I just recently purchased a 91 Talon TSi front wheel drive automatic. I had a 91 non turbo as my first car back in 1997 and found this one recently and decided to travel back in time. I bought it site unseen on eBay and it had a lot of surprises. Fortunately its a rust free AZ car and ive since had it painted, interior redone, suspension rebuilt and windows re-tinted. The motor is where I have some issues. The previous owner installed a Walbro 255 fuel pump, 850cc injectors, EVO MAF and 20G turbo on this car, I later found out its all on the stock tune and its a non EPROM ECU. I've noticed it gets a bit of fuel in the oil and runs WAY too rich, its also got an oil leak on the back of the motor which appears to be from the head gasket. I do have the parts to return it back to stock, would returning the car to stock be my best bet, especially if the head gasket is bad? I get no smoke and no coolant in the oil. I didn't buy the car because of the mods, bought it mostly for shows and nostalgia as the car was built in my community and I had one in my younger days. What damage could be done from this setup? Engine runs ok, its smooth with no strange noises so I don't think bearings have been damaged or anything. Mods have probably less than 1500 miles based on what the previous owner told me.

Welcome!!!
If I were having those problems I would put it back to stock and then progress back to where you would like it to be. On stock tune, I bet it is fouling plugs and needing the 450's back in it.
Post up your details in a profile so we can all see what the mods were and try to help you get her running again!
Marty

Thanks Marty! Just went ahead and set up a profile. I have all the parts so ill return it to stock and go from there. Not needing a drag racer, just a fun cruiser that's reliable. Im expecting the ECU is likely fried with these mods on a stock tune. Fortunately I can get ahold of an ECU relatively cheap if that's my issue.

Welcome!

As for the oil leak, you sure it isn't coming from the valve cover or maybe the oil pan? Pretty common.

Id hate to downgrade parts and just go back to stock only to upgrade them again. I'd say get yourself DSMlink for $550 and let that puppy rip or have @bastarddsm make you a chip of some sort. You're most likely leaking from your valve cover btw.

One more thing, when people sell these cars they often sell off a lot of the high dollar parts beforehand. Therefore, it's possible the car was tuned on ecmlink and the previous owner sold it to make a quick buck then threw in this stock ecu.

Vegas smith said:

Id hate to downgrade parts and just go back to stock only to upgrade them again. I'd say get yourself DSMlink for $550 and let that puppy rip or have @bastarddsm make you a chip of some sort. You're most likely leaking from your valve cover btw.

One more thing, when people sell these cars they often sell off a lot of the high dollar parts beforehand. Therefore, it's possible the car was tuned on ecmlink and the previous owner sold it to make a quick buck then threw in this stock ecu.

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I was actually going to suggest this too... no sense in doing a lot of extra work trying to revert back to stock when you can throw in ECMlink and get it tuned, unless you truly want it stock. Of course, there's no telling the condition of the parts that are installed but that can be said for the stock parts you end up putting in too. If it were me I'd try and tune it as is first. If it doesn't work out you would probably be using ECMlink down the road anyway, so it wouldn't be a wasted purchase.

As Marty said, running those injectors and that fuel pump on a stock tune is fouling your plugs. You'll want to address that soon.

The setup your running is probably using about 10-15% more fuel than it should. Depends what maf and fpr, and ecu are on it. If you continue to run it, it will wash all the oil from the cylinder walls, and wear out the engine.

I'm not far from you, and would be glad to help with it. If your not going to be hot rodding the hell out of it, I'd recommend just getting an eprom ecu, and I could do a chip for it. I'll actually be driving through blooming tomorrow at some point if your around I can stop by and take a look.

Send me an email [email protected]

Dropped it at a shop today, shockingly hard to find a shop willing to work on a DSM here. They have already done a diagnosis on it...confirmed oil leak at the head and the oil pan. Water Pump is leaking, ECU has a burned up circuit for the ISC. Also there was something wrong with how the turbo was installed. Having it returned back to stock with no mods ill enjoy it as it was intended from the factory. Really hoping no damage has been done by the car getting too much fuel, shop is pretty confident its ok.

So I didn't 100% trust the shop I dropped the car off at. Found another shop with a guy who owns a DSM on staff. He pulled it in today and gave me a totally different diagnostic. He said my issue is an oil pan gasket leak, the fuel injectors are bad and someone put a hole in the intake tube creating a boost leak. Grabbed an intake hose at the local U-pull, shop put my OE injectors in and the hose, car is indeed running better. The 13B turbo had a cracked wastegate housing....back to the drawing board on the turbo part.

Final update - Shop put in my stock injectors and MAF, car runs absolutely perfect, no more smelling like gas, runs smooth with no misfire. There was a boost controller installed for the 20G turbo so I've decided to keep that in for now and the boost is dialed back to 10psi. Eventually I will have that swapped with a 16G, but for now I want to enjoy the DSM as it is, nice to have it back not leaking oil and running like it should!

Well I bet you are smiling REAL BIG now! Happy to hear that the car is now functional and enjoyable!