As mentioned in my last update the Rolla has been using a LOT of oil - over 3 litres in 1,000 miles. OOUUCCHH!!!! Also the supercharger was making a nasty clucking noise in the area of the pulley when you lift off the throttle. Once the charger is removed it's easier and quicker to fit a replacement rather than diagnose the problem and then wait for replacement parts to fix it. A replacement charger has been difficult to source quickly but another member of the Toyota Owners Club had a "spare" - so cheers to Knowlson for that. Charger pics here
There was no oil dropping anywhere from the engine and there was no oil contamination in the coolant so it must be going out of the exhaust. The head was ported and completely rebuilt (including new valve stem seals) only a few months ago so logically the problem could only be ring / bore related. With that amount of oil loss you would expect to see clouds of blue smoke from the exhaust but it just wasn't visible. Cylinder leakage tests and compression tests didn't show any obvious problems so the decision was made to get the pistons out and check the rings.
I left the car with Kev on the Saturday so he could start work first thing Monday, The following weekend was JAE (Japanese Auto Extravaganza, the largest meet of the year for Japanese cars in the UK and I didn't want to miss it if at all possible - but it was going to be a very tight timescale. I phoned Kev Wednesday to check on progress and he told me that the oil rings were badly worn (which explains the oil usage) - so badly that two of the pistons had dropped out of the bores without any help on his part. The pistons themselves were fine and the bores were in excellent shape - no lip and still showing the hone marks - not bad for an engine that had done over 90,000 miles. Kev got a new set of rings and big end shells and everything was rebuilt ASAP.
While the head was off Kev swapped chargers though there was nothing superficially wrong with the one he took off. Until he has an opportunity to dismantle the pulley / clutch mechanism he won't be able to tell what's wrong. Kev managed to get the engine rebuilt by late Wednesday afternoon and put 60 miles or so on it to ensure that everything was OK. I picked it up on the Thursday afternoon so JAE was now a possibility.
While the car was in the workshop I'd been travelling back an for to work by train. It wasn't too bad on Monday and Tuesday but Wednesday was a different story - time for a whinge.......
I left the Civic Offices at 4:20pm so that I could walk to Barry Docks in plenty of time to catch the train to Cardiff at 4:38pm. This train did not turn up at all. The next scheduled train at 4:59pm did not stop at Barry Docks even though it should have done. The following train which should have been at 5:07pm arrived at about 5:25pm, or maybe it was the 5:25pm train that was on time. This got me to Cardiff Queen Street at 5:55pm in time to catch my connecting train to Whitchurch at 6:12pm but that was late as well - it left Queen Street at 6:25pm and I left the train at 6:42pm. After the walk to my home I went through my front door at 6:50pm. That's two and a half hours to complete a 13 mile (or thereabouts) journey which in my car on a very bad day would take about 40 minutes. Additionally the last train to Whitchurch leaves Queen Street at 6:52pm (if it's on time) so I was within half an hour of having to find another form of transport home. So much for public transport!!............ whinge over.
We got to JAE and had a great weekend meeting other Toyota Owners Club members and drooling over very nice pieces of Japanese machinery but it was over much too soon. It did give me the opportunity to get some miles on the engine to check out the oil consumption. I did about 1,000 miles then removed the semi synthetic oil and replaced it with Mobil1 and put on a new filter - there has been no movement of the oil level at all
The supercharger is working fine too - a great relief after having to drive for several weeks with the charger disconnected and NO BOOST.
Engine bay picture as it is today
Latest updates – new spark plugs, replaced oil catch can, new air temperature sensor for SPA gauge, replaced air box and added blue Samco.