whh333

I am in Lower Alabama, Fairhope, AL. I have an SC300 not a 400. I thought the instructions were to fill, run engine 5 minutes, then top off. I could be wrong, I do not have the instructions. I am not running the car, it is sitting until I solve this one, but how is this not showing up on the temperature gauge? The car had been badly misrepresented by the seller, but the temp gauge needle is always one needle width above the tick just below the halfway point on the gauge. I will recheck the instructions--I have factory manuals. Thanks for the help. Bill Harrison

I have a 1993 SC300 with high mileage (140,000) and I am losing coolant, about a pint or less every 100 miles. Engine seems to run fine, no oil loss, smooth, gas mileage OK, comes up to operating temperature seemingly as it should, temperature stays normal and stable through hot and cold conditions. Radiator that came on car was leaking, so I purchased a new radiator through radiators.com. Radiator they sent has an additional sensor hole in base by the drain petcock that I had to plug with a pipe plug. Coolant is 50% Havoline extended life. I have been trying to track down where coolant is being lost for weeks--no detectable coolant smell in exhaust, no leaks I can find anywhere. Coolant smell in engine bay when hood is opened. Finally discovered that there are bubbles coming from radiator to coolant reservoir. When I turn on cabin heater, they subside temporarily. Somehow, it seems coolant is boiling off. Car allegedly had new timing belt and water pump replaced about 5,000 miles ago. I am not confident that the mechanic that did this was qualified. I have an infrared thermometer and get readings of about 160F from fins on radiator. Measuring 210F in water bypass outlet in water pump area. I bought a new radiator cap to rule this out and it had no effect. Also, I tried to get an 1993 SC400 cap but it would not fit. Any ideas on how to diagnose would be appreciated. I will post this same message on the general maintenance board. Thanks!!!!! Bill Harrison

Rave, AWJ, I am not an expert, but have looked into the R12 thing shadetree style. Getting the license to use R12 is not a big deal. Read a 20 page book and take a test. Then you can buy the stuff legally. As for discharging the R134a charge to recharge, well, that is not legal, yes, even for the R134a. Supposed to have a collector. Had a friend that ran a hose to a jar in a freezer--the freon travels to the coldest place. It is legal if it leaks out. Pretty much anybody can get R12 on e-bay. Honestly, I would rather make the R134a work just because down the road you will have to fight the R12 adversities anew. Asked a parts man about retrofit condensor fans, and he had done one of his cars with a 96-98 Honda twin fan. I will look for a universal aftermarket fan to simplify installation. Thanks. Bill Harrison

Before I purchased my 1993 SC300, the A/C was retrofitted with R134a, and the charge seems OK and it seems to be holding freon fine over the last couple of months. As with all R134a retro's I have seen, it blows cold when moving, but looses cooling capacity at stoplights--bad thing in Hot South Alabama. I have improved this in other cars by hotwiring condensor fan, but this does not seem an option on the SC300. I guess anyway to retrofit a condensor fan without messing up the existing airflow environment would help, or any other way to get air across the condensor at a stop. The other option is to go back to R-12 or be hot at stops. I am already looking into window tint options as well. Thanks for any ideas. Bill Harrison

Many thanks for the ideas and encouragement. After some closer looks, I did find oil running down the front left side of the engine behind the distributor and other front accessories. I have cleaned the area several times, experimented with finding the source and it appears to be loose valve cover gasket bolts allowing seepage on the front area of the left valve cover. The car had a new timing belt a few thousand miles ago, before I bought it, and it looks like the bolts were torqued to some spec that allowed leaking. Possibly the sealant was not renewed in the front areas or maybe the gaskets were reused. It seems the leak has stopped for now with heavier torque, but I will keep some valve cover gaskets on hand in case this is temporary cure. As for the coolant, it is coming out of the drain tube below the nylon petcock. I put a cap on the tube to see if this slows it down, but a new radiator is probably imminent. I think these are the sources of the problems, and I am still hoping this is not a head gasket or worn rings. Only a few hundred more miles will tell for sure. Thanks again. Bill Harrison

John, I just went through the same thing. www.autotrader.com seemed to have the best consistent supply of SC300's I could find. You can do basic searches for all of them or advanced searches for specific ones. I found that just listing them all out and taking the time to go through them worked best, because people do not always write their ads to let the advanced search criteria work properly. I would not have found mine without just going through pages and pages of ads. The fact that you are not in a hurry is really best, and internet car buying is quite a sport. Also, I found some interesting SC's on e-bay, but I refuse to buy from dealers on e-bay due to the trust factor and the trouble that most of them have in bidding on their own cars. Good Luck. Bill Harrison

I recently purchased a 1993 SC300 showing 77,000 miles and the seller claimed that was accurate. It is a great car and the only quirk I have noticed in a couple of thousand miles of driving is some transient shudder on about half the morning startups. My question is that it has burned about 1/3 quart of oil in the past 1500 miles and lost 1 or 2 pints of coolant. I cannot find external oil leaks, and there is no smoke according to someone following the car on the road. The tailpipes have only dry dark soot. I will try to look for external coolant leaks some more and tailpipes have no coolant smell. I switched oil to Mobil 1 10W30 when I changed it 1500 miles ago and the coolant is Red Line. I know this is not much consumption, but my wife's 1.8 liter Celica with 120,000 miles does not loose any fluid at all. Probably would not be asking these questions if the car did not have a Toyota engine. I did not know whether the higher compression engine on my car might account for the oil burn, or whether there is something I need to check. Also, whether others might have ideas on coolant leaks. Thanks for any ideas. ;) Bill Harrison