Of Dyno & Decarbonization

Bout 2 month back I went for a simple dyno to get the figures and they turned out to be very discouraging - 125whp for an engine rated at 210bhp (rightfully on wheel should linger around 160whp). True enough the car had always felt slow and sluggish, with a lot of flat-spots throughout the rev range.

RS Dynotune Puchong - very down to earth boss - Robynn

With that very discouraging fact discovered, I went to TSP Malaysia for a compression test, very thankful to Edison on helping on both the tests.

 Preparing for compression test - all consistent 

 Engine diagnostics - OK!

Next on to decarbonizing. For the first time I felt that 'decarbonizing' was actually worth doing. No, this is not your locally advertised RM30 'chemical decarb' ke provided by Mat Decarb. This is physically decarbonizing the carbons out from the cylinder heads. To be honest, I was indeed quite skeptical at first...but why not try!

 TSP guys preparing to suck em bloody carbons out

Physical decarb in process - submerging injector cleaners and sucking loose carbons out of the cylinder heads.

True enough after the process the engine did feel more lively.. but of course still did not feel like 160whp..hmm..

Thermostat Malfunction & Replacement

Few months into driving, some sort of irregularity came up --> higher idle (>1k), fantabulously slow warm up time and the engine never seemed to be able to hit up to optimal operating temperature.

Turned out that the thermostat rubber seal had gave up and coolant was on 'always-on' mode! Hence triggering the ECU to think that the engine is cold.
Well, nothing to hard to replace......

Dismounting the coolant-link assembly...

 New vs. Old thermostat -- note the tired rubber that had given up..

Quite PITA I would say. Thanks Mr. Foreman for not complaining :)

De-misting / De-odourization

Mmmm.... What an interesting interior choice the previous owner had..

Don't be fooled by the looks, the leathers are really fully wrapped onto the seats, stamped with LEXUS on it.

All very nice, just with a very strong odour! Yuck!!

Fortunately there's a fancy service now called De-Misting or de-odourizing..

Very simple principle behind, just put a mist of chemicals in the car and let it recirculate by itself. Mist will do some chemical thingamagic and viola! Pure freshness!

Cost - RM35

Alternator Belt and Serpentine Belt Replacement

Second day of owning, upon trying to rev the car -- poof!*snap*..and The check battery sign lighted up.

Pooping the hood revealed the alternator belt being snapped. Most probably due to the many months being baked under the sun at the dealers.
They all look so old and tired.

Guess the previous owner did not really put effort into maintaining her. (think of it, there was even a used laddle in the boot!!)

Well, got both the belts changed.
AC - 4G92 compatible
Serpentine - NZFE compatible

The JDM Dream

Always wanted to live that JDM dream ever since young. Back then as a schoolboy I could do nothing more than just watch others drive.

This came to a end when I started working... . After much contemplation (KE70, AE101, KP61, A31....etc) and deposit-wasting sessions (RM500 for a KP60 Starlet, RM500 for a Kelisa YRV Manual); I finally settled with an Altezza.

There was much doubts before really committing, and it has some very weird modifications, but a brief body check up and impulse will, the deal was made.

How she looked when we first met!

Sure looked like a GEM when I first saw her. Maybe it's the TRD Neo V2 that made me love it.. or maybe it's the number.. or maybe it's the fantabulous red seats with Lexus stamped that made me go for it..


All looked well during test drive.
It had a HKS intake/exhaust, dismantled Unichip, BC BR Coilovers, Custom made sound system that all seemed so good...
**Surely I didn't notice how SLUGGISH it was then...**



Like all used cars, there were many many mini surprises awaiting.. Hehe. How exciting.
(Yeah.... the alternator belt snapped the next day.....)

Nevertheless, still a smile on the face.:P

Persona Brake Servo Upgrade

A few months ago, after months and months of being sick of the poor braking performance.. I finally decided to upgrade the brake pump to a dual-layer servo. I have never actually seen the comparison before but it's said that B-line and M-line does not come with a bigger servo to accommodate the heavy sedan.. it's using the servo from a Gen-2 1.3.

So the search began.. After some research, I found out that workshops either cut a hole/knock the strut tower part of the chassis to accommodate the larger servo or they did not do it.. This is mainly due to the servo that they source (EVO3, SR20) being too big in side.. After some research, I found out that the servos from Honda Vi-Rs had a smaller size but still dual layer.. So decided to go with it..

Side by side comparison of the stock servo and the dual layer servo..
But still have to take out the servo and the pump as separate and install it one by one.. tedious job!
Braking performance felt very good after that :)

One very weird thing is that the check-engine light kept coming on after that... it's on n off.. a simple test using OBD-II found out that it's the brake switch.. parts still haven't arrive, still monitoring..

Update 09/11/12
Finally, the check engine light problem have seemed to be solved. Was told that the polarity of the brake switch was causing the problem and so I switched the positions and after the 3rd start (1st and 2nd were quick ones, probably ECU haven't detect it), the CEL light is gone!

Update 10/11/12
CEL Light came up again :(

Update 01/22/13
Finally, the problem is solved. Turns out that the brake switch isn't adjusted nicely so when the brake is released, it will not fully touch the sensor. A simple adjustment of the sensor had solved it. Million thanks to Ben (comments as below) who solved the issue.

Persona Rear Brake Shoe Problem

It's been 7 months since I got the car..
One of the few problems noted were the braking issues..
Seems that Proton really cuts down on the brake quality to save cost (Only Persona H-Line has full discs and a bigger brake servo, and even that they skim on the pads :-S)

Issue: 'tak tak' sound from rear drum brake audible, braking performance significantly drops, CEL light may come up (still monitoring whether it is related or not)

Cause: the cause of that sound is due to the oem brake shoes being out of spec and thus causing the brake shoe to rub against the hub when the brakes are applied.. Still not sure how the whole car's braking performance was affected but brakes really felt spongy.

Solution: to dissemble the hub.. and smooth-en the brake pads.. don't worry.. they still bite at the 1st handbrake click.. as they only smooth-en the edge.