It one hell of a well designed engine, head work was done by yamaha. revs nice and to say it dates back to the 60's i find i can out pull a lot of modern cars, talking about torque rather than bhp. I still have a slipping clutch after 1049 miles and i can still snap the back end out.
I had the 1.6 ST SC pushrod Toyota engine (2-tb), but many years ago i sold a car to a mate, he told me he blew it up, from what he said it sounded like the chain snapped. i took the top off the engine, polished and ported myself, skimmed the head (not a damaged chain) and fired it up. the instant notice of power and respose was amazing. felt like a differant car.
Must admit all my old Toyotas have been reliable, again 2 days ago 2 guys (not asian this time) stopped me and offerd me hard cash, a few weeks ago £4500 and the guy was pissed off i wouldnt sell, i bought the car for £800 6 years ago, ok now its tatty and s**te fibreglass wing but still gets looks and admiration. its a GENUINE GT Celica, Ra28, not the much more common ST (TC head is the only diff apart from LSD and ant roll bar)
The usual resaons in order of likelyhood for not starting on th first attempt but firing immediately on the second are a) interference or weak transmission from the keys transponder- car is remaining immobilised. Experiment by using the spare key for a few days and if it then is fine- replace the first key.
b) Slow cranking and / or weak signal from CAS due to fault or poor connection- you've had the CAS replaced so this should be ruled out- is the starting problem only when cold? The ECU will not fire the injectors until cranking speed is 300rpm or more. Therefore the starter and battery must be healthy.
c) low charge pressure in common rail caused by weak pump (vains breaking up) again the ecu wont fire the injectors until (from what i remmeber)
150bar is reached inthe rail. In this case a prolonged crank would most likely allow the engine to start.
You dont say whether on the first attempt you can crank for ever and a day without it starting or if on the 2nd attempt does it fire immediately or need a fair stab on the starter?
With regard to the cambelt its quite difficult to properly check the belt in situ with it tensioned, however turning the engine slowly with a spanner and a good lamp and a mirror it is possible, looking for stress marks/ cracks between the teeth.
You also want to the check the plastic idler bearings (with a blunt aid, lever the belt away from the idlers and spin checking for roughness) as well as the plastic for signs of it breaking up.
Belt failure on these engines is *still* caused 90% of the time from guides and rollers breaking up and cagging it rather than the belt suddenly snapping.
Tim, many thanks for a most comprehensive reply. Certainly it is much more useful than anything I've managed to get out of the garage, though to be fair I do believe they're doing their jobs properly.
Did that over two years ago when the car was new and discovered that it also happens with the spare key. Also, I performed a test about 6 months ago whilst changing the battery in the main key. I removed the remote unit from the key and attempted to start the car, to see what would happen. The PATS warning light indicated a lack of keycode, and the engine refused to even crank! When I held the remote unit near the steering column it cranked and started perfectly. This contradicts previous advice I've read in the newsgroups, as my car will not crank when the keycode is not received, but various past posts have suggested that some do, or perhaps people were just theorising! There is no indication of a PATS problem when the incident occurs.
Anytime basically, from a cold morning start, to a stop at the shop after having driven 20 miles. It appears to be random. I am a software developer, and tend to be good at spotting patterns in mundane things that most people never even think about or notice, however this is an infuriating problem, as I have been unable to spot any pattern at all in this case, and am unable to reproduce the problem at will! There are never any DTC codes stored, and the one time I did manage to get to the garage within a short while of it happening, they found nothing on their WDS equipment either.
I believe this may be one issue that has not been investigated. I will give the battery an inspection and degrease and reseat the connectors and terminals at the weekend to see if this makes any difference.
On the first attempt, it will crank for at least ten seconds or so. I dont like to let it crank longer than this for fear of starter motor premature wear, however the last time it happened I let it crank for a good 15 to 20 seconds just to be able to say to the garage that I'd done this.
If I turn the ignition on immediately after this, the glowplug light will flash. If I turn it off and leave it for about 20 seconds or so, then try again, the car will start perfectly normally, instantly, and with no indication that there has ever been a problem. There are no discernable changes in the drivability of the car.
Bit of a puzzler alright!! I haven't been worried about it happing 2 or 3 times a year, but am just getting concerned now that it's getting more frequent, and close to warranty expiry.
Thank you very much for taking the time to provide this info and suggestions. It is greatly appreciated.
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