Hello everyone!
First i would like to welcome everyone on the forums and thank everyone for clicking on my first post. There will be much more to come!
XXX LONG READ WARNING , PLEASE READ CAREFULLY XXX
As you can see, i am new to the forums, i have been reading for a pretty long time, ever since i started looking for a Supra (about 6 months ago), and this friday i finally found one. She isnt EXCATLY what i was looking for, but the closest i've seen so far. Its rediculosly hard to find a Supra in good condition in my area..
After about 8 Supra's ive seen and didnt like, i decided on buying this one as soon as i saw it. The body of the car is in unbelivable shape, absolutely no rust anywhere, no big dents/scratches, very clean inside and out. Just some tears on the drivers seat. Its a Black on grey leather 89 Turbo Targa Automatic with 245km (about 152miles). I bought it from a master automechanic with his own shop and 40 years of experience. He owned the car for about 2 years. I got it for 3900 CDN (about 2800 US). I thought it was a really good deal. I will take pics of the car as soon as it stops raining here (its been raining since friday).
Now to the problems:
When i test drove the car it drove absoutely flawless. There were NO weird sounds from anywhere, really nice shocks, turbo spooled smoothly, no leaks under the car. I checked for common BHG symptoms (coolant in the oil, white smoke, etc) couldnt find any. The guy assured me that the car is very solid and has no mechanical problems at all, not even minor ones.
After he finished with all the paperwork, (2 days after i left the deposit) i picked the car up and drove it home(about 1 hour drive). It drove very nice, just like the test drive.
The nest day (saturday) i drove her to work and noticed the slight "waterfall" sound behind the dash during acceleration. I didnt pay attention to that first, untill saturday night when i got home, searched for "waterfall" and turned out its a common BHG symtom
. I also read that the cause of this is not always BHG, so i started looking for other symtoms. On sunday (yesterday) i noticed the coolant "puking" out of overflow bottle onto the IC, and LOTS of white smoke on startup. Good part is that it doesnt overheat (the engine temp needle is always about 2/5th from the bottom mark to the red mark. I decided to take the car to my mechanic today. I got back about an hour ago, he told me that he dealt with Supras before, but never had any BHG issues. In fact he has no idea that BHG is a pain in the ass of any MK3 owner, and told me that BHG's dont happen if u dont over-abuse the car (which i am not planning on doing). I told him that according to what i read on these forums, my symtoms indicate a BHG. And this is how explained my problems:
1) Every car in this area (its cold outside right now) has white smoke on startup and i am not special. (which i kinda have to agree with). He said that if there was a bhg , then the car would produce smoke all the time , not just startup.
2) The coolant puking out of the bottle simply means that there is too much of it (the previous owner overfilled it) and i should just let some of it out and i wouldnt have this prob anymore.
3) The waterfall behind the dash is either the AC freon, some heater liquid (dont remember how he called it) or simply water trapped inside the engine somewhere flowing from one place to another due to g-force during acceleration.
He told me that i shouldnt worry about HG unless i abuse the car, and my problems have nothing to do with the HG. He also said that if i want him to replace it, he can do it , if "i got nowhere else to spend 12 hundreed bucks". In other words he is sure that its not a HG issue. This mechanic is a really good guy with very good reputation and he (most of the time) knows what hes talking about. But his opinion on my problem doesnt satisfy me. Thats why im looking for other opinions here
. What do you guys think? is there a chance that his explanations are true, or do i have a BHG?
The only other problem that i noticed with the car is that whenever i switch to any drive gear from parking, the tranny engages pretty rough , especially when its cold. When i switch to D from P after a cold night, its engages really bad, almost as if Suzuki Swift (non-gt) hit me in the back
but when the car warms up nicely its barely noticeable. I also told my mechanic about this , and he said it was a more serious problem than waterfall, and he suggested to change tranny fluid tomorrow and go from there. Thats what im gonna do.
The problem with the BHG is that im almost out of money right now , i spend most of my savings on the car , i have about 1000$ left. Do you guys think that i should dump it on professional BHG repair if i got one, or would i be able to fix it myself to save money for future repairs if needed? (and im pretty sure they'll be needed
) I am 19 years old , and this is my first car. I dont have any experience with engines yet, but the winter is comming soon (ill have LOTS of time) and more importantly i have a lot of desire to learn and fix this car up. I looked at the cylinder heads removal instructions at TSRM and i dont even know what some of the items they are talking about are and how they look(such as cruise control vacum hose, No.3 PCV hose, PCV pipe, BVSV hose, EGR hoses, VSV hoses and the list goes on an on....) How difficult do u guys think it would be for somebody like me to perform BHG repair? (providing that i have lots of time and desire and all the tools needed)
Sorry about the long read. Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
Denis.
First i would like to welcome everyone on the forums and thank everyone for clicking on my first post. There will be much more to come!
XXX LONG READ WARNING , PLEASE READ CAREFULLY XXX
As you can see, i am new to the forums, i have been reading for a pretty long time, ever since i started looking for a Supra (about 6 months ago), and this friday i finally found one. She isnt EXCATLY what i was looking for, but the closest i've seen so far. Its rediculosly hard to find a Supra in good condition in my area..
Now to the problems:
When i test drove the car it drove absoutely flawless. There were NO weird sounds from anywhere, really nice shocks, turbo spooled smoothly, no leaks under the car. I checked for common BHG symptoms (coolant in the oil, white smoke, etc) couldnt find any. The guy assured me that the car is very solid and has no mechanical problems at all, not even minor ones.
After he finished with all the paperwork, (2 days after i left the deposit) i picked the car up and drove it home(about 1 hour drive). It drove very nice, just like the test drive.
The nest day (saturday) i drove her to work and noticed the slight "waterfall" sound behind the dash during acceleration. I didnt pay attention to that first, untill saturday night when i got home, searched for "waterfall" and turned out its a common BHG symtom
1) Every car in this area (its cold outside right now) has white smoke on startup and i am not special. (which i kinda have to agree with). He said that if there was a bhg , then the car would produce smoke all the time , not just startup.
2) The coolant puking out of the bottle simply means that there is too much of it (the previous owner overfilled it) and i should just let some of it out and i wouldnt have this prob anymore.
3) The waterfall behind the dash is either the AC freon, some heater liquid (dont remember how he called it) or simply water trapped inside the engine somewhere flowing from one place to another due to g-force during acceleration.
He told me that i shouldnt worry about HG unless i abuse the car, and my problems have nothing to do with the HG. He also said that if i want him to replace it, he can do it , if "i got nowhere else to spend 12 hundreed bucks". In other words he is sure that its not a HG issue. This mechanic is a really good guy with very good reputation and he (most of the time) knows what hes talking about. But his opinion on my problem doesnt satisfy me. Thats why im looking for other opinions here
The only other problem that i noticed with the car is that whenever i switch to any drive gear from parking, the tranny engages pretty rough , especially when its cold. When i switch to D from P after a cold night, its engages really bad, almost as if Suzuki Swift (non-gt) hit me in the back
The problem with the BHG is that im almost out of money right now , i spend most of my savings on the car , i have about 1000$ left. Do you guys think that i should dump it on professional BHG repair if i got one, or would i be able to fix it myself to save money for future repairs if needed? (and im pretty sure they'll be needed
Sorry about the long read. Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
Denis.