hey everyone

[insaniti]

well I already posted a few times in the problem diagnosis forum...but here's the rundown:

beginning of may I get rear ended in my saturn, gets totaled out. get half whats its worth...already things going bad. anyway, I have $1700 to replace that car with, so Im looking and looking, checking everything. finally find a 1991 plymouth laser RS turbo auto. its on ebay, not a big deal, my saturn was from ebay and it was a great deal, ran great, everything...so what could go wrong? right?

so I win the bid, $1035.99, ad says engine runs very very smooth, but has errors on ECU. no big deal, use the left over money to fix the "minor" problems causing the errors. get down there, pick up the car. its running rough and rich to begin with. hardly very very smooth, but I figure its been sitting awhile, just needs run. grab a can of dry gas, throw it in there, fill it up...besides, I got a 3 hr drive home. well it runs HORRIBLE the whole way back, gets horrible gas mileage, blah blah blah...

that monday, I take it to my mechanic. he tests out what he can, and this is what he comes up with:

running rich no power
unable to access data from ECM
scope secondary ignition, replace plug wires
fuel pressuer KOEO 38 psi KOER 43 psi
ECT .859 ohms at 104 degress
engine will not accelerate to high RPM runs rich black smoke
test for exhaust backpressure: restricted exhaust
2500 rpm pressure 3.5 to 4 psi
knocking noise in engine when reving
upper radiator hose leaking at housing
possible damage to turbo due to excessive backpressure

so we change the plugs and wires, no difference at all. get a straight pipe to replace the catalytic converter, running even worse. then all of a sudden, car won't start. ECM died. sits overnight at a friends house (where we torched the cat off and put the straight pipe on), go back the next day, car starts...but won't stay running unless Im on the gas and keep it over 2k rpm. whatever, I just need to get it home (less than half a mile). I get it home, its EXTREMELY hot, especially for the short ride, running rough or not.

look under my car, a nice stream of neon green antifreeze...beautiful. so, Im waiting for the check that the seller promised me ($250 to help with the repairs), meanwhile Im down to about $70. I gotta go to a junk yard to find a new ECM and pray that it works. while the straight pipe is on, the cat back is gonna need replaced soon as well. the engine has a slight knock in it, radiator is leaking somewhere...

the worst part, I thought I was getting a pretty decent car here. we aren't talking a car with 130K+ mileage. the car has 88k on it. body in decent shape, a few dings here and there. interior in good shape, just needs cleaned...

I've been able to drive the car a total of about 4 hrs in the month that I've owned it. I have yet to pay the taxes and tags on the car because I can't get it running right and dont have the funds to do so just yet (still waiting on that damn check). this is very frustrating as we no longer have the tools to make working on this car less stressful and I don't have the funds to have someone else do the work. Im already contemplating selling the car...

so hey, Im insaniti from Pa...welcome to the forum right?

 

[blcknspo0ln]

what a suiting name for a new owner of a DSM . unfortunately it looks like you got hosed on the deal... you sound mechanically inclined so go ahead and do a compression and intake test [ always do these 2 first when buying a turbo car ] and see how the numbers look.
then, [ make sure the car is cool ] and remove the intake snorkel. look inside your turbo and you'll see your compressor wheel. take your fingers and check for shaft play. if the wheel moves around alot or doesn't spin at all, then you're turbo is fudged.

also elaborate on your "engine knock" it very may as well be just your average liter tick, maybe not.

if you're running rich check if your o2 sensors are up to par.

when swapping the plugs did you use NGK BPR6ES'?? these are the best plugs for our cars.

check for exhaust leaks, your cat may be clogged, muffler etc...

top of all fluids, maybe you radiator leaked so much coolant, and that's why you're running hot.

sheesh i'm running out of ideas...

your fuel pressure is OK [ i think by the info you provided ] stock is somewhere around 40 psi


good luck

 

[insaniti]

yeah, other than the ECM messin up, the fuel is fine. the o2 sensor was fine as well. right now the MAIN source of my rough and rich running is the dying and nearly dead ECM. now once that is replaced, then I will be able to go ahead and test the other aspects of the car, such as compression and intake. as the car is now, it won't rev above 3500, so its hard to do a lot of test on an engine.

the engine knock, its upper...the higher the RPM the louder/faster the knock. possable lifter? there was something else it might have been, but its almost 2 am and my brain is fried at the moment .

Im praying to god that the turbo hasn't been killed from the excess back pressure prior to the catalytic converter replacement. as of right now the exhaust is no longer restricted (unless its plugged somewhere near the manifold), I'll find out once we get a working ECM in there.

yeah, I pretty much got hosed on the deal, settled for something due to lack of funds, I really wanted a talon TSI 5 spd, but couldn't find one in my price range. anyway, tomorrow I should have a new ECM in, and Im hoping that solves 90% of the problems as it is.

as for the leaking antifreeze, as far as I know its just the hose that was leaking when I bought the car, only its gotten worse. and it wasn't leaking badly until I pulled into my driveway today after the 1/4 mile trip from my friends house. it never had a puddle under it until today, and now its a decent size puddle.

I did use NGK plugs when I replaced my plugs, but Im gonna have to take em out and clean em when I get the car to start regularly again as they are all carbon fouled again. the exhaust is fine, no leaks, just the plug in the cat or possably near the manifold (which we were pretty sure it wasn't there, but with my luck, it could have been in BOTH places ). but the exhaust is pretty ratty...and hardly helping the car. I put a 2.5" straight pipe on for the cat, but the rest of the exhaust is 2" piping...so thats gonna get upgraded to atleast 2.5" when I have the chance.

ok Im blabbering enough here, one more thing before I go. Haynes manuals suck! took me thru a process of 15 steps to get the ECM out, and all I really needed to do was remove the two pieces of carpet surrounding the center console, unbolt the ECM, life up, pull the three plugs and be done with it. no haynes said to remove the center console cover, remove this, remove that...all totally unnecessary...stupid book!

 

[insaniti]

oh, I'll add one more thing...while Im new to the DSM's, this is my 11th car. I've had everything from daily beaters like ford tempo's, to sports cars like a chevy camaro and nissan 300zx...

so Im mechanically incline, but sick of working on cars

 

[Nerfherder]

I'm gonna say the water pump is hosed.

Your O2 sensors are probably hosed after running that rich, as well.

Put a quart of Lucas oil stabilizer in the crankcase to see if it makes your clattering go away.

You, sir, are in need of a brand new automobile.

 

[insaniti]

You, sir, are in need of a brand new automobile.

aint that the truth...