Red 1986 GT-S Small Pic-Dump

176k miles, about time for new rings/bearings anyway. Unfortunatly I may wind up having to sell her, because we (family) are dead fuck broke.

 

So I had it up on a lift in auto class today, to balance and rotate the tires, and also so I could check the underbody and show off my Celica. It's a strange thing to see rednecks that spend all day talking about Chevys admiring a tiny japanese car, but I wasn't complaining. Anyway, underside is really clean, apart from a 3 sq. in. patch of rust I already knew about, and a good sized dent farther down, probably from a combination of backroads and crap springs, and that my engine seems to have a pretty big oil leak somewhere. We couldn't tell exactly where, but there was a good amount on the block and suspension components. Which is good, because it means my rings are more than likely not the cause of all my lost oil, but bad because now I have to find a leak and fix it. Just thought I'd throw out an update.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure my headgasket is whats causing the oil leak. How difficult/expensive is it to replace the HG if I do all the work myself?

 

No oil around the valve covers, and I know it's coming from lower down on the firewall side of the block. Could it be the oil pressure sending unit or pump?

 

Alright. I'm bringing the car into the auto shop at my school next week, gonna clean the motor and run some flourescent dye through it, see where it's all coming from.

 

No idea. I assumed it was the stock GT-S radiator. Is it not? Whatever it is, it works great.

 

Yeah, it looks as though my oil pump is what's leaking. And one of my steering rack boots is torn, and inspection is coming up. Awesome.

Rick, the radiator is a single core, but for some reason the top is twice as thick as the rest. It was installed sometime in the early 90's, so I have no clue where the previous owner got it from.

 

Turned all my rotors in auto class. The front rotors were warped as hell. Now I need new rear calipers and pads, they're nearly toast. Probably go ahead and replace the front calipers while I'm at it.

 

Woo, replaced the torn rack boot (what a PITA, wound up needing my dremel... why is nothing ever simple?) Need new tie rods... Also have bad motor mounts; actually every bushing and mount on the suspension/drivetrain needs replaced... Lost 3 quarts of oil inexplicably, no clue where it all went, that could have ended badly... Battery is shit, have had to push start it that last few times... Passenger side rear caliper is half frozen, won't fully disengage... Struts are going bad, springs are sagging... the tires are literally beginning to disentegrate from dry rot...

Somebody remind me why I love this car?

 

Oh I'd never give up this car, I love the way it drives, and the styling. And yeah, these cars just feel solidly built. I just needed to vent. I have some income now, so should be able to begin fixing her up soon, beginning with tires. I'm not letting what happened to the blue GT happen to this one.

 

Re: Red 1986 GT-S Seals & Seafoam

Had the Celi in the school shop for the whole of this week to do some work on it. Replaced the oil pan seal and the drain plug gasket, both were leaking pretty badly. The oil pan gasket is a PITA for those who have never done it, you have to remove both crossmembers and unbolt the exhaust down pipe from the manifold. It did give me a chance to inspect the internals of my GE, and everything looks pristine While bolting everything back up I noticed that the rear motor mount was broken nearly in half, so got a new one. I was also going to do the oil pump seal as I suspect it is leaking also, but you have to replace the timing belt when you do that and I don't have the cash atm. I grabbed a can of Seafoam last time I was at the autoparts store, followed the instructions, 1/3 in oil, 1/3 in gas tank, and a third through the intake. It worked great. I wish I had pictures to show you what my PCV catch can got after running it through the oil, it was pretty disgusting, but that means it's no longer in my engine. Smoked pretty good after running it thru the intake, which is normal, and it seems to run a lot smoother now. Did an oil change too, obviously. So yeah, gave the Celi some much overdue attention this week, feel pretty good about that.