Assistance in Getting my 1988 Halftrac Running Again

Snyder

New member
Good day! I've been a member since early 2000s but MIA for the last 10-12 years. Well, in the early 2000s, I swapped a 92 JDM 3SGTE into my 1988 Celica GTS. 318hp to the wheels. Its been sitting in my garage since 2012. 6 months ago, I emptied the gas out of it through the fuel sending unit and filled it with fresh premium gas. She started after hand cracking first to move oil around. She ran ruff, but got up to normal operating temp and actually to my two daughters for a ride in it!

I noticed that cylinder 4 was not firing. I removed the spark plug and was getting spark, but no fuel. I know that the fuel rail and injectors will need to be removed and flushed. As of today, the car will not spark at all. This thing is in my garage and taking up space and wondering what to do with it, finish it or sell it.

It's easy for me at my age now to sell it and buy a Subaru STI or a 2023 Toyota Corolla GR Circuit Edition when it comes out than crawling under this car and working on it. Only reason why I still have this car is because it was my first car at 16 and now I'm 43. Haha!

Anyway, looking for someone to come by and work on this with me to get it to the point I can reregister it and drive it. I will pay of course, just want someone experienced with the 3SGTE engine. I will in western NJ.

Cars owned:

1988 ST165 Gray (Rolled 4 times)
1988 ST165 Red (Sold)
1992 Toyota SR5 ExCab (Traded in for wife's car)
1988 ST162 Halftrac with 92 JDM 3SGTE (Garage kept since 1996)
2005 Toyota Rav4 (246k miles still driving)

Thanks!

Chris

(908) 337-7721
 

Bori

Member
Wish you were close to me bro! Glad to see you working on your car again! Keep it. There's nothing more valuable than the emotional attachment to it. I regret selling mine even after all these years.
 

Roreri

Active member
I'm not the guy you need and not in the NJ area but hope you do find someone to get you what you need.

If you can pull the fuel rail and get the injectors out, if you send them to Fuel Injector Specialists Chuck will set them right (if it can be done).

https://fuelinjectorspecialists.com/
 

alltracman78

Active member
Way too far for me to help, but I can give you a few suggestions.

I would replace cap, rotor and plugs to start. Wires are probably fine (assuming good quality and/or low miles).

If it still doesn't spark signal comes from the distributor (actually, engine rotating signal. Crank and cam sensors are both in there. So cam signal and crank signal) to the ECU.
ECU then sends signal to the igniter, which then sends to the coil.
 

Snyder

New member
The car is running, but still no fuel coming from cylinder 4.

There is spark to cylinder 4, but no fuel. If I disconnect the fuel injector plug from cylinder 4, nothing changes on the car.

I'm trying to not take out the fuel rail, but might have to at this point. Last thing I'm going to try is to use alligator clips to manually power that injector to see if I see fuel spray from the cylinder while the plug is out. If I do, I know its a wire that has been chewed by the family of mice living in the car for the last 10 years.....

Thanks!
 

underscore

Well-known member
Are you getting an electrical signal to that injector? I believe they're constant power and switched ground. If not I'd open up the ECU and check for capacitors leaking onto the injector drivers like they tend to do at this age.
 
Snyder":189i7eny said:
The car is running, but still no fuel coming from cylinder 4.

There is spark to cylinder 4, but no fuel. If I disconnect the fuel injector plug from cylinder 4, nothing changes on the car.

I'm trying to not take out the fuel rail, but might have to at this point. Last thing I'm going to try is to use alligator clips to manually power that injector to see if I see fuel spray from the cylinder while the plug is out. If I do, I know its a wire that has been chewed by the family of mice living in the car for the last 10 years.....

Thanks!
Why don't you check cylinder compression pressure on cylinder #4 first? If you have no compression pressure, you might be "assuming" an injector problem if you are certain you have spark on that cylinder. Before taking all the fuel stuff apart, I would check compression pressure on that cylinder first, at least to rule it out. If you have pressure in the correct range, and you are certain of having spark on that cylinder, then you are left with a fuel issue.

You can also check if you have an injector activation signal on the wiring harness connector - best of using a NOID light to check for that. Just check it with the engine running if that cylinder is otherwise appearing dead right now.
 

97JZA80

New member
Ah I remember the pics of the rollover. Good to see you back on here. Surprised my brother hasn't chimed in yet. Not sure how far you are from us.
 

Snyder

New member
Good day, team. Haha!

Some updates:

1. Ran a compression test on cylinder #4. 145 psi
2. I removed the wire from the distributor cap and getting spark there
3. I removed the spark plug, connected to the plug, started the car and there is spark at the plug
4. I removed the fuel rail, removed the injectors. I removed the o-rings, strainer baskets, sprayed them with carb cleaner, replaced the strainer basket and o-rings. placed them back in the cleaned fuel rail, connected carb cleaner to the fuel rail and built pressure. I ran power to each injector and each one was cleaned and sprayed equally
5. I used a test light and there is power going to one side of the injector plug. Its a steady light and not pulsing while the car is running
6. Put everything back together, started the car and same symptoms. Cylinder #4 still not firing. I DID not swap the injectors around, but maybe should have?

I guess I can check the ECU next, but any other suggestions? Kind of pissing me off. Haha!

Thanks again!

Chris
 

Snyder

New member
I think it's the ecu. I opened it and there is a small burned capacitor along with a larger one

Have to find out what the smaller one is and replace them next.

Thanks
 
Since you found physically bad caps in the ECU, best to replace those. Some caps go bad with no signs of leakage or bulging though, so be aware. I would have followed underscore's guidance first though, as you were testing the wrong side of the injector wiring harnesses. One side should always have power. The other side drops out when the ECU grounds that side to activate the injector solenoid. So that is the side that would give you the best information if the ECU is properly pulsing the ground to each injector.
 

underscore

Well-known member
Yeah if you have one bad cap just replace them all. The others won't be far behind if they aren't drying out already. There's a few threads on here with the specs for the caps in a 185 ECU.
 

Snyder

New member
Does anyone know the part number for the smaller ones on either side of the cap on the main board? I will order the larger ones tonight. I tried to take a picture,but it's larger than the upload size.

Thanks!

Chris
 

Snyder

New member
Update. I replaced two of capacitors that were leaking. Same result. : (

To test the pulsing side of the injector,, do I ground the test light like usual, of positive side to test ground?

Thanks!
 

grip-addict

Active member
injectors are ground switched. that means that they always have 12v on one pin; the ecu will ground out the other pin
when it's time to fire.
are you getting anything with your test light? Is your injector resistor pack hooked up?
 

Snyder

New member
I get 12v to one side of the injector when I turn the key on.

When the car is running I get 12v steady on the other side I of the injector, not pulsing though.

The resistor pack is hooked up because the other 3 cylinders are firing

Thabks!
 
If you are positive that you are not getting a pulsed voltage on the ground side of the injector when the car is running, I would suggest you verify the wire first by checking continuity of the ground side wire of the injector between the injector and the ECU (through the wiring harness). If you get continuity with virtually zero resistance, then the only explanation is your ECU lost the ability to ground that injector via pulsing it properly. That could very well be a capacitor issue. And as stated earlier, you can't always tell a bad capacity by visual inspection. If you have an open in that wire, then you either need to repair the open circuit in that wire or run a good wire between the injector and ECU and cut it into the wiring harness.
 

Snyder

New member
Good day! Figured out the issue this morning! Mice ate a few wires way up behind the fan assembly. I unplugged the ecu and pulled the harness from the engine bay. That is where I saw the chewed wires.

I soldered them back together and finally started the car! When I did run, prred like a kitten! It not just dies whenever it wants. The check engine light is on for the first time. Has to look at that next.

Thanks again!
 
I guess you did not need to check those wires for continuity, the way you did it. You found the obvious.

Let us know what the DTC(s) are when you check for codes. That is the old OBD-1 system, so unless you have an OBD-1 scanner, you will need to follow the procedure to get the check engine light flashing to give you the code(s).
 
Top