help.... what happened?

[sirslex]

someone please direct me to helpful info here...
I can barely guess where to begin my search.

***edit: this is an automatic 2nd gen, all stock except for k&n drop in panel filter and a cat back exhaust****


So I was kinda pushing the car hard uphill thru some twisty turns and after about a dozen corners the engine just started lacking power more and more...
I pulled to the side of the road and while backing into a driveway, the car died.
I waited a couple of seconds and it took a moment to start, but it did and I had to keep giving it gas to keep the idle from bogging down and dying again.
After going back down the hill basically just coasting but the engine stayed running, I got back onto the freeway ok. Went a bout 5 miles. then got off onto regular roads through a few stoplights at which the idle was rather low and erratic.
well, all in all, after about fifteen minutes of cautious driving... the car seems basically back to normal.

The only unique thing I had done going up through the hills was leaving the overdrive turned off. (more info on the overdrive would be good I think)

No leaks that I can find, but the oil pressure gauge is reading low now. Although that may simply be because I just re-attached the wire for it. (and the wire was really frayed in some parts and needs to be replaced)


Please help.

Thanks

 

[vandenberg33]

It sounds like this could be bad.
If this happend while lots of hard cornering you could have starved the engine of oil, causing low oil pressure under hard load and possibly damaging bearings such as balance shafts. Worn balance shaft bearings won't make a knocking noise like rod bearings will but they would cause friction on the rotating assembly and loss of oil pressure since the clearances would increase, thats why the engine bogged down and you had to give it gas to keep it going. If thats the problem and you continue to drive it you might lose the timing belt and the entire engine.

 

[floader]

I would drain the oil out and see if there was anything in it (silvery looking stuff). Also a compression check never hurts when something like this happens. I would doubt that it has much to do with the transmission.

 

[Colt4G63 also]

It ran rich because you went up into the hills, but your barometric pressure sensor didn't function and tell your ECU that the air was thinner. Now you have fuel contaninated oil.

Far fetched? Maybe, but that's all I could come up with on the limited data provided. Any chance you made a log?

 

[2slow4now]

Definitly drain the oil and check it out. Fuel in the oil can cause havoc on the bearings. Check the dip stick to see if theres more in there than when you started.
If enough gets in there it can light off. Saw a d.a. with a v8 put a huge carb on his car and it ran so rich that there was enough fuel in the pan to light it off. Blew the valve covers and pan off.
If it wiped out your balance shaft bearings then its a good reason to do a bse.

 

[vandenberg33]

I would still have to say you starved it of oil.

Uphill hard around a dozen corners sounds like fun to me, but at an up hill angle and going around corners fast at high revs under heavy load are just about the hardest conditions for an oiling system to handle. If the sump went dry for even a second it would have been bad.

Check the oil for silvery glitter and you will have your answer.

 

[sirslex]

well, I got the oil changed and flushed even. They said it was a bit dirty but not too bad.
I haven't had any other problems with it since then. But I still would like to know how to make sure this doesn't happen again.
If it was an oil issue, is there an easy was to upgrade the system?

I had a neighbor friend who is a mechanic say to check the fuel filter so I'll get back to you all about how that checks out.

I did notice today that when parked, it wants to idle at about 1500 but drops down to normal when I put it in gear. I suppose it may have been this way all along, but I was paying more attention to these things after this weird event.


thanks again to all of you who have contributed.

 

[itsjonnyhodge]

at this point it can go either way, fuel in the oil and or starved engine of oil. check it asap and dont drive the car if possible.

 

[sirslex]

umm... about the whole "don't drive it until it's checked out" thing....

I drove it home after that incident and home is over 100 miles from when that happened.
I will certainly smell the oil and check the level before I go anywhere else, but if it( the oil) seems normal it should be ok to drive .... right?


right?


please tell me it's okay to keep driving...

 

[itsjonnyhodge]

umm... about the whole "don't drive it until it's checked out" thing....

I drove it home after that incident and home is over 100 miles from when that happened.
I will certainly smell the oil and check the level before I go anywhere else, but if it( the oil) seems normal it should be ok to drive .... right?


right?


please tell me it's okay to keep driving...

best bet.
1. do oil change with filter**
- while draingin the oil, hold a magnet in the oil flow as well as after all oil is drained. (looking for small or lager bits of metal)

if you find them post pictures please!! this will help.

2. if oil is good and no shavings replace with new oil and filter.

best bet if there is gas and you change it. run about 1k miles and change again that should help.

if everyhting turns out alright yes it will be okay to drive.

correct me if im wrong by saying and im sure it wont hurt, but change the oil like i said again after 1000 miles. after that you should be fine.

 

[KyleJ]

I'm guessing the motor would have made some very unfriendly noises if it was starved for oil. A compression test should be on your list of things to do. Your 'mechanic' neighbor should be able to help you with that. Check the fuel filter, all the rest of your fluids. It's possible you may have had a bad tank of gas. You would have to be REALLY pushing your car side to side to starve it for oil. How many miles does the car have?

 

[itsjonnyhodge]

I'm guessing the motor would have made some very unfriendly noises if it was starved for oil. A compression test should be on your list of things to do. Your 'mechanic' neighbor should be able to help you with that. Check the fuel filter, all the rest of your fluids. It's possible you may have had a bad tank of gas. You would have to be REALLY pushing your car side to side to starve it for oil. How many miles does the car have?

yeah i agree. im trying to think how this could have possibly happened. it could be a list of things that caused it and the minor turns and such just put it over the edge.

what is your oil level like first off?

 

[sirslex]

I got the oil changed and flushed the next day (maybe 20 miles of driving after incident)
I didn't check it myself with a magnet (I wish I had now) but it didnt look too bad to me and they said it looked fine if a little dirty (normal) for 123k miles on the engine.
they did mention it was just a little over full before they drained it and that there were (minor "nothing to worry about but we can offer you this treatment for it") leaks at the front and real main seals...

 

[itsjonnyhodge]

I got the oil changed and flushed the next day (maybe 20 miles of driving after incident)
I didn't check it myself with a magnet (I wish I had now) but it didnt look too bad to me and they said it looked fine if a little dirty (normal) for 123k miles on the engine.
they did mention it was just a little over full before they drained it and that there were (minor "nothing to worry about but we can offer you this treatment for it") leaks at the front and real main seals...

never listen to what those people say. i work at an oil change place and its bs. they say shit liek that all the time, but when there are shavings coming off on a magnetic drain plug its "no big deal"

take a good magnet and stick it to the bottom of the pan and run the engine for like 5 mins or go to the store and back before you do an oil change. or get a magnetic drain plug. is the car running good now?

 

[sirslex]

never listen to what those people say. i work at an oil change place and its bs. they say shit liek that all the time, but when there are shavings coming off on a magnetic drain plug its "no big deal"

take a good magnet and stick it to the bottom of the pan and run the engine for like 5 mins or go to the store and back before you do an oil change. or get a magnetic drain plug. is the car running good now?

the car SEEMS as good as before. No less power anyway. Like I mentioned earlier, I drove it over 100 miles afterwards and didnt have any weird problems.

 

[itsjonnyhodge]

the car SEEMS as good as before. No less power anyway. Like I mentioned earlier, I drove it over 100 miles afterwards and didnt have any weird problems.

then best bet is everyhting should be good.

 

[sirslex]

then best bet is everyhting should be good.

I still plan on doing the next oil change much sooner, rather than later.

But I *hope* that the computer thought that it might get starved of oil and put it into a lower risk mode of some sort.. and reset back to normal after a bit of regular driving.
Or anyway I hope whatever happened prevented any serious damage from occuring.

Now, as far as making sure it never happens again.... I have been having difficulty finding any info on oil systems of any sort for the 2g.
Everything I've tried searching for leads me to cooling systems like the radiator and fans...