95 Tsi storyline +

[Alexey07]

Hey everyone.

The following is just few things that happened to me since I got my talon 2 weeks ago. I am not trying to whine about anything, just letting you guys know what's up with my car and looking for help or good advice..

Originally I was looking at DSM's, civics, prelude and integra. It all came down to pretty much my only option.

Small Dealership near Minneapolis/St. Paul. Dealer didn't know anything about the car. Me and my friend took it for a drive, it was good overall, but belt was squeaking noise, additional whistle to normal turbo sound, clucking noise in rear struts. 120.000 miles, 3 owners in total, according to carfax, 2nd ovner took a good care of the car, but the last one was just destroying my future ride.

I was concerned about cars mechanical condition, so I took it to the solid looking (which I thought was better) car shop. They changed all brake rotors and pads; check out the car here and there, changed sway bar links, oil. They told me a car was good to go.

3 days ago. I was waiting for traffic light, and the second I started moving.. CRACK, horrible metal on metal noise as if my rims were grinding the asphalt. I and my friend come out of the car and front right wheel is tilted inside. 60$ to tow it to the station again. It looked like ball joint back then for me and it turned out to be so.
Previous repair to the ball joint was horrible. Whoever put it together has his hands from the ass. You know how you are supposed to like press ball joint until it gets in place, but previous mechanic just skipped that part completely. So anyway, ball joint flew out damaging the half shaft too.
So I couldnt really blame them for not telling me that ball joint was not installed correctly by its previous technician when they did the car inspection. So I ask them to double check EVERYTHING, including engine, fluids, gearbox, suspenstion, steering. Next day I pick it up - they say - "its good to go man. everything is fine"

Next day... Got my new tires shipped, Michelin pilot exaltos, so I give it to the other tire shop to put em on and after that when going like 20-30mph I see this very weird vibration. Like my steering wheel was shaking back and forward half a turn. I decided to go back to the shop to see what's going on. And on the stop light vibration just exceeds all limits, it felt like whole car was shaking, so I shut it down instantly. It was like almost the middle of busy intersection too. I look under the hood and the belt is pretty much snapped. It's on the picture which I took by my crappy cell phone camera. Guess what, I met same tow truck driver again! Another 60$ to tow it.
So yeah, that was my first month with my DSM. Oh yeah, I forgot that I got my boost leak fixed too, thanks to you guys, who helped me out on DSMtuners. Other than that stuff, I love my car. Even if its automatic, I still love it.

So yeah, I am going to take it to the other trustworthy shop and have people look at it again. What else should I expect from my car? What will break tomorrow? Will tomorrow even come? I don't know.

Thanks for your time guys.

Alexey

 

[Splitpi]

It looks to me like your Altenator / Waterpump drive belt broke. Easy fix. Bet yet, replace all the belts. Shouldn't cost more than $30 for AC belt, PS Belt and Altenator/Waterpump belts. And it'll only take about 0.5 to 2 hours of your time to fix with only a few tools neeeded. I believe a 10, 11 and 12 mm (can't remember which of the three of hand) socket and wrenchs and a phillips screwdriver. Oh and a jack and a single jack stand.

Jack the car up on the driverside and get at it. It can be done from the top... but I found it easier to do both. You also may want to remove the wheel well splash guard. But no worries its only 4 bolts and two plastic screws and its off. This isn't difficult to replace. Remember to tighten the belts but you don't want them insanely taught. I believe 10 - 13 mm of deflection in the belts (or enough to not squel on start up).

DO NOT drive your car until you fix the Altenator and Water pump belt. You'll over heat the block and then you have a VERY expensive fix to pay for.

Lastly, do you know when the timing belt was last replaced? You may be due for the 60k maintance. New Timing belt, new BS Belt, new Hydralic tensioner, new water pump, new pulleys (all 3 of them), new thermostat and replace the fuel filter.

 

[Alexey07]

Thanks for the reply.
Here are the news from just few hours ago. I was told that apparently the harmonic balancer is done. It is too close to the frame, so its either the bolt that holds it or something else..

 

[Talonracn50]

The balancer is no big deal. Its four bolts that hold it on, they separate all the time -- its not just your car! Dont worry, you are having all the normal DSM stuff happen.

Make sure the recall has been done on the front lower control arms. (free at mitsu)

 

[Splitpi]

Ya Harmonic Balancer is like an extra 30 minutes of work to change. And they do crap out. It only takes more time because you have to also take off the AC belt (AC and Water/Altenator all drive from the Harmonic Balancer). Once you do the work to get the Water/Altenator that I mentioned above, its just 4 more bolts to remove the Harmonic balancer. Though it may help to remove the Front Driver side tire to get better access.

This shouldn't cost you an arm and leg to get done if you take it somewhere. Its is very easy and a compitent mechanic will hammer all this out in under an hour. So I would think its ~70 to 100 in labor

 

[pwayzjellyroll]

After reading your story, you're crazy for not having AAA and owning a DSM! I've used mine enough times that it's payed for itself more then enough. But just stick it out, I had to fix quite a few things but it can only get better from there (usually).