94 celica ST Engine problems, Coolant, heat, stalled, idk.. its messed up lol Options

[Bitter]

it will seal the engine and seal the radiator and seal the heater core as well, in this persons case its not a good idea. those products need you to be able to run the engine, he can't get his to start. at best those are a quick way to limp an already damaged engine home, at worst (and trust me i see this crap all the time) they create headaches later on.






OP, get a new radiator as well. you've gotten the system VERY hot and VERY pressurized. theres a very good chance that your current radiator is toasted and will either leak or crack shortly after getting the new engine.

[Superaison]

Alrighty.




Well, should I take this opportunity to do a swap, or make it easy on myself and get another 7a?

[Bitter]

depends on how long the car can be down for and what your budget is.

[hurley97]

Maybe one of the coolant bypass hoses busted. That's probably why it seems like it happened all of a sudden, after the engine got warm and opened the thermostat to let coolant through that's when it started leaking. Running it with no coolant warped the head and flooded coolant into one or more of the cylinders and that's why it has trouble starting and when you do get it running there's smoke coming out of the exhaust.

[Superaison]

Thank you, Hurley lol....



I smell coolant when I try to start it, so I figure its burning it up a bit...anyway, so a new engine it is.



But which one? 4age, 4agze, or 7afe?

[95CelicaST]

What is your budget? We've asked a couple times now. Which 4A-GE would you use? Which 4A-GZE would you use? Both of those will require much more money than a 7A-FE.

[Superaison]

One from a MR2, or whichever I can find in a junk yard. I will most likely just get the same one to make it simple because I Really want my car back lol. I have nothing right now =\


My budget is $250 - $400... I'm doing it all myself.

[95CelicaST]

Then go find a 7A-FE in a junkyard and drop it in. It's all you can really afford to do.

[Superaison]

Figured. It can't be too hard..

Oh, uhm... Can I leave my tranny and such in there? Or should I just yank all of that too, while i'm at it? And imma paint my engine bay and engine when it's out.... my engine bay = discusting.

[match220]

it will seal the engine and seal the radiator and seal the heater core as well, in this persons case its not a good idea. those products need you to be able to run the engine, he can't get his to start. at best those are a quick way to limp an already damaged engine home, at worst (and trust me i see this crap all the time) they create headaches later on.

I know, that's why I mentioned that he should try changing his plugs, water/coolant in the combustion chamber can create buildup on the plugs and can keep the car from running, but a loss in compression can keep the car from running also. Plugs are $5, it doesn't hurt to change them to see if that is why it isn't running. Then he will know if it is able to keep idle for 50 minutes like the bottle says. I know cars that were repeatedly overheating that I used this stuff on, and they are still running, my friends neighbors car for example has been going for over a year, it overheated a couple times to where it shut off completely and wouldn't start until it was cool again, now it has been fine for over a year. I agree that after a certain point the car can't be repaired with the bottle, but that is usually due to a warped head.

All I'm saying is pull out the plugs and check them, if they look fouled, change them and see if it runs, then use the bottle if it does.

This post has been edited by match220: Jul 26, 2009 - 6:19 PM

[Superaison]

how can I get the coolant out of one of my cylinders? i think one of them is filled with coolant..

[Bitter]

how can I get the coolant out of one of my cylinders? i think one of them is filled with coolant..

suck it out with a sucker machine, pulls a vacuum on a container and theres a long tube attached to suck stuff out.

why do you need it out? you're going to be yanking the engine and its just going to fill up with coolant again as soon as you try to crank the engine over.

[Superaison]

I'm going to replace the engine.


Anything else I should replace while i'm at it? Radiator, etc?

[GriffGirl]

Yes, read above, Bitter recommended you replace the radiator since you super pressurized it and it'll likely crack with the new motor.

Replace ALL OF YOUR GASKETS, BELTS AND HOSES. Your motor (from a yard, I'm assuming) will NOT be warranted and you won't know the history of the replacement motor. I don't care how few miles it has on it, start out right and do all the gaskets, belts and hoses. Take the opportunity to do the timing belt, water pump, and clutch, too. If you're gonna have to drop a new engine in, you might as well have a good solid fresh start so you can avoid problems like this in the future.

The lesson here: when your car overheats, PULL OVER IMMEDIATELY. If you are a couple of miles from a safe place to pull over and you MUST drive (and I mean a COUPLE, not 30), turn on your heat full blast to help relieve some of the pressure.

[95CelicaST]

Edit: beat me to it


Yeah, due to the circumstances, your radiator might have been damaged by the high pressure. Also, on the new motor, make sure you replace the timing belt while the motor is out. Since you won't know the history of the motor you might also want to replace things like gaskets (go buy a gasket kit for a 7A) water pump, thermostat, etx. General mainenance so that something simple doesn't go wrong once you have the new motor dropped in.



(I think all of this is actually just your car getting back at you for painting it flat black)

This post has been edited by 95CelicaST: Jul 27, 2009 - 11:45 AM

[Superaison]

I hate my car lol. I'm tempted to junk it. I'm trying to find an engine, but idk if i'll be able to find any. Also, by replacing my gaskets, do I have to tear my engine apart? Cause idk how to do that, and if i'm doing that I might as well rebuild my own.

[95CelicaST]

Basically you'll need to tear down the new motor to replace all of the seals and gaskets. Then you get to put it all back together. It's nice because you figure out how it all works. Go buy a torque wrench (if you don't have one already) and buy a chilton's or BGB (big green book) to walk you through opening up the motor, and putting back together properly and with the correct torque specs.


This isn't going to be a super cheap process. I hope you don't think that you'll just go to a yard, pull a motor, take it home, and drop it in.

[Spider77]

If it was only as easy as just dropping it in. Seriously, you have a real slim budget. If your block and head are able to be saved, then thats the route id go (if it were me). But if its way outta spec, might as well get a new engine. Either way, your gonna be down for a while. Even on Ebay, a typical rebuild kit is gonna run you half of you budget, some run upwards to 300. If you take that into factor, rebuilding it will be the best way to go (although on the kits you probly dont need the pistons). Then add up the labor involved with milling the head (which may not need to be done, I dunno), and your going to be well over your 400 mark. Just did some shopping for you and even the bare minimum of parts from rockauto is gonna run you 350, plus shipping. so again, over your 400 mark. Take into account that with a "new" used engine (that shouldnt run more than 450-500) and the parts you'll have to put into that one. Your looking upwards of maybe 800ish. So, if your old engine block/head are not that jacked up, your best bet will be to rebuild the existing engine. But either way, your going to be over budget.

[Superaison]

My friends dad knows of a place that sells engines I can just plop in there. I don't wanna have to replace anything internally on the engine, I think it'll be hard enough just plopping the thing in there.

[Spider77]

Oh, your just gonna drop an engine in there. As long as you trust the place your getting it from, then go for it.