Please...I need Professional help around my area to tune my car!

[BlackMagic]

I'm around Little Rock, Arkansas and need to find a good shop to tune and/or fix my car within about 300 miles of me. Any really good shops around the Memphis, Tulsa or Dallas area? I can drive the car there and leave it. Memphis would be great.

I got into a big mess when I bought my car. The person I bought it from claims that it was running perfectly when he dropped it off at the shipping company, but I have found waaaay too much evidence to believe him at this point. There was even a thread posted on here describing the exact symptoms that this car is having where the previous owner was supposedly diagnosing a "friends" car. When I pointed the thread out he promptly deleted it. ( I did save it before he deleted it though.) When I 1st got the car and wanted to ship it back at my expense due to the terrible way it was running ( I would have been out $1800 for the shipping both ways ) he basically said he was not responsible for my car. I am having to suck it up and spend a lot more money than I planned. I paid top $$$ for it expecting it to be running right, and got screwed. Merry Christmas for me and my family....

1st off the turbo was bad (dumping massive oil into the downpipe and looked like I was fogging for mosquitos.) I replaced the turbo and fixed the smoking problem (also replaced the o2 sensor while I was at it since it was soaked/caked with oil.)

I also replaced the plug wires while I was at it, and found one plug that was very loose and came out with only about 2 full turns.

The engine still has what seems like a very bad vibration (like something is out of balance) and it idles really crappy (missing). When you give it some gas and the boost starts coming up, the boost gauge needle fluctuates back and forth quite a bit (not steady at all...maybe has a good 5-7 psi fluctuation.) When the original turbo was on it would swing back and forth from 0-12psi when you got into the boost. I think he said the boost was set to 12psi max. Hooking up a vacuum gauge gives me a vacuum reading from 14-17 with the needle fluctuating up and down. I can hear the EGR valve? (plugs into the intake on the pass side kinda in the middle down low) making a clicking sound pretty regularly while it's idling. BLM's are around 128-135. It has a bstc boost controller hooked up. Fuel pressure is 44psi line off. TPS is at .42-.44 at idle. It had 42.5lb injectors now.

I am getting new injectors (57's) and a chip (extender extreme and a T+) to match the turbo I just put on (T64E), but don't have the time to spend tuning this damn car. It sucks that I'm even having to fix it, but I want it done by someone who who knows what they are doing. I just want it tuned!

Thanks,
Shawn

 

[Adrian87]

Hey man,
If you find anyone good, let me know..I live in Fayetteville (about 2 hours from you)and I don't think I've seen a single TR in the last 5 months that I've been here!

 

[Pronto]

I would think if you state has some kind of lemon law that you could have refused the car and sent it back.

Other than the way it runs, is the car OK?
Some of the symptoms sound like it's miss firing so I would look at the coil and module.
Clicking/vacuum swings points toward the valvetrain and or cam.
You might want to find out what's going on before thowing more parts at it.

 

[BlackMagic]

Originally posted by Pronto
I would think if you state has some kind of lemon law that you could have refused the car and sent it back.

Other than the way it runs, is the car OK?
Some of the symptoms sound like it's miss firing so I would look at the coil and module.
Clicking/vacuum swings points toward the valvetrain and or cam.
You might want to find out what's going on before thowing more parts at it.

It was an interstate transaction, and Arkansas has no lemon law for used cars

Other that running badly, it is an awesome car. 71,xxx original miles, near MINT interior, and it drives like new. The original wheels are in superb shape, and the original paint looks great too. Here's a pic:

http://www.ayresweb.com/GN pics/driver_gn_800_crop.jpg

You mention valvetrain....I actually put my hand by the tailpipe and it has what seems to be some intermittent suction to it while it's idling , which I have always associated with a burnt valve, etc. I sure hope it's not that bad, but I may end up going that deep if it requires it. The clicking is definitely the EGR valve opening and shutting.

I messed up my back trying to diagnose the car when I 1st got it, and just this weekend was able to swap out the turbo. The car went 32 miles from the shipping terminal to my house, and sat in my garage for about a month before I could work on it. I just want to pay somebody to get the thing running right. I have been wrenching on cars for over 20 years, and am just frustrated at the whole situation and don't have the time or patience to deal with it right now.

Shawn

 

[Pronto]

Well, she sure looks nice Well I have to say it is very helpful to have an experienced TB guru around to sort stuff out. Hope your successful getting it right.

 

[BlackMagic]

Oh, one more thing...

It does not have a clogged cat either. I asked him if it had a cat on it and he said it was a high flow cat. In reality, I bought a test pipe thinking the cat would be clogged from all the oil. I went to replace it today, and it wasn't a cat at all! It was just something that resembled a cat that was hollow, so I wasted money on the test pipe too.

 

[nwarky]

Hey,
I live in Rogers which is just a couple of minutes from Fayetteville. I've lived here 7 years and have only seen 1 TR. I love to talk about cars and especcialy TR's. It would be great to talk with any of you. My email is keekah@cox-internet.com . Let me know if you find any good tuners. Thanks

 

[tjthorson]

The vacuum gauge is telling you something. You have something REALLY wrong with the mechanics of that engine.

You need someone to tear off the intake and heads and check them out. My bet is the intake gasket is leaking, or worse a head gasket is leaking. DO NOT drive that car 10 feet further unless it goes to a shop that is going to tear it down. With that symptom you are risking REAL damage by running it like that.

Might just be a few gaskets now, a lot cheaper then a rebuild down the road.

Furthermore, you should pull the oil pan and clean it out and check the screen for debris. Look down inside and check the cam (might be a bad lobe or two? I hope not) If you don't hear any knocking from this motor, chances are the bottom end is OK. For now, unless you find the other problem and fix it.

While the heads are off, do some cheap fixes. Check the valves, but replace the springs anyway, no matter what. Much easier with the heads off the engine.

New head gaskets and new intake gaskets and you should be good to go.

Trust me on this.....please...... get those gaskets changed pronto.

 

[BlackMagic]

Originally posted by tjthorson
The vacuum gauge is telling you something. You have something REALLY wrong with the mechanics of that engine.

You need someone to tear off the intake and heads and check them out. My bet is the intake gasket is leaking, or worse a head gasket is leaking. DO NOT drive that car 10 feet further unless it goes to a shop that is going to tear it down. With that symptom you are risking REAL damage by running it like that.

Might just be a few gaskets now, a lot cheaper then a rebuild down the road.

Furthermore, you should pull the oil pan and clean it out and check the screen for debris. Look down inside and check the cam (might be a bad lobe or two? I hope not) If you don't hear any knocking from this motor, chances are the bottom end is OK. For now, unless you find the other problem and fix it.

While the heads are off, do some cheap fixes. Check the valves, but replace the springs anyway, no matter what. Much easier with the heads off the engine.

New head gaskets and new intake gaskets and you should be good to go.

Trust me on this.....please...... get those gaskets changed pronto.

Believe me, the car is not leaving my garage under it's own power....

News flash as well....

I pulled the plugs and did a compression check because I lost faith in what the guy had told me about the car.

#1 = 154
#3 = 90
#5 = 155
#2 = 156
#4 = 160
#6 = 156

That's why the damn thing was/is running so bad.

 

[BlackMagic]

I think I found the problem...which is both good and bad for a couple of reasons....

I pulled the driver side valve cover to have a look, and found a rocker arm with busted off end (the end the pushrod goes in.) It was the rocker arm on the intake valve on the number 3 cylinder. There was one large piece busted off, and the pushrod had nothing to push against. The pushrod has several long, deep grooves gouged into it from where it was rubbing against the broken rocker arm.

I know a rocker arm and pushrod would be cheap to replace, but could any damage have been done to the cylinder with the intake valve not opening?

Is it possible for me to clean up the oil on the top side of the head, dump some oil down the engine to kinda flush out the metal shavings, and drain/refill it safely? Or am I going to have to tear the engine apart and put it back together to get it clean? Where do the oil drain holes for the head drain to?

I fear I know what the answer to my last question is, but I would like some outside opinions on it.

Thanks,
Shawn

 

[tjthorson]

The drain holes head down into the pan through the block.I would pull the oil pan and valve cover. I would also pull the intake because some metal could have made its way back down by the cam and /or lifters. I would then use a thin oil, like 0w30 to just keep pouring and flushing it down out the bottom into a drain pan. Pour all through the holes over the cam too. Replace the broken parts, replace the pickup screen and hope for the best!

It might be in your best interest as long as the car is down to check/replace the oil pump.

 

[Pronto]

Well, that explains the vacuum fluttering. Maybe you could also run a magnet around as best you can to see what it picks up. Hope that's the extent of the problem.

 

[TexasT]

shops

Sorry to hear you got a bum deal. There is a guy in the Dallas area I used to get parts from. His shop is called Keldo's Auto Crafters, the guys name is Harry. Not sure of the phone number but the shop is on Illinois Ave, and I think it is Dallas but could be Oak Cliff. Try a search. Also was a guy in North Ft. Worth that did good work. His name was Billy Duke, and did work out of a body shop in Saginaw. I don't remember the name of the shop though. Good luck.

Rich