76mgb88rx

I have an 88 rx with 82,000 miles, stock except for air filter and msd coil. I changed my thermostat today to a 180 degree unit and now my car will not idle at all. If I'm driving the car I can hear the turbo spool up and release pressure when I let off the gas but the car acts like it is not getting any boost at all. I checked all of the vacuum lines because it felt like I was losing boost pressure, but everything is as it is supposed to be. I made sure no water was down around the spark plug that was nearby. It feels to me like one of the hoses from the turbo to the intake is off, but they are all put on correct. There is some sort of sensor on top of the thermostat, it is the only thing that is close to what I am working on so I was thinking it might be bad? My car ran perfect before I changed the thermostat, I will try putting the old one back in and see if it runs right, but I don't see how this could cause the problem that I am having. Any suggestions would be awesome.

Make sure that you didn't put the thermostat in up side down. I don't know if it will fit in wrong or not, but it seems like a possible scenario if your car shoots coolant out the radiatior. Did this to my mgb and had the same problems you are having.

thanks for the parts info. I was thinking of having one made with a 90 degree bend so that the filter wouldn't rub the fender and it would be easier to build a heat shield for it. You possibly make the cone filter fit inside the factory airbox and make the existing hole through the wheel well bigger. It would look bone stock and get lots of cold air. It wouldn't be as noisy as with no airbox.

will the adapter for the toyota also fit in a hotwire style maf sensor?

I worked at an electronics repair shop for about a year and saw a few older stock radios come through. Alot of times there are surface mount resistors on the top of the circuit board that break loose or cold solder joints. Use a test light to see if you have 12v from two of the wires on the plug for the stereo to make sure that you are getting one wire with constant power and one that is switched off of the ignition.

Are you using a foam pad or a wool pad to buff it? The wool pad will remove oxidation faster than the foam, use finesse-it from 3M or any medium compound that is specific for a buffer. If you go over it again with the foam pad after the wool pad, it will polish out the scratches that the wool pad makes. You should use a very mild compound for the foam pad. Also, I'm not sure what speed your buffer turns, but if it is adjustable I would try turning it to about 1200 rpm's and just going over everything slow. This will actually work better than going faster because you build up less heat and have less risk of burning through the paint.

If your mechanical fan was not working but the electric fan was functional would it be possible to add a second electric fan in place of the mechanical fan and power it off of the existing fan? This would allow the added fan to come on using the factory thermoswitch. Wired in parallel they would just pull more amps but run at the same speed as if alone.

If the calipers from the 200sx are the same would their be a way to fit rotors from a 200sx? There are some pretty cool drilled and slotted sets on ebay. Maybe if the bolt pattern wasn't the right size it could be drilled out in between the already existing holes.

I have an 88 rx and I am replacing the stock fans with an electric fan. I was wondering what temperature the car had to reach for the stock electric fan to turn on, I am thinking of getting one big fan to replace the stock pair and just connecting it to the harness for the stock electric fan. Would this work? Also, at what temperature does the stock fan turn off? I can sometimes hear it running after I shut off the car so I know it works, I am just curious if it will turn on soon enough to keep the car cool. Also, how much boost does the car run stock?

Will my 88 rx show ecu codes even if the check engine light is not illuminated?

It was the cat in the downpipe that was clogged. Ill definitely check it out. Would this make my car run slightly lean? my plugs were a light tan after a few days of driving, I felt like they should have been darker. I thought if the O2 sensor was bad it would run rich. Also, the wire going to the O2 looks brand new. Could have been replaced by previous owner. Other than removing the breather from behind the passenger side fenderwell and cleaning out the cats, what kind of modifications can I do to a completely stock car to make it run better? I have an MSD coil I plan to install tomorrow. I don't want to crank the boost and my car is in very original condition, I want it to look remotely stock. Any more freebees? I have been researching on the but I can't really find any more cheap mods.

I recently acquired an 88 rx with 81,000 miles for a good price. The car was very slow and would stop and not start after a few minutes of driving. If allowed to cool, it would start up fine again and run for a few minutes. The previous owner spent around 500 at a shop here in town doing simple maintenance stuff to try and get it to run better, but it wasn't until after I bought it and cleaned out the cats that it began to run correctly. My question is, after I gutted the cats, reset the ecu, and changed the plugs, cap, rotor, and wires the car seems to stutter at about 3500 rpm's when I am at half throttle. If I floor it from low rpm's and let it come up on boost, it runs great and is very smooth. It just seems to hiccup at 3500 at half throttle and then boost fine. What might this be? I checked the timing, it is correct. Will the ecu show codes even if the check engine light is not on? The car is still great to drive, this doesn't keep it from running right at all. Im just wondering if the clogged cats might have made something else on the car go bad. I think the reason the car would die before the cats were cleaned is because it would build up pressure in the intake and the fuel cutoff sensor was set off. Once the pressure released when the car sat it would run again.