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2G Car died while driving, won't restart. I need serious help!!!

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stugotsv10

Proven Member
114
21
May 21, 2021
Connecticut
So I picked up a 99 GST yesterday, Fully rebuilt engine, Forged everything, AEM whole 9 yards, other then running a little rich, it ran flawless the whole way home (200 miles or so) about 25 miles from my house, rolling up to a light (now since this is a new build with like 400 miles on it now I'm not hammering this thing AT ALL) press the clutch to down shift and BOOM she drops STONE dead, I coast to the side of the road, she won't fire and has a fast cranking, fast to the point where it doesnt sound like its catching just "Free spinning"

After a WAR to get her home because its lowered, I have it towed home, pull the plugs, they look a bit fouled so I clean em (at this time no where is open to get new ones) pistons look good, crank it with no plugs, feel big gusts of air so there is movement, pop em back in, try some starting fluid NO change.

Now I checked spark on all 4 BUT to be honest to ME it looked weak but I know NOTHING about these cars so IDK what is an acceptable spark, I know coming from Mustangs and Vettes that spark looked weak as all hell.

Timing belt look fine, gotta love those see through brackets LOL

Any ideas here? I'm LOST LOST LOL
 
Shot in the dark, but when this happened to me it was a wire that came loose on my rewired fuel pump relay.

You mentioned you confirmed it has some spark, what about fuel? Does it have a fuel pressure gauge to confirm there is pressure? Can you feel the injectors clicking while cranking?

When you cranked it with the spark plugs out, unless you did something to stop fuel coming out you should have had not just air, but a fuel mixture firing out, right?
 
You know what, come to think of it.... I dont remember if there was fuel as well... it was dark (3am) hmmm, oddly there is no fuel pressure gauge in the car, A/F gauge but no fuel pressure.

So when your wire from your fuel pump relay came loose it had a rapid crank over? (which scares the HELL out of you right? thinking no compression LOL)
 
I did see that thread but, when it says "cranks" not sure this can be called a "Cranking" sounds like its free spinning, even know I saw the pistons move and its not

Also do you guys think me driving it like a grandma (because its a new build) hurt it?
 
So I picked up a 99 GST yesterday, Fully rebuilt engine, Forged everything, AEM whole 9 yards, other then running a little rich, it ran flawless the whole way home (200 miles or so) about 25 miles from my house, rolling up to a light (now since this is a new build with like 400 miles on it now I'm not hammering this thing AT ALL) press the clutch to down shift and BOOM she drops STONE dead, I coast to the side of the road, she won't fire and has a fast cranking, fast to the point where it doesnt sound like its catching just "Free spinning"

After a WAR to get her home because its lowered, I have it towed home, pull the plugs, they look a bit fouled so I clean em (at this time no where is open to get new ones) pistons look good, crank it with no plugs, feel big gusts of air so there is movement, pop em back in, try some starting fluid NO change.

Now I checked spark on all 4 BUT to be honest to ME it looked weak but I know NOTHING about these cars so IDK what is an acceptable spark, I know coming from Mustangs and Vettes that spark looked weak as all hell.

Timing belt look fine, gotta love those see through brackets LOL

Any ideas here? I'm LOST LOST LOL
A visual inspection of the belt is not enough. Line up the marks and also verify when you spin the crank by hand the cams move. As stated above it sounds like a timing belt issue. Possibly it wasn't tensioned correctly and it slipped. You won't know until you verify.
 
It will sound like this if it has bent all of the valves. I HATED this sound, it is the sound of death. I believe Nick and Paul are on the right path, but I hate telling you that and HOPE it is not the issue. Do a compression test, that will rule in or out the bent valve scenario.
https://youtu.be/YbIU-LSA88o
 
ohhhh NO I have that spinning sound but I dont have that tick tick tick tick like in that video, not at ALL, plugs are also not touched (other then being fouled)
 
If the engine jumps time, which it sounds like is possible, it won't effect the sparkplugs, only the valves and they will look like this. All 16 of mine did and that sucked. Mine happened when the bottom timing belt pulley worked its way forward and came off of the crank keyway. Mine looked like this.....

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I'd rather see compression test results or verification that the timing belt is still perfect than speculate on what might be.
I agree the comment about free spinning while cranking raises issues but it's time for the OP to get their hands dirty before any more guesses get tossed around.
 
If the engine jumps time, which it sounds like is possible, it won't effect the sparkplugs, only the valves and they will look like this. All 16 of mine did and that sucked. Mine happened when the bottom timing belt pulley worked its way forward and came off of the crank keyway. Mine looked like this.....

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When I saw that pic, I immediately thought of this song 🤣🤣

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Your main symptom to focus on is fast cranking. Forget everything else. Pretty much the only thing that causes fast cranking is loss of compression. So all you gotta do is figure out why you lost compression. For you to lose the compression in all 4 cylinders at the exact same time the only thing that can do that is the timing belt...so I hate to say it but yea man it's not looking good
 
What would be a better suggestion? That his fuel pump died when he pressed in the clutch? That his ecu or coils went bad? A timing failure is at worst an equal probability to anything else in my opinion.
Yeah, not saying that’s wrong, just trying to make the most of the clues. But certainly some more clues will help, and maybe the driving situation is not really all that relevant in this case. ??
So about those more clues.....
 
I think I just threw up looking at that LOL
They always look like little vacuum cleaners or metal detectors to me.

How does the sequence of running fine, press clutch, goes dead fit with a timing failure. Not saying it doesn't, but just trying to follow the logic. Why would that moment be the time when all the valves bent?
For the same reason that the timing jumps more often during start up than when heading down the highway, the belt is under more stress at lower rpm's, he pushed in the clutch, the engine rpm slowed down putting the loose belt under more stress, the belt without proper tension jumped, valves got bent.
 
Gonna have a friend who is a bit more versed in DSM take a look at the car with me hopefully tomorrow.

Worst case Valves are bent, what do you think im roughly looking at?
 
Find a good set of used valves and do a valve job on the head and replace the head gasket.
Just estimating $300 if you do the work except the valve job and get a deal on free or cheap used valves, which work just fine.
My car did this exact same thing when I was going to a car show 20 miles away. Went down a hill (and I was logging all the time) when all of a sudden the car just shut down. Since I was going down hill, the momentum kept the log running and motor turning over. I kept looking at my computer, pressed on the gas and saw the throttle go up on the log but the motor didn't respond. Check to see that you have compression and that all timing marks still line up.
I hope that isn't the case here because I am just now getting that car back up and running after a few years, but I do have other DSMs.
Crossing Fingers!
 
Is there a way to buy new Valves? or are they just completely out of production? Also since this sadly seems to be kinda common can I buy "performance" valves LOL
 
Is there a way to buy new Valves? or are they just completely out of production? Also since this sadly seems to be kinda common can I buy "performance" valves LOL
Oem valves work just fine. You can buy aftermarket valves from performance companies as well. They will be more expensive, but won’t offer much in terms of added performance
 
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