Vecia's 1994 MX-3: UPDATE - 8/06/12 New Picture!

[AaronTietje]

It's great to see a clean engine bay.

[Vecia]

Hey thanks man! That means a lot coming from you! Love your car man. It's coming together nicely.

[Vecia]

Okay, so not much going on until parts arrive but a took a crack at trying to install one of my window regulators with my master switch. Got the driver side door harness installed and everything else went in like a glove but quickly learned the gear mechanism was almost completely stripped out. I was pretty bummed about that but I guess you get what you get when dealing with wrecking yards. So, now I'm on the hunt for both regulators with motors.

Still having a "No Heat in Higher Gears" problem. I have burped the system 3 times but still, my temperature gauge drops to "C" once I hit fifth gear for any length of time (i.e. Freeway, Highway). I've narrowed it down to one of two things; my car simply not liking Fail Safe Thermostats or the El Cheapo, aftermarket Coolant Overflow Tank is allowing air pockets to be sucked in to the system on high acceleration. I'm starting to think that both are contributing in some way or another. At any rate, the Thermo will be switched out for a standard one this weekend but as to the Overflow Tank, I just don't know what to do about it until I am able to get one similar to the Mishimoto design or reconfigure my Intake to accommodate the OEM tank. Don't really want to redo my Intake as I finally have it the way I want it. We'll see. I'll keep ya posted but as always, any input is greatly appreciated.

[Nd4SpdSe]

Air in the system typically causes overheating issues, not overcooling.

I've been sold that Fail-Safe thermostats tend to fail prematurely

What I'm thinking, the higher the gear, so the faster you're moving, so the more air is moving across your rad. The radiator is only used once the thermostat opens up. Sounds like it's stuck open.

[Vecia]

Success!!! I finally found the problem! after jacking with it over and over I finally noticed a very small amount, like grain sized drops of coolant coming from the Coolant Temperature Sensor. Took the piece of crap out, wrapped the threads with a bit of Blue SVT and BAM! Completely fixed! So I guess air was developing behind the sensor. Anyway, one problem solved but, as always, when we solve one problem, another one arises.

Now my idle is back to being ridiculous. For the last couple of days I have noticed a chirping whine coming from the belt side of the engine. Can't figure out if its coming from the idle and/or tensioner pulleys, the alternator belt or the power steering belt. The sound is just freaking hard to isolate. Ive tried to adjust the tension on both belts and both appear to be fine but I think that maybe my power steering pump is about to take a dump.

At any rate, I'm almost for sure that when I did the water pump this time around, I think when I put the timing belt back on that I missed the timing by one tooth on the exhaust cam gear. the marks all lined up except for the exhaust cam and if I'm remembering correctly, the gear looked to be off a tooth counter clockwise if you are facing the engine. Today, after I fixed the Coolant sensor, I placed the car in Diagnostic mode (TEN--->GND) and then adjusted my idle over and over and still, the idle is erratic sometimes bouncing between 1100 and 900 after I pull up to a red-light and then dropping off to 400 after I have sat for a moment. Sometimes, the idle doesn't drop off at all and simply hangs at 1000 RPMs. Correct me if I'm wrong but the exhaust cam being off that 1 tooth would most assuredly hinder me from being able to get the idle smooth, yes?

I sure as hell hope that I'm missing something easy because I have purchased more than my fair share of valve cover gaskets and I don't want to have to do that again for my fifth time. Me and Valve Cover Gaskets just don't get along and they are soooooo hard to find at a seconds notice and sooooo damn expensive when expedited. If anyone knows a short cut to doing the timing belt without having to do the VCG again, please let me know.

Thanks!

[SuperK]

I would assume it's your power steering. Mine does the same thing when I turn the wheel, it chirps.

If you missed a tooth in your timing, it would definitely affect your idle.
Of course the usual, check for vacuum leaks, replace air filter, check pcv, etc etc...
Also keep in mind your idle won't ever be perfect in an old engine. buildup/wear/compression will always cause some issue.

It also may be your distributor giving a weak spark out, so you could test your spark as well.

btw did you not get a idler/tensioner with your timing belt kit when you did that?

[Vecia]

Yes, I did put new tensioner/idler pulleys on when I did the first water pump with my timing belt. Here is the scoop thus far;

yesterday I took my car to a friends house and attempted what seemed like the impossible, to correct the timing belt without removing the Valve Cover Gasket... So, jacked up the car and removed the passenger front wheel and then began draining the oil (was doing an oil change as well). While the oil drained, I removed the Alt and Pwr Steering Belts, ridiculous plastic timing covers, water pump pulley and finally the Drive Pulley.

After everything was removed, except for the Valve Cover, I took my breaker bar with a 1/2" drive and connected my socket for the pulley boss and then slowly turned the crank shaft until it sat with the notch TDC. I then crouched down against the passenger fender and looked across the top surface of it toward the cam gears, through the power steering and a/c hoses as I pushed them down with my left hand where I could get a fairly good view of the cam marks on the backing plate that sits right behind the gears themselves. When doing this, the majority of the gears will be covered by the Valve Cover and quite a bit of shadow will overcast the rest of what's exposed. I was outside doing this at about mid morning but if anyone is attempting this, it would be allot better with a small, fairly bright flashlight maybe sitting near the power steering reservoir and aimed up toward the gears.

At any rate, I compared the location of my timing notch on the pulley boss on the crankshaft (TDC = Top Dead Center) with that of the cam gear marks. You may not be able to see the "E" and the "I" very well at the 4 o'clock (Intake Cam) and the 8 o'clock (Exhaust Cam) positions, respectively due to the Valve Cover but you CAN see the marks on the tooth edge that corresponds to the letters on the spoke. Marks should line up with the marks on the backing-plate perfect. Well, as I thought in my situation, the Exhaust Cam was off counterclockwise by 1 freaking tooth. So, here is how I fixed it...

With my friend's help holding the belt with his thumb against the gear teeth on the Exhaust cam (him standing at the front of the car, facing the engine), I placed a long screwdriver through the open space in the motor mount bracket and relieved the tension on the tensioner pulley (after loosening of course) and while continuing to hold the screwdriver with the tensioner spring expanded, I loosened and removed the Idler pulley then both my friend and I, SLOWLY relieved our hold on the timing belt.

Now, it is crucial here at this point to not make any sudden moves with the socket driver as either the Intake or Exhaust Cam, or both, may want to turn just slightly due to the pressure of the HLAs against the Cam lobes. Obviously this is because of the valve spring pressure pushing the lobes to a position with the least resistance. The least resistance on my Exhaust Cam lobes just happens to place my timing mark on that gear a tooth or so off. Remember though, as long as your gears and crank pulley boss are where they are suppose to be, you should be okay but the main thing you want to keep an eye on is the tension you have on the belt between the two gears... at the top... deep inside the top of the Valve Cover. As long as you relieve the tension on the tensioner very slowly after the idler is removed, you should be perfect just be sure not to move the belt in any upward motion so that it remains seated on the gear's upper teeth.

So, now knowing that my timing was off a tooth on the Exhaust cam, my buddy took a 12 mm wrench and placed it on the Exhaust gear bolt. Before he made any movements, I grabbed the belt near the 4 o'clock position and placed the first tooth of the belt that connects to the gear teeth and moved it up one tooth and, signaling to my friend to slowly rotate the gear forward (down movement as the wrench is kinda positioned partially under the front side of the Valve Cover), at the same time, I allowed the small, 1/4" of slack to make its way to the top of the gear. By doing this, you still maintain the tightness of the belt between the two gears at the top.

Not wasting any time, and while my friend still held the gear tight, I held both loose sides of the belt tight to keep it from moving away from the gear teeth and double checked that all of my marks were correct. Once I was secure that the timing was right, I used one hand to clamp the timing belt at the center below the gears and grabbed the screwdriver with my other and placed it against the tensioner spring's left seat and pried the tensioner open, slid the left side of the belt back over the pulley and while I held the tension off of the belt, my buddy put the idler pulley back into place and I slid the bolt into the idler and turned it to get the threads started. Once you have a few threads in, you should be able to let go of the tensioner... because I KNOW your freaking left arm is hurting like crazy from holding that screwdriver for what seemed like forever!

My friend then tightened the idler, handed me the socket and I did the tensioner. Both done while he still held the Exhaust gear stationary with the 12 mm wrench. After we had let everything go and set the tools down, I double checked my belt tension in the Valve Cover by sticking my finger up between the two gears and then checked the rest of the belt tension around the system. Tension was fine and then double and triple checked my timing marks. After I was pretty confidant that everything was okay, We put everything back on, closed everything up and then started the engine...

Wow... what a pain in the a-- that was!

So, of course my car was running like crap because we had tried to smooth out the idle previously with the timing off a tooth. I then placed the car in Diag mode and adjusted my Throttlebody Idle Air all the way closed. Car didn't die or even stutter for that matter so that told me right off that the timing advance was adjusted too far. I loosened the disti and with my right hand turning it in very small increments until the idle dropped really low, I used my left hand to turn the air just a wee bit higher, then adjusted the disti down further (Remember, no more than increments of about 4 degrees). I then turned the air down until the engine was just about to die (about a 1/16" of a turn from stall which should be about 1/16" from the butterfly valve being completely closed or at its most shut position without touching the bore of the intake throat according to proper setting if you fallowed the "Clean Your Throttle Body" posts in the "4 Cyl" Section)

I then tightened in my Disti and began adjusting my air. At first, I did the 3 full turns to place it at the near stock position (As suggested by one of Ryan's posts somewhere... can't remember where) and then adjusted in a few increments to account for my aftermarket CAI. This was done mostly by checking my idle RPMs and by ear. A few times I took it around the block and readjusted my Disti a very small bit due to pinging but overall, my baby is back to normal in the idle department. I may have to adjust my TPS because of a slight lag in first; almost non-existent but I know my car so I can tell it's there but for the most part, it's fixed...

Temp was still pulling its crap but I have figured out that it is the cheapo overflow tank drawing in air when I turn and the fluid sways below the flowback tube. Crapy crapy design for sure. Fixing that this weekend.

Anyway, hope that semi-walkthrough on fixing jumped timing without removing the Valve Cover helps someone out. Starting to realize I'm not so great with writing these things out and remembering to take pics before starting the jobs. Sorry. I will try to get better at that.

[MrMazda92]

I love the look of your build, props on all the body work and I love that headliner!!!

How has the headliner held up so far in the heat/cold?? I've been planning to redo the headliner when I finally get a 94+ style! I'm looking forward to it, especially with the prices you listed for parts.

[Vecia]

I love the look of your build, props on all the body work and I love that headliner!!!

How has the headliner held up so far in the heat/cold?? I've been planning to redo the headliner when I finally get a 94+ style! I'm looking forward to it, especially with the prices you listed for parts.

Hey, man, Thanks allot!!

The headliner is awesome! Probably one of my favorite DIY things I've done to the car. There is one thing I would do different though and most likely will when I start doing the upholstery and redo it. When I initially did it, I didn't account for the back portion of the headliner fiber-board at the weather seal where the hatch opens. On the board at the back there are two metal discs that have clips on the top side and little teeth that stick into the fiber-board on the bottom. It's kind of a crappy design but they are fastened from the factory with an adhesive. Well, if you don't allow the 3M 90 the exact amount of time to become tacky before sticking them to the board, they WILL MOST ASSUREDLY come loose at some point, causing the board to sag away from the roof and you will end up with about a 1/4" gap between it and the weather molding. What I would have done differently is after I cleaned off the fiber-board of the old foam, I would have done the proper method of sticking them back on and then maybe of gone through the board a few times with a sewing needle and some nylon thread to make sure they would stay secure.

Oh, and another thing too is that when I cut the foam-backed fabric, I should have left a border of about 1 & 1/2 inches around the entire fiber-board and then folded that over and stuck it down with adhesive. I tried to cut it exact and ended up with some spots at the top of the doors and the rear hatch where you can see the edge and the foam. I just jumped right into the project then and didn't really do any research. I promise you one thing though, after my ebay engine purchase a while back and my water pump debacle you can sure bet that I'm an avid supporter of using that "Search" button now! lolol

Thanks again for the compliments! I dig you and your girl's builds too, man. Looking forward to those pictures of the 3rd link mod. I definitely need to get that done as well

[MrMazda92]

No problem!

Ahh, I literally just discovered how weak those discs are myself, mine actually broke in half when I attempted to re-attach them to the roof! I'm thinking I may make a slightly thicker bracket, that goes through the headliner completely, similar to the little cap beneath the sunroof motor. I've always felt that headliners should be stitched throughout, they last so much longer that way.

I appreciate the compliments! My second attempt actually turned out quite poorly, I'm still not sure why to be honest... I did the exact same thing as I had with my '92, but the bolts I used wouldn't clear the stabilizer bar for the linkage! Once I find an affordable alternative to that bolt, that's low enough profile, I'll definitely put up some pictures. Currently, the bolt head actually catches on the stabilizer linkage(Correct term? Anyways, the linkage that supports the shifter), so when pushed to the right, the shifter fails to return to center without some convincing.

I'll try and swap the linkages between the 2 cars, to see if I missed something this time around. That bolt is rather difficult to source, as it's definitely not a common diameter. It certainly makes the CorkSport 3rd link more tempting.

[Vecia]

Worked on the timing again yesterday with a timing light just to make sure it was right. Finally got it set almost perfect but for the life of me, I can't find why my idle is bouncing like it is. I'm so freaking frustrated with this issue. I can't afford to have it tuned again either.

After changing the TPS, which it reads perfect, now my car is throwing out 3 codes; 8, 10 and 12. I started my car with the TPS unplugged by accident and I haven't had a chance to disconnect the battery to try and clear the codes but this is getting real old.

[MrMazda92]

Damn, all 3 of those codes are idle related.

Make sure the TPS is set properly - Sounds like you got this.

Have you messed with the throttle stop? If you read the various TPS threads you probably did it already, but just in case, you'll want just a TINY bit of opening on your TB with the throttle plate at rest. If you have a 2 stage throttle body(2 linkages, so the throttle is progressive), then you'll need to adjust 2 separate stops. This will make a huge difference in throttle feel, especially when starting in 1st gear. At speed it's not really an issue. You can adjust them with an allen wrench and a tiny socket. Try to get the nut itself almost tight, and then adjust the allen screw. Once that's set to where you'll want it, torque the nut down just until you know it won't be turning on it's own.

IAC, you could immediately "test" if this is a part of your problem by unplugging it on the throttle body. If this eliminates the bouncing/surging, then you'll know either the valve itself, or the sensors that control it, are malfunctioning. I found out the hard way, having the plugs on the wrong sensor(they shouldn't fit easily if they are switched) can have a dramatic effect on your idle.

Good luck figuring it all out, I hope you get it soon.

[Tunes67]

Just a quick note about the timing mark jumping around, this is fairly normal. The ECU is constantly making adjustments to your timing as the engine is running. If you goose the throttle while your timing light is on the mark, you should see the mark smooth out its movements and move in the advance direction in correspondence with the RPM increase.

Also, 2 things that I found that were causing a rough idle in my GS, the grommet that the PCV valve was seated in had hardened and cracked and was allowing a vacuum leak. I only found this when I had my valve cover off when I was replacing the leaky valve cover seal. So its easy to miss unless your specifically looking for it. The second was just a nasty throttle body. I took mine off and did a complete cleaning of it and it made a huge difference in how smooth my idle and acceleration was afterwards.

Hope this helps

Tunes67

[Vecia]

Hey, thanks guys for the suggestions and comments!

Okay, took most advice and ran with it. The PCV Valve grommet is one thing I haven't checked yet as I keep forgetting everytime I start troubleshooting. I will check that today for sure. Here is an update so far;

Spent most of the day cleaning the Throttlebody I recently bought from SuperK. After I cleaned it and the IACV, I set the new TPS to spec as well as the throttle butterfly valve in conjunction. After I was pretty certain it was all correct, I changed out my entire throttle body for the new one. Got everything put together and started my engine.

Immediately my idle was completely smoother! I believe the problem was the Idle Air Control Valve which is weird because resistance between the two leads still showed 12 ohms which is bellow the 12.3 limit in the manual. I don't know, maybe the thermowax in the BAV was worn or something...

At any rate, now my idle is way to high. Car starts off cold at 2000 RPMs and slowly drops down while warming up to settle finally at 900 to 1000 RPMs. Next I attempted to set the idle via the steps in the manual. Placed the car in Diag Mode and then began adjusting the Air Adjustment Screw. Bad news is this; the screw is all the way screwed in. No more adjustment is possible to lower idle. Car still idles high and my timing is set at 9 degrees BTDC. I know I'm running rich as hell because I smell it. My car has some definitely noticeable power pick up and I can feel a strong pulse of pressure from the exhaust tail pipe with my hand that has never been there before. So I know its firing right and my timing is where it needs to be but I need to lean the air/fuel mix just a bit more as well as lower the RPMs at the same time to around 850 at the absolute most.

Any attempt now to increase the air/fuel mix will increase my RPMs.

[SuperK]

If you can smell your exhaust, it may mean the catalytic converter is going weak. I stopped smelling my B6 once I replaced my stupid cheap "hi flow" cat with a nice stock one.
But I'm really glad that this TB was better!