Banjo

Hi Jesse, "Olde K series motors never die ! They just need cleaning up, & restarting !" This one certainly needs cleaning up, but if you've already heard it run; then there is nothing "broken" inside. 4KC was & is a great engine for many reasons. The engine was nearly perfectly "square", meaning it's stroke & cylinder bore were almost the same dimensions. That allowed them to be well balanced, & achieve higher revs, than say a 5K, which had more capacity, & was not as well "balanced". There was only one K series engine better than the 4KC, & that was the little seen 4KU, which produced also as much power as a 5K, as a result of better breathing. I've had a 4KU in my KE30 2 door sedan for years, & I swear by it, for reliability & general performance. Like Altezzaclub said, strip it down & give it a good clean, & then take a close look at bearing journals, cylinder bores & ring gaps. I would however suggest a new oil pump assembly, which you can still buy new; although they are probably "aftermarket" types. New oil seals at each end of the crank, & you'll have a very serviceable engine, & learnt a lot along the way. The main thing is to not mix things up. Make sure crankshaft bearing slippers are all keep in order etc, along with pistons & rings. Same goes for rocker arms. Come back & tell us, what you find, once you've stripped it down. Cheers Banjo

Others may correct me; but I thing the simple answer is no. It's over a decade ago now, since I did mine; but At least, I think I had to replace the top pivots, & they had to be adjustable to get the camber right. I know it was a good learning experience, & there was a lot of measurements taken, with the wheels & weight on a flat concrete floor. Steering linkage lengths also came into play. I'll have a read through my original thread tonight, & see if it brings back other memories of this exercise to light. I do remember, I also fitted a much thicker anti-sway bar, which really helped, & some really good Koni shockers in the Corona strut tubes. I seem to remember, there was a very popular conversion, called the "PUG" conversion, which used an early model Peugeot disc caliper off memory. I do remember, that you had to weld the lower spring support & retainer on, so that when the wheel was hanging free, that there was still some compression on the spring, at all times. Cheers Banjo

Hi Mate ! Lots of details on here, if you go searching; regarding brake upgrades on the front of KE30/55/70 Rollas, as Rollas were never well known, for their "great braking ability" I remember reading lots a threads, when I did my front end upgrade years ago, which was a resounding success. However, it involved replacing the whole strut, LCAs, & discs & calipers. When I finished, I found I had to replace the brake master cylinder with a Mitsi Pajero one. I finished up with Corona struts, 3T Toyo adjustable top pivots, Cresida discs & calipers off to different model Cresidas; & the Pajero master cylinder. It was quite a journey, & I learnt a lot, but the end result, has proven to be reliable & trouble free. Go back & look through my posts, & you'll find a lot of info there, along with a few pics. https://www.rollaclub.com/board/topic/63524-ke-3055-brake-upgrade/#comments Cheers Banjo

Hi Zoe ! Glad you got your KE-30's 3T engine running again. Connections between battery terminals & the starter motor are so important, as lots of current flows, between battery & starter motor, during cranking. As it's a circuit; the connections on the ground or chassis side, are just as important, as the battery positive (+ve) side. Cheers Banjo. We look forward to you posting some pics.

You look very smart with a tie ! Cheers !

What you haven't told us, is when you turn the ignition key on; whether the warning lights come up on the dash board. If they don't, then the problem is as I described in my previously post. However, if the warming lights come on, the issue is between battery & starter motor, which is a very simple circuit. Cheers Banjo

Most good mechanics, always disconnect the battery, or main fuses when working in a engine or mechanical issues in the engine bay. Maybe they didn't disconnect the battery, & the main fuse next to the battery terminal has blown. Five minutes with a multimeter, or 12 volt test light, will unearth, where your "no starter" issue lies. Let us know what you find. Cheers Banjo

The cables are pretty good, unless they have never been lubricated in their long lives, & they have suffered broken wires on the multi-wire cable inside, where you cannot see it. The aftermarket ones, I've found can pose a probem, where the inner core is too short or too long for the outer sheaf, & the adjustment provided is inadequate. Take your clutch cable right out. Clean in up externally, then spend 15-20 minutes, lubricating it, as I described above. You might be pleasantly surprised, & save yourself some money. Another good idea, seeing you were able to source two (2) of the circlips; is to fit both, side by side. So that both circlips take the load, grab a big thick steel washer, whose thickness is the same as the gap between the two washers. You might have to get one, slightly thicker than needed, & sand it down. When it is just the right thickness, then cut a slot in it, just big enough, so it will slip over the outer cable. When you've got the clutch cable adjustment right, then wind some good olde electrical or adhesive tape around both circlips & the washer in between; so neither the circlips or spacer washer, will ever fall out. Then your dramas will be over, for ever . . . . "clutch wise". Cheers Banjo

As Altezzaclub says, . . . . . the good olde hose clip. However, I have found that the forces on that hose clip, can increase significantly, if the clutch cable is not oiled/lubricated well inside. Because the clutch cable action passes through 180 degrees, it is also important to ensure the curve of the cable sheaf is smooth & doesn't move around, when operated. Hence, I attached a bracket to the tower, to accomplish this. It works well. Every year or so, I remove the cable; hold one end in a vice, & whilst jiggling it up & down, put oil into it in drops, until it appears at the bottom end. Never had a problem since. Cheers Banjo

Yep ! Very common problem, that "bloody" circlip. It's probably back on the road somewhere, although have a good look down in the engine bay, in case you were lucky, & it jammed or landed on a flat surface somewhere. It's dark now, but in the morning, I'll lift my bonnet, & take a pic of how I fixed it for good. I think off memory, I a small hose clamp around it, & stopped the circlip popping out. It worked, as that was years ago, & I've never touched it since. Cheers Banjo.

We all do this at some time, but here is a variation of a method, I have used for years; which creates a wire join, in your engine bay; under the dash, or in the boot; that You will never have to revisit again, & will last as long as the car. https://youtu.be/lrIefG-bbj8 What is my variation ? Exactly the way this guy does it, but I then solder the joint, & the "shrink tubing" I use, has a heat activated adhesive on the inside, which will not let any moisture inside the joint; which could ultimately cause corosion to any exposed metal of the wire joint. Cheers Banjo

My best guess, is, that the two wires that come from the ignition barrel switch, to the coil +ve terminal, & the other end of the "ballast resistor", have been reversed. That would, I believe; create exactly the engine actions you describe, whilst trying to start. Either fit a ballast resistor, & wire up as per the wiring diagram, if your ignition coil, is a 9 volt model. If you have a "faulty" inition barrel switch, this can be checked out, without taking out the barrel switch. Take the two wires that come from the ignition switch to the coil & ballast resitor; & connect each of them to a small 12 volt lighting bulb, with the other side of the bulbs grounded to the chassis. Watch the lights, whilst turning the ignition switch to the start position, & then release to the run position, & it will advise if there are any issues. Both lights should come on, in the start position, & only one light on in the "run" position. The wire to the bulb that goes off, when the key is released to the run position, is the wire that should be connected to the +ve termininal of a 9V ignition coil. Hope that assists. Cheers Banjo

Hi Vincent, I gather you've had this problem/issue, with "starting the engine" for some time. You thought it was the points or distributor, so you fitted a new electroninic distributor. That didn't fix it, so you thought it might be the ignition coil, so you replaced that. Maybe I've got the sequence wrong, & maybe you changed the coil before the distributor, or maybe at the same time. However, none of these changes fixed the original issue. Altezzaclub has explained perfectly above why you need a ballast resistor. Do you not remember ever seeing one fitted to your engine, whilst you've owned it ? Here is a picture of a typical one. When you hold the key in the start position, two things happen. 1. 12V is fed to the starter relay, which closes its contacts, which contect the battery +ve terminal to the starter motor, which starts it cranking the engine. At the same time the ignition switch sends +12V to the +ve terminal of the distributor coil. Despite the coil being designed to operate on 9Volts, it will start, because the battery voltage usually drops several volts during cranking of the starter motor, with it's heavey load. I suspect that whilst you are cranking the engine, there is no 12V applied to the coil +ve terminal. You can check this by putting a test light between the coil +ve terminal, & ground/earth/chassis, & have someone turn the key & crank the motor. If you prove my asumption is correct, then the problem, is either a wiring error, at sometime, or the ignition barrel, has gone faulty. Alternatively, someone removed the ballast resistor previous to you acquiring the car, & has modified the wiring incorrectly. Cheers Banjo

Hi Vincent, Your issue is very simple. When the ignition key is held in the start position, the 12 volts is connected, directly to the positive (+ve) terminal of the ignition coil. When you let go of the ignition key, after the enginge has started, the 12 volts is then moved to the other end of the "ballast" resistor; the other end of which, is also connected to the positive (+ve) terminal of the ignition coil. If the ballast resistor is open circuit, or is not fitted at all, then the engine will shut down, as there is no power to the coil, whilst the ignition is in the "run" position. If you have a ballast resitor fitted, then short it out, & try starting the engine. If it runs OK, the the ballast resistor is open circuit. If the ballast resistor, is not fitted then connect the wire that would normally connect to the ballast resistor (if it was there), to the positive (+ve) of the ignition coil. If that doesn't fix you problem, then come back to us, as the fault maybe elsewhere, between the ignition switch & ballast resistor; or it maybe a faulty ignition switch. Let us know, how You go. Cheers Banjo

Welcome aboard, & thank you for joining our community. Where are you physically located ? Many of our members are globally located, & wheels are going to be an expensive item, to freight, depending on where you are based. Cheers Banjo

I found a DC motor speed controller on ebay, which controls the electric water pump, & flow of the coolant, from a trickle to full on. It handles a DC load of up to 10 amperes. With the radiator cap removed, you can clearly see the water flow change as the water pump speed is changed. It has a knob on it, which will be useful, as I manually try different flows & resultant temperatures, but also can be controlled by a 0-5V DC voltage, ultimately; from a controller, once a control system & program, is determined. So I started fitting sensors to the coolant system in several spots today. One on the hose leading to the top of the radiator, which will basically measure the temperature of coolant leaving the engine head, & entering the radiator. I already have a return line, at the back of the head, which returns hot coolant to the thermostat housing. I will fit one to that pipework, close to the rear exit from the head. Another will be fitted at the water pump, which is attached to the lower outlet from the raidator. This will allow easy delta T across the radiator, by sunbtracting radiator outlet temperature from radiator entry coolant temperature. The other place, I would like to measure coolant temperature, is inside the block coolant passages. The most convenient way to accomplish that, is to tap a temperature sensor, into a Welsh plug on the side of the block. It's simply a matter of drilling a hole & tapping it, in a Welsh plug, & then replacing an existing one. That will require the manifolds to be removed, to gain access to the three (3) off Welsh plugs on a K Series engine. So almost there, & should be soon starting the fun bit; which will be determining times & control program, to get the very best coolant temperature control. Cheers Banjo

Ah Uni Joints ! A very much unloved item, that gets little attention, because they are not readily accessible. Every time I have my car up on the ramps; I give them a wriggle & see if there is any unwanted movement. I've seen good mechanics, whenever they have a car up on the hoist for anything, including just a simple oil change, feel all the universal joints, whilst awaiting the oil to fully drain. Tomas; keep us posted, with your progress. Cheers Banjo

Hi Jesse, Bear in mind that there is a colour code for all the wiring in your car, that can greatly assist, in tracing wires, when you are working blind, as You are, because You have no idea, what the previous owner did, which appears to be pretty drastic, in places. For example, in your picture above You are holding two" red" wires. One appears to have a "light blue" stripe; the other doesn't seem to have any colour stripe at all. If you look at the wiring diagram, at the area, of interest to you, which is the warning lamps & guages, you will notice that the power wire coming from the 10A fuse, to all guages & warning lights, is coloured Red with a Light Blue stripe. This should have +12V on it, if the fuse is OK, & the ignition is on. Just test every part of the circuit that way, with a test light, with the clip connected to a good earth. Take for example the Fuel Warning Lamp. according to the wiring diagram, it should have +12V power fed to it by a red wire with a light blue strip. The other side of this fuel warning lamp, should have a yellow wire with a light blue strip. This of course assumes that when Toyota manufactured these cable looms, they had all the colour coded wires available. I found to my horror years ago, when rewiring my KE30 Corolla, where a wire colour would change from one colour to another, from end to end. When I unwrapped the loom, I found a crimped join in the middle of the loom, where they ran out a particular colour, & substitued another colour. You will only solve the horrible wiring mess You have inherited, by systematically working through this, circuit by circuit. Hope this assists. Cheers Banjo

Which part of the KE70 car floor, is your photo of ? Cheers

Hi Jesse, That relay you referring to, is not a relay. Relays always have more than 2 wires to them. That is a flasher unit. It says so on the side. If it is connected to anything related to guages & warning lights, I can image it is causing issues. Maybe the previous owner was trying to make the "warning lights" blink. Who knows ! It wouldn't work ! There is usually not enough current from "pilot" lamps to drive the "in-line" flasher. Remove it, join the red & white wires togetherm, & see whether that is the issue. Forget about the fuel guage for the moment. The sender unit provides a ground or earth connection, through a variable resistor. Leave that till last. Once you got the rest working, I'll advise how to test the fuel guage. Fuel level sensors in the tank, are notorious for "playing up". Your best friend, in this kind of electrical fault finding scenario, is one of these. Have you got one of these ? This one is $6- $7 on ebay Cheers Banjo

Hi Jesse, The fact that You have +12 Volts at both those points, indicates that "the issue" is on the ground/earth side of the connections. Earlier model Corollas, pre your KE70; had a system where the power fed to the instruments like guages, was a DC voltage lower than 12 Volts. Usually, it was 7, 8, or 9 volts, off memory. The reason for this, was that the voltage in your car is never a constant 12 volts. The lower voltage was to ensure, that irrespective of what the battery voltage was, the guage had a fixed/steady voltage, so that it always read accurately. I'm presuming, that the instrument guages used in the KE70, have a small voltage regulator built in to each guage. In the older model Corollas, when this regulator burnt out, all the guages just stopped. However, your KE70 is wired differently. Before pull out the dash again, it would be a good idea to test the Park Brake, & Brake Warning lights. Both these switches just connect a ground or earth to their respective wires. The brake warning light, is probably a sensor in the brake master cylinder, to indicate when the fluid is getting low. Earth connections, in places like under the floor, or in the engine bay; often go open circuit, or high resistance, because of corrosion. Particularly, if the DC currents are very small, like milliamperes. Give all these earth connections a good clean. Cheers Banjo

Hi Jesse, I looked up a previous post of yours back in July, & I believe this 1982 KE70 with a 4K engine, is one that you indicated it had some "dodgy" wiring, which was the result of a previous owner. One of the problems with the "plastic" coated thin copper flat "printed circuit type" wiring on the back of the dash, is that it is extremely thin, & can burn out, & go open circuit. There is a fuse on your fuse box called "Guages", & this feeds 12 volt power to eight (8) items . . . . . No: 35 Braking Warning Lamp. No; 47 Low Fuel Warning Lamp. No: 59 Rear Licence Plate Lamp. No: 60 Parking Brake Warning Lamp. In addition, there are four (4) guages. No: 109 Oil Pressure Guage. No: 13 Fuel Guage. No: 185 Tachometer. No: 194 Water Temp Guage If any of these are working, then it indicates the 10A "guage fuse" is OK. However, I would check that it is actually a 10A fuse, & hasn't been substitued with a 15A, or 20A, fuse. If any of these items are working, then the non working items, will have an open circuit in the grounding side, which could be a switch, or an earth/ground track on the printed circuit plastic wiring. Only careful inspection visually, with a magnifying glass; or checking continuity with an "ohms" range, a multimeter, is going to determine where this fault lies. Let us know how You go. Just tackle it one item at a time, & when you find the fault, it may correct more than one item, that is not working. Bear in mind, that as this car has dodgy wiring, there may be more than one fault, you will have to find. Just start with say the rear licence plate, as that is the most likely place a short circuit, that could create an open ciruit, & stop other items from working, if it has burnt out the copper track on the back of the dash instrument cluster, which is a common circuit to more than one of the above listed 8 off items. Cheers Banjo.

The Ryco Z68 is the most common oil filter that most 3K, 4K, & 5K engines use. On most cars the "canister" style screw-on filter is fitted with the threaded connection, is facing up. This results in the filter not being able to drain any oil out of the filter, after the engine is turned off. Unfortunately, on the K series engine, the filter is screwed in, with the threaded section at the bottom. Filters that drain, result in a slight delay, to oil pressure being fed to the bearings, when you first do a cold start. For that reason, it is more advisable to find a compatible oil filter, that has a non return & anti-drain / anti-siphoning valves built in. I found a Z68 compatible oil filter years ago, that has an anti-drain / anti-siphon valves built in, & was used in a Mercedes Benz engine. It's called a model Z423. There was a good discussion about oil filters & draining & siphoning, a few years ago here on RollaClub. Have a read of the following link. https://www.rollaclub.com/board/topic/73872-oil-filter-w-anti-siphon-no-such-thing/#comment-713701 I've used the Z68 & the stubby Osaka 90915 oil filters over the years, with no issues, but swear by the Z423 oil filter now, as you never get any rattles when doing a cold starts. Never rely on quantity of oil to be added to an empty engine, or after an oil & filter change. That is what a dipstick is for. With the car on level ground, fill & top up the engine, until it indicates full on the dipstick. Put the oil filler cap back on, & start the engine. Let it run for several minutes. Turn off the engine, & let the engine sit for several minutes, until all the "returning" oil runs back into the sump. Clean the dipstick, & reinsert & read again. It will usually, be just below the full mark. Top up until it reaches the full mark, & you are ready to go. Cheers Banjo

The basic, wiring for the ignition, starting, & alternator circuits is very simple. My suggestion, would be to forget about the original harness, & wiring, if it has been badly hacked; & just hook up a few tempory wires between dizzy / coil / & ballast resistor (if fitted). Then a simple push button between battery +ve & starter relay, & you should be able to get the engine to run. If you have a carby, with a electric valve on it, you will need to supply power (+ve 12V) to it also. Once you have the engine running, you could maybe introduce the original wiring back into the system, until the engine won't start or run, then you'll be able to repair the wiring concerned. Other ancillary circuits in the engine bay, like lighting, horns, & temp & oil press sensors are easy to add. I once completely rewired my engine bay, by cutting the main harness, where it comes through the firewall, from under the dash. Tedious, & time consuming, but a great result. Cheers Banjo