LT's Engine swap and more Extravaganza

That's cool to see an old school sub like that. Thanks for sharing.   If you seen my subwoofer you would laugh.  It only weighs eight pounds but they say it plays as low as 30hz because of newer technology. I have it mounted on the inside of the passenger foot well by the console and supported by velcro. I will finishing up the install today to see if it lives up to the hype of playing clean and tight bass.  

Everything in our cars needs to be small to fit.  Luckily, we don't need too much extra sound for the little cabin space.  It's possible that I'll be connecting the battery this weekend and I might see how my setup sounds since I'll be testing out the a2w pump and my custom relay for running it and all that fun stuff before re-installing the front underpanel.

Hopefully, I'll be at the 95% point after this weekend.  I'll be posting pics next week if I'm able to accomplish what I want this weekend and am able to drive the car off of the lift ramps (Yes, I had to make ramps for the lift so that I could drive the car over the 6" of clearance needed.  hahaha).  Anyway, that will mean that I can run the car long enough to make sure I don't have any leaks anywhere and that the coolant settles to the correct level, etc.  The alignment and tuning are the last 5%.  But the car will at least be mobile and I'll be able to use the lift for other vehicles again.

More to come next week...

I swear it's always 2 steps forward 1 step back.  I got most of the car back together now and was letting it idle to let the coolant settle from the fill line down to the operating range.  Well, that's great and all.  But my car idles at 3K RPM!  Yeah.  Fantastic.  I'm pretty sure it's a stuck IAC valve (in the open position).  I'm not positive on that.  But I don't know of any other reason why it would be like that. 

Luckily, I didn't have any coolant leaks.  I seem to have had a leak at the intercooler and I am using distilled water and water wetter (which has the same-ish coloring as the coolant).  So at first I saw a small puddle and thought it was worse than it is.  I think I fixed that leak and will monitor again next time I run the car.  But I need to figure out this idle issue.

Any suggestions (Preferably from experience with the symptoms)?

EDIT:  I should mention that I cleaned the MAF shortly before installation with electronics cleaner spray.  So I doubt that it's the MAF.  But it is also a minor suspect.  😉

Sorry to hear LT. It's possible that there is a bubble in the system and it's tripping the car into fast idle. I seen this before and once the coolant circulates the idle comes down. Not all cases are like this after a coolant change but in one case I seen it happen. I hope it gets resolved. 

Posted by: @dev

↑

Sorry to hear LT. It's possible that there is a bubble in the system and it's tripping the car into fast idle. I seen this before and once the coolant circulates the idle comes down. Not all cases are like this after a coolant change but in one case I seen it happen. I hope it gets resolved. 

 

Thanks.  I remember hearing something about air bubbles in the coolant as well.  I do know that my coolant reservoir did settle to the normal level after letting it high idle for a while (normal procedure for doing a coolant change aside from the idle being 2K higher than normal).  It remained at a constant 3K-ish RPM the entire time it was idling.  I don't remember the exact number, but it stayed constant.

I'll be sure to report back what it was after I figure it out.

Well, it's NOT the IACV.  I was able to remove it from underneath the car (More on this later...).  I let it dangle while plugged in and set my gopro on it to test it out (turning the key to the ON position to see if the valve rotates / cycles.  It looked like it moves as expected based on the video.  However, the video was not easy to capture.

Anyway, now I'm at a loss since I don't know what the problem could be.  And worse still is that, while the valve assembly came out easily.  I can't get a good angle on it to get it back in!  My Scissor lift has a really inconvenient lateral bar that gets in the way.  I basically had to take a break for the day since I'm just fuming right now.

To make matters even worse, I was trying to fix whatever I messed up when wiring my turn-on-wire for the amps.  Now, I've made it worse and nothing makes sense.  The amps will turn on if the turn-on wire is connected to the radio harness AND the switched power is on and connected and the key is in the ON position.  If I completely remove the blue turn-on wire connection to the radio harness, then it still doesn't turn on with switched power.  This makes absolutely zero cents to me.  I will try to figure this out tomorrow.  No sense in looking for blue/white wires when all I can see is red.

As for the high idle, I have no clue.  I double checked that the throttle valve is closed at rest so it's not a throttle cable issue.  I don't think I have a vacuum leak anywhere, but that's the next likely culprit.  Hopefully, the intake manifold is good and has no cracks or holes.

Sorry to hear LT. Sometimes when I get in this mode it's best to take a break and it will come to you.  It happens to me sometimes in the middle of the night. 

What you can do is block the IAC passage that is just before the throttle plate.  If it is blocked and the car stalls then you know there are no leaks at the throttle body or anywhere it is taking in air to raise the idle. 

For the amps the blue  remote turn on wire is nothing more than a 12 volt sensing wire. On the harness if you have connected it to a constant 12 volt wire it will be always on or when the key is in the ignition not necessarily when the radio is powered on. If it's an aftermarket head unit you need to locate the blue/white wire. 

Posted by: @dev

↑

Sorry to hear LT. Sometimes when I get in this mode it's best to take a break and it will come to you.  It happens to me sometimes in the middle of the night. 

What you can do is block the IAC passage that is just before the throttle plate.  If it is blocked and the car stalls then you know there are no leaks at the throttle body or anywhere it is taking in air to raise the idle. 

For the amps the blue  remote turn on wire is nothing more than a 12 volt sensing wire. On the harness if you have connected it to a constant 12 volt wire it will be always on or when the key is in the ignition not necessarily when the radio is powered on. If it's an aftermarket head unit you need to locate the blue/white wire. 

 

Yep.  The whole amp situation was a string of random unfortunate events.  It started out with a weak connection for the blue turn-on wire (blue/white from my Pioneer HU and I was using a vampire clip to splice to the harness going to the car.  That was only discovered today.  To bypass the blue wire issue, I was running a switched power source to the remote location on the amps.  However, at some point my breaker popped to the amps while I was messing around with stuff and I didn't realize it.  So nothing turned on.  Anyway, all is working with that now at least.  I still need to test my reverse camera.  And the HU said that my VSS was not connected.  But I'm pretty sure I tapped that into the vss from the ECU.  Although, it's possible it's not correct.  Anyway...

As for the IAC, I did some more testing on it and I can guarantee that it is not stuck with sludge or anything and moves very easily.  I'm able to get the valve to open when applying 12v to the middle common power pin and grounding the RSO pin.  However, grounding on the RSC pin does absolutely nothing.  I have another IACV (one is from my old engine and one is from the replacement.  I don't remember which is which).  So I tested just the electric part of that one and it behaves the exact same way.  So what are the odds that 2 different IACVs have failed in the exact same way?  One other possibility is that it starts in a closed position and only the open is noticeable.  But that doesn't match up with what any of the documentation I've read on these for testing procedures.

I'll try to block off the IAC port and see what happens.  it's not easy to get to though and the weekend is mostly done now.  So I'll have to re-group on this later on.

I appreciate all of the advice.

I haven't had enough weekend time to even look at this again.  But maybe this coming weekend will prove to be productive?

I think the next thing to try is blocking off the IACV ports and seeing what happens (as suggested).  If the issue still persists, then I'll at least know that the problem is with something after the throttlebody.

I hope you find it.  It's the greatest thing in the world to have a well running car especially for the driving season. 

Much to my surprise, it does seem like the IACV is bad.  I put some metal tape over the ports on the throttlebody and loosely put my intake piping back on.  It basically idled low and then stalled.  I started a second time and it idled low, but I was able to keep it alive with some throttle and it got back down to a really low idle and almost died, but my experiment was complete.  I learned a few things:

1. All signs definitely point to IACV.
2. I probably need to adjust my throttle cable so the butterfly is more closed at rest.  ... Or, just leave it as-is and know that it's never fully closed.
3. Both of the IACV controllers behave the same way when common +12v is applied and ground is applied to RSO and RSC.
   1. This means that somehow both are broken the exact same way?
   2. WTAF?!?!?!
4. Toyota no longer sells that part, but I can get an aftermarket one which I'm not thrilled about.  Actually, they do.  But it's not cheap.

Other thoughts:

1. Could bad/old gasoline have caused my consistent high idle?
2. Did the IACV just fix itself when I took it off the car and started testing it and cleaning it some more?
3. Am I cursed to never have this car back on the road again?

Anyway, getting access to re-install the IACV is nearly impossible with my scissor lift due to a lateral bar that it for extra rigidity and support.  I know that people with this lift have cut that bar and converted it to be detachable.  I'd need to do this while my car is on it.  So... I'm not going to do that.  hahaha.  Trying to go from above has challenges because I can't completely remove my intercooler due to the water lines being attached along with other hoses running everywhere that I just don't want to deal with trying to re-attach or even remove.  Basically, what I'm saying is that it might just "work" if I put the IACV back on.  Or I need a replacement.  But swapping it is a challenge with my setup.

Thanks for all of the help, support, and advice.  I'll be sure to post an update once it's running properly and what the fix ultimately was.

EDIT:

New IACV and Gasket on order.  Hopefully, this is the last of my issues regarding normal operation.

EDIT AGAIN:

I was able to devise a way to get the IACV re-installed from underneath the car and did some more testing.  I'm not so sure that the IACV is (or was ever) bad.  So I canceled my order with Mr. T.  Hopefully, the cancellation goes through.

I was able to log from the PFC a good bit.  Unfortunately, my wideband O2 sensor is not reporting right now so I don't have logged AFRs.  But I do see that I'm at 38% airflow at idle of around 1200rpm.  I'm also at 4% TPS.  This number should be 0%.  So that is one definite issue.  I'm pretty sure i just need to adjust the cable for the butterfly.

One other thing that I'm not sure if it's a factor is that this engine has lower compression and is bored to 2.0 ltr instead of 1.8.  So I don't know if that's causing some weirdness, but...

At 1200rpm I'm at a load value of between 5000 and 6000.  This should be at around 2000.  So uh ... WTF?

The good news is, aside from getting to the throttle cable adjusted, the other items might just be some PFC settings.  I'll also need to figure out why my PLX stuff isn't reporting to my display but 1 thing at a time...

One other factor I'm dealing with is that I have over a half a tank of really old gasoline.  I should have siphoned a bunch out when I was replacing the fuel pump and replaced it with new gas. ... But I didn't.  I've added some stabilizer every now and then so it might just need to be run through a bit more and I'll add some new fuel to the mix.  Despite my idle issue and ill-adjusted throttle cable, I should be able to drive it around some and log some data from the PFC with CoPilot.  So I may schedule an alignment soon so that I don't destroy my tires while driving around.  haha.

I was able to cancel my hastily-placed order for a new IACV and gasket.  Since it turns out that wasn't the issue before.  Maybe my throttle was stuck open a bit more at that time.  Or maybe the cable itself is in need of replacement (something that would have been a LOT easier when everything was out of the car but...  Here we are) or maybe just needs to be run used to loosen it up a bit?

All I know is that I am really tired of chasing down dumb issues like this and want to get into tuning the car (The fun stuff).

If you can imagine, I'm finally to the tuning stage with my project!  Basically, I have working* AC.  So I'll be able to start tuning in comfort soon.  The asterisk is because whenever I engage the AC, the engine bogs and stalls.  My maps are definitely off and I need to get them in a good spot to start from scratch again.

I saw the .dat files that Patrick is hosting for the PFC.  However, I'd like to see some copilot folders showing those as well so I don't have to write them to my ECU with FC Edit and then pull them with copilot.

My situation is as such... Starting maps are based on the previous engine.  The turbo kit, intercooler, water/meth injection, etc, are all the same.

The details of the previous engine are:

• 1ZZ
• Stock Internals
• Hass injectors (resized in the PFC).
• Stock Fuel Pump with RRFPR from PE kit

The details of the replacement engine are:

• 1ZZ
• MWR big bore kit (82mm - 8.8:1)
• Crower rods
• Ported cylinder head
• MWR Valves (Stainless with Black Nitride)
• MWR Valve Spring Kit
• FIC 650cc Injectors
• Deatschwerks 340lph Fuel Pump with RRFPR from PE kit

What I've done so far:

• I've resized my injectors according to the difference in stock 260 and my numbers received from FIC
• I've multiplied my base map cells by 1.077 to make up for the difference in displacement (From 1794.02 to 1932.86)
• I've added 5* of timing in my vacuum (AKA out of boost) cells and only by a few degrees in boost.
• I've tested the AFR module and sensor when the gauge was displaying the same as the output 0-5v.  All tested correctly.

What's happening now:

• My PLX AFR is logging out a constant 5 volts when running which is reporting full lean.  However, the gauge is reporting 0 or full rich.  The gauge could be related to something else though.
• The car idles ... *ok* when the AC is not on.  But not great.
• The exhaust really stinks but I'm terrible with determining between rich and lean exhaust smells especially since I'm catless and it smells like scorched earth all the time.
• Whenever the AC is turned on, the additional load on the system causes the car to bog down and ultimately stalls unless I give it some pedal.
• Am I truly running super lean?
• Also, I should mention that the gas in the tank is probably 2.5 years old.  I've added some fuel stabilizers to it, but I don't know how much that will do.  I don't know if I should add some fresh fuel to the mix and see if it idles better or if I'm just being too paranoid.

I'm pretty sure there is something wrong with either my base or my timing map.  Or maybe both need some sort of adjustment.  Is there anyone who has a similar setup to mine with a PFC that can post even a screen shot of your maps for base fuel and timing?  Does anyone have a suggestion on what other thing might be happening?  I'm very close to having this car on the road.  Once I can get a decent enough starting point with my maps, I'll be good to go (Provided I can sort out my issue with the AFR module).

OK.  After quite a bit of research, trial & error, purchasing, etc. I've siphoned out the old gas and added almost 5 gallons of fresh 93 fuel.  The car idles and will run with the AC on now, AFR was still super high, but I was able to drive the car off of the lift and noticed that my AFRs were reading real numbers.  So I guess that means I was just super lean.  I've resized my injectors again and that got it better, I'm still in the process of tuning the basics.  But it's finally alive and walking (running will come later).

One thing I noticed as soon as I was on the road and going at least 15mph is that my rear alignment is WAY OFF.  So, I'm going to flatbed the car to the shop to get it aligned and then start driving and tuning.  But it's just a relief to see my car off of the lift now after over 2.5 years!

... And I also need to bleed my brakes.  But other stuff is working at least.  🙂