I NEED Boost... Opinions puh-lease

[coheed]

Cant find it at walmart. From what Ive heard its cheaper to buy the red coolant at Mercedes dealers then Toyota. Not to sure on that one bc I havent had to buy any yet.

[Focus_Sh1ft]

Originally Posted by cdydjded

Well there lies one problem. The toyota coolant is red. The yellow is different. This is Toyota brand bought at the dealer.

Yeah, wow, I just looked this up. I hope I didn't do any damage, I put a good 5k miles on the car with that coolant mixed in with the red. So it looks like dyes are added to differentiate the type - and that's based on chemicals used. So that is, in fact, a problem lol. I'll just look for some red coolant at walmart / advance auto, and I'll try to grab the more expensive one. Thanks so much for pointing this out... I had no idea.

I can safely say that I have probably learned more about cars in the last 2 weeks than someone would learn in two semesters of college

[Nexus1155]

Mixing coolants is bad over time, i doubt short term damage did anything. check out Zerex/Xerex G05 and see if it is suitable for your car. We use G12/G16 whatever it is in our Audis which is bright pink and the Zerex is a good cheap replacement for it at an 1/8th of the price. Make sure whatever coolant you choose is good for your car though.

[Bluevitz-rs]

You can just use Distilled water in the mean time until you get the leaks sorted out. As long as there's some coolant still in there for lubrication.

And if oil and/or coolant got onto the header wrap, it now trashed. You'll have to replace it. But you can do that after you get the leaks fixed. Get a can of foaming engine cleaner and clean off all of the oil spillage. That way you'll be able to more clearly see if there's a leak and were it's coming from.

[Focus_Sh1ft]

Is it possible I could get an oil idiot light from too much oil? Seems weird, but I have noooo idea what this oil idiot light could be from. My only other thought is the sender is failing?

Just read something interesting - having too much oil causes it to flood over the crank shaft, which whips it up and creates air pockets in the oil. This immediately caught my attention, as I noticed the nylon tube I use for my oil pressure gauge seems to have a lot more air in it than it did when the car is turned off. This seems like it would explain why the oil idiot light seems to freak out and not always stay on constantly, and turns off during idle when it's expecting less pressure. Does what I'm saying make any sense lol?

I think I'm going to do a fresh oil change right now... Only problem is I am NOT looking foward to getting the filter off, as the Zage return elbow blocks the stupid thing.

[fnkngrv]

I have seen people get the oil light when they had too much oil in their cars...granted they were Chrysler or Dodge so I cannot say for sure that is part of the indicator inventory of what the Toyota system monitors...

[Bluevitz-rs]

All the oil light tells you is you have less than 10psi of oil pressure, which could very well be from air pockets.

Edit: So just to clarify, it's not an oil level indication, it's a pressure indication.

[Focus_Sh1ft]

I'm about ready to rip my hair out...

Changed oil, tightened coolant t clamps, started car, let it idle. Revved it to 2500 whereby I was greeted by a metallic scraping noise. I don't know if it's internal engine or not, but this likely just took a turn for the worst...

Hopefully it's just something vibrating, but I'm afraid to try driving it now.

[pimp my yaris]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. I hope its just a exhaust problem or something. Best of luck!

[Parmas]

Originally Posted by Bluevitz-rs

All the oil light tells you is you have less than 10psi of oil pressure, which could very well be from air pockets.

Edit: So just to clarify, it's not an oil level indication, it's a pressure indication.

Agreed the light indicates pressure and not level. Keeping good pressure is a must and very dangerous driving with it on especially for turbo.

[Nexus1155]

Is the low oil pressure light still coming on? You could have sucked some sealant through your oil pump if you didn't wait for the sealant to dry properly causing it to clog a bit.

Also, if you dont have oil pressure going to the turbo, say goodbye to that turbo. I just did it last week, the turbo was defective though, or both of them would have blown.

[Focus_Sh1ft]

The metallic sound turned out to be the exhaust, still haven't found where but I know it is now. Why it suddenly decided to start making noise...

I haven't taken the car out yet today, as I've found my coolant leak finally and am patching it with JB Weld. Yes, I know the stuff sucks, but it did work fine the first time for this use, and my other coolant line is sealed the same way with no problems. This will be temporary, as I think I need to order the correct size adapters.

As for oil pressure, let me clarify a bit further. At all times, my mechanical gauge reads perfectly accurate psi ratings and is connected to the oil filter through a sandwich adapter. When I was driving yesterday, the light came on after a about a minute of driving. It blinked for awhile, and stopped. Then came back and stayed on. I believe it either turned off or blinked a couple more times before pulling into my driveway. By the time I had put the car in park, it was gone. This happened TWICE, and followed nearly the same pattern. At the time, I had about an additional inch of oil (as per the dipstick) from the top dot.

Originally Posted by Nexus1155

Is the low oil pressure light still coming on? You could have sucked some sealant through your oil pump if you didn't wait for the sealant to dry properly causing it to clog a bit.

I ended up using teflon paste for most of the threads, so this is definitely possible. I'm pretty sure either way that whatever is happening with the oil light isn't a big deal. I figure because I have adequate oil levels and no funky pressure readings that it's most likely okay... Still would like to know for sure though.

[Focus_Sh1ft]

After two days of frustration and symptoms pointing to potentially huge issues, it seems as though all my leaks are finally plugged.

Will be taking her out first thing tomorrow. Wish me luck guys.

[Yoda]

GOOD LUCK!!! Make sure you record it too..

[Focus_Sh1ft]

Good news and bad news.

First, the good. The leaks are definitely plugged (except for an exhaust leak where the downpipe connects, no big deal) and no more white smoke.

Now, the bad. I had to have my car towed.

I was driving and heard a loud popping sound when I entered boost, and immediately pulled over. Car starts, but idles like crap. Decided it was best to have it towed...

Here's the ridiculous part that I'm never going to forgive myself for. That light... It isn't the oil idiot light... IT'S THE OVERHEATING LIGHT. One of the guys at the shop pointed it out by unscrewing the radiator cap. Sure enough.. it was overheating bad. I pray that my stupidity didn't just cost me a crap load. How can someone install a turbocharger with no expertise, but be stupid enough to confuse two dashboard lights lol?

Anyways, this is out of my hands at this point. My fingers are crossed and I'm hoping the diagnosis they run isn't absolutely terrible. I'm having the guy do a compression test and check the internals / head gasket, so we'll see. Then there's still the issue as to why it's overheating. I doubt it's simply because I'm using the wrong coolant, but with a turbocharger in.. who knows.

On the plus side, my install has run on the cheap side so far, so I still have some cash that I (reluctantly) can throw at this still. After two weeks of incredibly hard work, I'm ready to do what's necessary to just get the car up and running successfully.

I hope I'm not discouraging anybody that wanted to do this... I know this all sounds scary, but my car isn't kaput. Also, if you're not a total f-up like I am, you won't have problems where you mix up the oil and overheating lights. God I wish I had my water temp gauge installed before all this...

Anyways, you guys will be the first to know when I have updates. I feel so crummy right now, because all I can do is sit here and hope for the best.

[Nexus1155]

I was driving and heard a loud popping sound when I entered boost

Did you check all of the clamps and couplers and hoses on the boost side of the piping? They need to be TIGHT, Air will always take the path with the least resistance, thats why you should always pressure test your setups. Sounds like you blew a clamp off. Usually you can uplug MAF and limp home.

If its more severe than that. Sorry to hear.

[Focus_Sh1ft]

Nexus, you sir... are my savior!

I was freaking out too much earlier to remember I was having issues with the coupler on the compressor housing yesterday. I got driven to the place, bought my trusty jack and wrench with me, and got under the car to check it out. Sure enough, the piping was disconnected!

So I immediately fixed it, at the shop, and got my car back. They charged $97 to check codes, clear them, and fill the car with coolant. Could have been worse. For anyone interested, the codes I had were iginition coil errors (because I unplugged the sparks to prime the turbo), O2 sensor (because the piping was disconnected), air intake temp (same as O2), and MAF (probably also the same).

The best part is, driving home I got no CELs, and no overheating lights. So I'm going to work on that coupler a bit more, and fix my exhaust leak (could that cause overheating because it's venting into the engine bay?). Then I'll drive the car around and see if I get any overheating lights again. I'm going to assume the worst and expect to get them, so I've been trying to think of ways to keep the water temperature reasonable. So far, the only two ideas I've had was to pull coolant off the turbo (don't want to), and/or to get a performance radiator.

I may be out $170, but it turns out it was money well spent.

ALSO - running lean most likely means running hotter, correct?

[cali yaris]

yay, sounds like you're getting close. Engine bay heat shouldn't cause the internal coolant temp to overheat. I never overheated at 8psi on stock cooling system. Pretty sure the other boosters haven't had problems, either.


leaner = hotter, yes

God I wish I had my water temp gauge installed before all this...

+1 million gazillion

MINIMUM GAUGES FOR TURBO PROJECTS:
water temp
oil pressure
boost