95 GSX Rod Knock... What are my options?

[Liger Zero]

Hey guys I have a 95 GSX that I just bought over a month ago and now i think the motor is about shot. The car ran beautifully, no valve ticking or anything. A little while back when we had this heat wave I was driving my car normally when I tried to accelerate a little on the highway and all of a sudden my car just started slowing down and barely moved. I got off the highway and as I started to pull out a drive the car stalled off and smoke flew out from under the hood. It was blowing antifreeze out of the coolant resevoir. So I pushed the car off the road not wanting to restart it in fear of damaging something. As I moved it I found puddles of antifreeze and oil underneath it.

I had it towed to a garage and they told me the car ran fine but that it was 3 quarts low on oil and that the radiator fan relay failed and let the motor overheat and that there was no sign of any major oil leak. So I went to pick the car up and when I started it the car idled fine and quiet. So I revved it to about 2k+ then it sounded like it had rod knock. On idle theres nothing but when you rev it up it knocks and gets progressively worse the higher the rpms.

Ive been asking around trying to find a garage that does engine work but they all say I am looking at $2k-3k in work and that I might as well get a new motor. Well I dont have that much money and I am gonna need this for my winter car. I dont really have any resources to do a motor swap myself, so do any of you guys have any ideas for me? Right now I am sitting on $700 that I can spend... I just dont know what to do or where to begin...

FYI - The guy I bought the car off of said it had a 6-bolt swap recently put into the car that supposedly had around 75k miles on it. Everything else is pretty much stock.

 

[DSM1G90]

Check into JDM motors ..prices being lower than shop repair..(sorry on that - good luck in getting back on the road...)

Curious though: do you check your oil on a regular basis and when you last checked, was it up to level. Heat wave shouldn't make the difference unless your cooling system was terribly low. Was the temp gauge reading any abnormal levels prior to this insident?

DSM

 

[Liger Zero]

Well I knew it was hot out and I was specifically watching the temp gauge for that reason but it showed no signs of overheating. It just stayed where it normally did. As far as checking the oil, I honestly didnt check it for at least 2 weeks before this happened. I figured I really didnt have a reason too because the motor ran smoothly and quiet, there was no oil drips on the ground wherever I parked, and the car never blew any smoke out the exhaust. All I do know is what the garage told me and he claims its due to the heat screwing up my electrical system which caused the fan to not engage and allowing the motor to overheat. The only thing I happened to notice that wasnt normal is that my oil pressure gauge was pegged to max and it stayed there, even when I shut the car off, so Im not too sure what that meant, I assumed it was just broken. Although I should have learned my lesson by now not to assume anything with these cars...

 

[94_TSi]

Check into JDM motors ..prices being lower than shop repair..(sorry on that - good luck in getting back on the road...)
DSM

Since your on a budget i would advise for you to go this way as well. I would get an imported motor throw a bs eliminator kit in it, timing set, replace the headgasket and arp studs while its out. You should be looking at a very dependable engine with maintenance going this way.

 

[jamezbennihanna]

Maybe the pressure relief valve on your oil pump quit working its supposed to limit oil from going to the oil cooler before the. Car warms up then when it does it opens and sends more oil to the cooler maybe it isn't opening that's my only guess. Idk what else to say about it sounds odd it would be that low on oil if it just over heated but a lot of crazy stuff can happen with these cars. Good luck

 

[Liger Zero]

I would just go ahead and buy a motor and everything, but I would have to rely on a garage to swap it for me. They want to hit me with 20 hrs labor at $70/hr and thats just evil. I would do it myself if I could but I dont have the full know-how to pull it off rather quickly with limited resources.

For sale: 93 4g63t longblock 7 bolt stock everything.
just over 100k on the bottom end
the top end was re-done at kelly mitsubishi here in allentown id say 10k ago with a bran new OEM head

Im asking $500 for the entire longblock injectors alternator brackets and all. its all together.
It even has the Black CAS that goes for at least $100 by its self

I found this on craigslist... Does this sound worth the money? Its at least in my price range.

 

[DSM1G90]

I'd go check it out, check for repair receipts, then if it looks good, go for it.


(sadly, a motor can be buring oil without any visual smoke going out the pipe ... for a tip here: If any of you go buy a used car, poke a finger in the exhaust pipe and give it a good wipe. If your finger comes out just sooty, it's okey. But, if it comes out all gooey and slimey, thing is using oil on a steady basis. even at 75k miles, the valve seals were getting tired letting oil slide by and eating up oil on a continual basis. Also, a stuck PCV valve makes the motor gobble up oil in a horrible rate).

Good luck on this search - DSM

 

[Liger Zero]

Wow, ok... I guess I will check the exhaust when I go pick the car up. I still cant believe this.

 

[bigbird94]

Sorry to hear about your problems. My car had a similar issue that turned out to be a failed oil pump leading to a balance shaft throwing a bearing, causing loud knock. Im not sure if you can check that but pulling the oil pan and checking would be a place to start. Does the engine oil have metal shavings in it?

 

[Liger Zero]

I dont really have the resources to drain my oil and everything. All I can tell you is that the garage needed me to get my car off their lot and I took it to my moms which is about 1/4 mile down the road. The car ran horrible. Started knocking like crazy any rpms over 2k and was blowing a ton of whitish smoke out the exhaust.

 

[jimbob_843]

Hmmmm white smoke is burning coolant. Its really hard to determine the problem. Could be the headgasket being bad from the overheat. Oil pump, water pump, bad rings from water in combustion chamber, just too many causes of a knock sound. It really sucks you have no mechanical resources, could just be balance shaft and you are left to buy an entire engine and then pay to swap. Anyone here live near this guy and will offer to help out a fellow dsmer? Cmon