gear before they start to chirp and the engine overpowers them.

Brakes will be changed (finally) now that everything else is straight with the car.
Have a very small oil leak I HAVE to locate. Losing about a quart between changes but it dripped on the exhaust yesterday and ignited/vaporized instantly so I had a small puff of smoke come up from under the hood and almost had a panic attack. (Maybe a 1 cube foot puff, I was unable to replicate it later when my friend from Hyundai went for a ride with me to check it out, even when driving it very hard).


So it looks like this is finally coming together now and I can start putting my savings towards a standalone EMS and a second set of rims and tires instead of random "Oh look what's broken now" repairs.

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Sep 4, 2014 - 3:46 PM