[Mk2] [Turbo] ebay gasket kits

[hnygt4]

has anyone had problems with the ebay engine gasket kits??

I used one for the other gaskets involved in changing the headgasket (used a mls headgasket) and the exhaust gasket failed after a couple miles. i was using a rev1 head(7 bolt) on a rev2 mani(9 bolt) and it failed right where the two extra bolts would have been.

I'm fighting all sorts of(hopefully) vacuum related problems which no one seems to know why. ( dump valve no worky, idle seems to change on its own, has idled at 4000rpm once!!!, and a couple others i cant remember)

there is a slight hissing from the inlet mani and i'v gone over the vac lines hundreds of times and cant find any leaks so im starting to think that the egay gaskets from the head-tvis and tvis-inlet mani have failed too
does anyone know the touque settings for the inlet manifold bolts??
cheers

[3sgte]

my mate found out the hard way that ebay gaskets are poo his manifold gaskets lasted about 3 hours before blowing ,not a lot of help but i would only use toyota gaskets as they really are the best quality gaskets you can buy

[hnygt4]

ah. . . thanks for the bad news lol. the exhaust mani gasket was replaced with the original one and is holding up fine, so i guess i'll be getting toyota inlet ones, woulda thought that the inlet side would have been ok, quick question, does my diagnosis sound feasable???
cant tell from driving the car as the turbo took some damage from the intake piping splitting and sucking something in so it is more laggy and has lost a lot of power.
cheers

[BenF]

Gaskets - FWIW I did use some cheap FAI gaskets for the Mk1 a while back - I couldn't believe you could get a set for £35 when a set from MrT cost just over £100.

Well, it was too good to be true - the FAI gaskets failed 6 months later, and that time the engine was rebuilt with Toyota Gaskets:

Material missing between the water gallery and the piston:



And again, worse :



The Exhaust manifold gasket was also rubbish - photo below shows the FAI gasket at the front, and the Toyota one at the rear. Note the larger metal rings on the Toyota gasket

[Ian Geary]

seconded. buy cheap pay twice is a useful lesson on ebay.

I bought rubbish ebay items trying to save a few £. they said some kak along the lines of "genuine pattern part"

the exhaust gaskets resembled cardboard wrapped in baco foil.

I just didn't trust them, and paid out for a genuine Toyota set in the end.

The only upside was that the rubber rocker covers, washers and o-rings were OK - I suppose a rubber ring is harder to mess up.

got a few quid back selling these, but the ebay company refused to refund my set.

Ian

[hnygt4]

hmmmm, this sucks lol, i decided to pick up a gasket set instead of re-using the old ones, i'v had to put the old one back on the exhaust and its been fine since, i thought the intake mani one would have been ok. I used a cometic for the hg by the way!!

well i'm gonna have to try get the intake mani off, not gonna be easy as its in a celica and looks like the engines gotta be dropped or the head pulled again!! thanks for the help guys!!!
think i'm gonna check all the torque settings on the throttle body and intake mani first but looks like these are gonna be changed

cheers

[BenF]

If you're looking for leaks on the intake side- try spraying something like WD40 around the gaskets. If the revs pick up slightly, that's where the leak is.

[hnygt4]

i'v been trying this with 'easystart', no luck yet as it seems to be round the back where i just cant reach very far down although spraying it into the dump valve trumpet caused the revs to rise then bogg, so i need to change that too
cheers

[BenF]

Hmm, dump value leaking will cause loads of problems - can you blank it off, or refit the standard dump valve?

There are loads of cheap copies of branded dump valves available on ebay and the like - I've certainly seen others here having problems with them.

[hnygt4]

doesnt have one standard, but have tried others and had no luck, am going to blank this one off tho. i'v tried a mr2 valve and an old hks, neither vented so theres deffinately something else wrong
btw, the one i have now is a propper blitz, dont understand how its leaking cos i'v rebuilt it a couple times while trying to find this problem

[hnygt4]

well the cursed car is doing strange things again, can hear a leak from around the intake mani, close to the dizzy somewhere, easystart isnt helping find it, but strangly if i spray it onto the air filter the revs rise slightly, but if i spray in into the dump valve trumpet the car almost stalls???? it really boggs down and chuggs for a couple seconds???
could the noise i'm hearing be from the dizzy or fuel filter?? as in just the noise that they make??
cheers

[BenF]

Sounds like the dump value is leaking - return it to standard dump value, or completely blank it off.

Spraying it on the intake filter will make the revs rise - but you'll need to clean / replace your filter now though

[madr2turbo]

well the cursed car is doing strange things again, can hear a leak from around the intake mani, close to the dizzy somewhere, easystart isnt helping find it.
could the noise i'm hearing be from the dizzy or fuel filter?? as in just the noise that they make??
cheers

I would just like to add that i have the exact same problem with my mr2 at the moment and it has been driving me crazzy,
I have changed all vacuum lines,throttel body to inlet manifold gaskets,the fuel presure regulator to another fse valve,checked the idle controle vale hoses all the way to the afm and changed my dv from a sard to a hks valve.

But still it sounds like air is being sucked in from somewhere .

I am now trying to find out what egsactly is atached to the imposable to see back of the intake manifold, vacuum line wize in the hope a hose has somehow become disonected.

i have just posted a question on this site about my distriutor cap wondering if its to blame for my car not idling properly, missfiring and stalling the car at low rpms, thing is i can hear that vacuum hiss by the dizzy you have discribed and would love to know if its serposed to do that or is infact to blame for my cars problems.

regards, charle.

[BenF]

But still it sounds like air is being sucked in from somewhere .

Try the WD40 (or similar) trick as above to find the leak.