Newbie that needs some help
03-22-19, 07:06 AM
#1
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
Newbie that needs some help
Hey all! I’m a brand new kiddie on this forum who just happened to acquire a 1994 SC400 for free. It’s a great car but I would love it if I could get it to move. I’m going to just list off some of the problems that have arisen, which I would absolutely love if some of you wonderful people could help me out with. I’m going to bullet them below:
1. Car won’t start. I took the battery out and recharged it for a short amount of time just to see if the electrical works, which it somewhat does. Dash lights up, no check engine light (taking the battery out and putting it back in clears codes if I remember), washer fluid light is on, and oil light. The car has been sitting for an unknown amount of time so the oil light doesn’t surprise me, I bought a new filter and I will replace it and the oil as soon as I can. Turning the key to ignition used to bring the infamous starter click, although as I mentioned, I only managed to charge the battery enough for the electrical to work at its most basic, so I’m hoping it’s not the starter. Currently, turning the key to ignition kills off all electrical immediately, with no clicking at all. Could it also be spark plug issues?
2. Power steering pump. The power steering on sc400s seems to be infamous for leaking onto the alternator, so I went to check it out. There’s about 2cm deep of black gunk on it, although the alternator doesn’t look too bad, just usual wear and tear on it. I guess what I’m asking is if this indicates that the power steering has gone bad?
3. Transmission. The automatic transmission was in neutral originally, but I shifted it into park and this is currently where it is stuck. I tried to move it back while holding the brake pedal down and it wouldn’t budge. Not many details about this because I haven’t extensively attempted to work with this issue. I read that if the starter is bad, then this kind of problem happens with automatics.
4. Not much of an issue, but rather just curiosity. The accelerator pedal moves very easily with only moderate resistance to foot pressure, and I was wondering if this could be indicative of a problem with the throttle body or cables?
Any kind of help that you fantastic people on here could give me would be amazing, because I really want to see this thing on the move again. Thank you ahead of time for spending some time reading this!
1. Car won’t start. I took the battery out and recharged it for a short amount of time just to see if the electrical works, which it somewhat does. Dash lights up, no check engine light (taking the battery out and putting it back in clears codes if I remember), washer fluid light is on, and oil light. The car has been sitting for an unknown amount of time so the oil light doesn’t surprise me, I bought a new filter and I will replace it and the oil as soon as I can. Turning the key to ignition used to bring the infamous starter click, although as I mentioned, I only managed to charge the battery enough for the electrical to work at its most basic, so I’m hoping it’s not the starter. Currently, turning the key to ignition kills off all electrical immediately, with no clicking at all. Could it also be spark plug issues?
2. Power steering pump. The power steering on sc400s seems to be infamous for leaking onto the alternator, so I went to check it out. There’s about 2cm deep of black gunk on it, although the alternator doesn’t look too bad, just usual wear and tear on it. I guess what I’m asking is if this indicates that the power steering has gone bad?
3. Transmission. The automatic transmission was in neutral originally, but I shifted it into park and this is currently where it is stuck. I tried to move it back while holding the brake pedal down and it wouldn’t budge. Not many details about this because I haven’t extensively attempted to work with this issue. I read that if the starter is bad, then this kind of problem happens with automatics.
4. Not much of an issue, but rather just curiosity. The accelerator pedal moves very easily with only moderate resistance to foot pressure, and I was wondering if this could be indicative of a problem with the throttle body or cables?
Any kind of help that you fantastic people on here could give me would be amazing, because I really want to see this thing on the move again. Thank you ahead of time for spending some time reading this!
03-24-19, 10:03 PM
#3
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
03-25-19, 06:12 PM
#6
That's a lot of issues to overcome just to see if it's worth putting your time and money into... Is the interior in good shape? If so, I'd consider it a parts car and use the money acquired there to buy a better SC. If the interior is ratty like most (precisely the reason a good interior is worth decent cash!), then it's got very little going for it, unfortunately.
03-26-19, 04:55 AM
#7
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
That's a lot of issues to overcome just to see if it's worth putting your time and money into... Is the interior in good shape? If so, I'd consider it a parts car and use the money acquired there to buy a better SC. If the interior is ratty like most (precisely the reason a good interior is worth decent cash!), then it's got very little going for it, unfortunately.
oh and this thread was a mistake to make, and there were some huge updates with the car, including small stuff like the car runs now and transmission problems were solved. Go take a look at my other thread I started if you're interested
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
06frozone
ES - 1st to 4th Gen (1990-2006)
10
09-07-18 09:13 AM
13lind
Performance & Maintenance
3
01-09-14 11:36 AM
