eclipsegsx1736
Supporting VIP
- 1,599
- 44
- Nov 11, 2003
-
Los Angeles,
California
I've had my car for almost exactly 2 years now (9 days until) and I really haven't had any problems with it at all. I road race it, ran a mid 12 at the 1/4 and it still had more in it, drive it to school, and even deliver Italian food for a local restaurant in it. I bought it with 59k on the clock and it just hit 90k today. When I bought it 2 years ago, I took it to get the timing belt done immediately at a place my dad suggested. I didn't know better at the time, if I could do it over again I would have taken it to one of the DSM mechanics around this area. I thought he replaced the balance shaft belt as well, but I guess not.
I was doing a delivery tonight and when I arrived at their house, I noticed the car felt like it was vibrating a little more than normal, as if the exhaust was bolted directly to the chassis or something, the car would vibrate with the RPM. I didn't think much of it but I popped the hood and couldnt see anything unusual. I drove off with it still vibrating and figured I'd drive it the few miles home and check it out there. As I drove off I noticed the car was hesitating when it got to about 3k RPM, and then got worse. It started stuttering and bucking a little, and really didn't want to boost or accelerate. I did a U turn and drove to a good place to pull over, and before I pulled over it had already died. I coasted it and parked it along the street. It's dark, cold, and windy and I didn't have any tools with me, not even a screwdriver. There was a CEL and DSMlink said it was "Crankshaft Position Sensor Malnfunction". Great... It refused to start, didn't even try to catch.
I had it towed home and a few DSM friends came over, one who's been through just about everything with his car. We pulled the timing covers off and checked the timing. We aligned the cam gear marks and looked at the crank pulley. There's a T mark and a 10 mark below where it says BTDC. I don't know much about this stuff, I'm more of a bolt on and suspension guy, but I'm pretty sure the mark on the pulley is supposed to be aligned with the T, but instead it was over past the 10, I'm guessing around 14-15 or so based on where it was. Can't be good..
I'm assuming the BS belt snapped and took out the CPS and the timing belt...I'm also assuming the valves are bent and the pistons probably aren't too happy either but I don't know.
Here's the lesson. I was one of those guys who always read these countless posts on DSMtuners about crankwalk, bent valves, blown motors/trannies, etc, and thought to myself, "eh, that'll never happen to me." The car's in tip-top shape, well taken care of, runs perfect, never had any problem. Next thing I know the car's on a flatbed.
Here's the killer: Tomorrow is the dyno day. I've been looking forward to this day for about 2 months now, and I'm even supposed to lead the canyon cruise to the dyno...great time for this to happen. The sight of seeing my car getting lifted onto the tow truck was surreal, in fact this whole night was. I still can't believe this happened. It's so much that it hasn't even really registered yet. I was planning on buying a 1g n/t to use as a daily beater anyway, now might be a good time and drive that until I get the GSX finished.
I was doing a delivery tonight and when I arrived at their house, I noticed the car felt like it was vibrating a little more than normal, as if the exhaust was bolted directly to the chassis or something, the car would vibrate with the RPM. I didn't think much of it but I popped the hood and couldnt see anything unusual. I drove off with it still vibrating and figured I'd drive it the few miles home and check it out there. As I drove off I noticed the car was hesitating when it got to about 3k RPM, and then got worse. It started stuttering and bucking a little, and really didn't want to boost or accelerate. I did a U turn and drove to a good place to pull over, and before I pulled over it had already died. I coasted it and parked it along the street. It's dark, cold, and windy and I didn't have any tools with me, not even a screwdriver. There was a CEL and DSMlink said it was "Crankshaft Position Sensor Malnfunction". Great... It refused to start, didn't even try to catch.
I had it towed home and a few DSM friends came over, one who's been through just about everything with his car. We pulled the timing covers off and checked the timing. We aligned the cam gear marks and looked at the crank pulley. There's a T mark and a 10 mark below where it says BTDC. I don't know much about this stuff, I'm more of a bolt on and suspension guy, but I'm pretty sure the mark on the pulley is supposed to be aligned with the T, but instead it was over past the 10, I'm guessing around 14-15 or so based on where it was. Can't be good..
I'm assuming the BS belt snapped and took out the CPS and the timing belt...I'm also assuming the valves are bent and the pistons probably aren't too happy either but I don't know.
Here's the lesson. I was one of those guys who always read these countless posts on DSMtuners about crankwalk, bent valves, blown motors/trannies, etc, and thought to myself, "eh, that'll never happen to me." The car's in tip-top shape, well taken care of, runs perfect, never had any problem. Next thing I know the car's on a flatbed.
Here's the killer: Tomorrow is the dyno day. I've been looking forward to this day for about 2 months now, and I'm even supposed to lead the canyon cruise to the dyno...great time for this to happen. The sight of seeing my car getting lifted onto the tow truck was surreal, in fact this whole night was. I still can't believe this happened. It's so much that it hasn't even really registered yet. I was planning on buying a 1g n/t to use as a daily beater anyway, now might be a good time and drive that until I get the GSX finished.
