My New Purchase: 93 ES300 W/ 5Spd [Video]

QUIRKS



Any thoughts or suggestions on the car itself? The only reason I picked this up was that it's super rare to find in a 5spd. Plus, it was a good deal too. But it's got it's quirks.



Either I am going to fix this up and drive/sell it later. Or pull the motor/ecu/harness/etc. and use it in my 91 MR2.



Do you guys think it's got a blown head gasket? How would you tell?



It does smell like "burning" of some sort. A hotlap around the block leaves it with some smoke coming from the engine bay.



Engine temp needle stays solid (they always do... then suddenly shoot up as from what I've read).





I've yet to have this thing driven around much or even on the highway. No plates...





What do you guys think? I bought it for pretty darn cheap... so even with all the quirks, it isn't so bad.

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Reply 1 : My New Purchase: 93 ES300 W/ 5Spd [Video]

Run a Leak-down and compression test. While running the leakdown test, open the radiator cap and look for bubbles. You can do a Hydrocarbon test as well. What this does is tests for Carbon Deposits in your Coolant (Meaning that compression is pushing past the head gasket into the coolant)



Its very hard to tell if you have a blown head gasket in the video since its cold out. looks almost like Condensation to me. If you do, its more than likely a very small leak. I saw on the second video the timing cover said 262,xxx so I am assuming the belt was changed at 262,xxx miles. With this many miles, if the engine hasn't been overhauled I would say its about time for something major like a head gasket to go bad.



Could be something as simple as a stuck thermostat or bad coolant switch. have you tried to feel the lower radiator hose while running and confirm the T-Stat is opening?