Blew the engine, what do you think happened, what should I do?

[GeneralChaos]

Well sadly the day finally arrived last night...ive been waiting for this to happen, but the car ran good for over a year so i cant complain.

Basically, my cars a peice. its always been a peice, I knew this but I planned on modding the crap out of it. Well as time goes on, sometimes you think your not sure if you want to invest that kind of money in a not so great car, when you could buy something cool like a trans am, vette, supra, etc.

Anyway on to the real problem. Saturday (may 14th) my buddy chris came over to my friend jesses house, since he saw I was over there. Well he has a civic hatch and recently got done installing a turbo and some nice goodies on there, so he wanted to race. I didnt really want to seeing how I dont have much for supporting mods, and my cars engine never seemed in the best shape, plus I could use a new exhaust/manifold.

Certain things arent allowed to be discussed here so ill skip over them. anyway my car started making an odd noise for a few. I almost want to say it was knock, but to my recollection that isnt what knock sounded like, it almost sounded like my exhaust was loose and banging up and down...it only happened at certain RPM, and after I limped back to jesses house it didnt realy do it after.

Fast forward to may 16th. I wanted some new clothes so I told the girlfriend to meet me at the mall. after checking my fluids I drive out there which is about 30 minutes away, and had the music on because I listened to the car for a few and it wasnt making any noises. I get there no problem. After that we wanted to go to a near by store and she told me to drive so I said ok, got in the car and drove toward the road. pulled out and came toward a stop light and it was making that noise under throttle again. I wasnt beating on the car, I usually drive around very casually to save gas.

well the light goes green and the noise gets really bad, im wondering whats going on and right as im in the middle of the intersection I hear the sound of metal exploding into a million peices. I knew I was in trouble, the car shut off but I had the clutch in so I was coasting, but I really dont remember if it was in when it blew, either way I was rolling. I tried to start the car, and it cranked a few times and all I heard was metal clinking around.

I hit the hazards and luckily managed to roll into a parking lot, looking like the typical broke down dsm. I went and looked in the street for metal, but there was nothing. no fluids were leaking, i still had oil. there was a small amount of smoke coming from behind the block, up around the intake manifold area.

Being upset and far away from home, I tried to start the car again. It cranked twice with that same nasty sound of metal. after that it would not crank. the starter would sound like its firing, but nothing.

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So what do you guys think happened? when I think about it, maybe it crankwalked. but my clutch never stuck to the floor or anything, although with the recent addition of more power, maybe I happen to blow it anyway. in most cases it seems crankwalking or even blowing a rod results in a hole in the block, but that isnt always the case.


im not really sure if I should bother building this car up or not. It kind of is a peice, and I dont know if id want to dump all that money into it. plus not having the most reliable car in the world sucks because I dont want to beg for tows from my friend anymore, but making any car fast has that consequence. If I were smart id buy a crappy car for now, but last time I tried that it only lasted 6 months and I got the fever again, and thats when I bought this dsm.

any help appreciated, sorry this is so long I just know more details the better.

 

[HighPsi92GST]

Sounds like you need a honda.

As far as the engine "blowing up" not really enough details. It sounds to me more like you either jumped timing and were smacking the valves until they finally broke and smashed the life out of the engine, or something in the bottom end came apart. I highly doubt you car walked and broke in that short amount of time. It sounds like your problems started while street racing and more then likly pushing the car pretty hard. And from the sound of your post, your car in not in the best condition to have been doing that.(you stated it had some problems and that it is a "peice")

Good luck

 

[paranoidTSi]

My question is why would you drive the car if it was making a funny noise that you weren't sure what it was? I *think* I have lifter tick again, but I'm not sure so I don't even drive it at this point.

Honestly, motors for these cars are a dime a dozen, you can get a nice 6-bolt for $600 if you look hard enough.

 

[GeneralChaos]

My question is why would you drive the car if it was making a funny noise that you weren't sure what it was?

well really because in my experience dsm engines can make a lot of wierd noises sometimes and be fine.

It wasnt doing it non stop, it actually had quit. then it started again really bad and 2 seconds later down it went.

its possible it could be the head but I dont know, engine had like 117k on it so its hard to judge.

guess I need to take it apart and have a look

 

[bones_420_99]

sounds similar to what mine did (n/t though) and it was actually the timinig blowing off mine. except mine didn't restart at all. i got lucky and all it was really was timing belt, tension rod, and some pulley. that might be a direction to take a look at but then again like i said i have a n/t so probable something different.