How many times is my car going to break!?

[RGdsmNewb]

Hey i've had my car for about 4 months now and i absolutely love it..... when it's running. I'm sortev wondering if i made a bad choice buying a car that needs alot of maintenance when i cant do it myself simply because of the fact that i live in an apartment and have hardly any tools. So far i've replaced the alternator , timing belt, transfer case and i'm just concerned that things are going to keep breaking and i'm going to have to deal with more extreme labour costs The car has 78 thousand miles on it and some mods.

Parts i want to put on the car

big 16G turbo
new injectors / walboro pump
apex'i n1 catback / 02 sensor from extreme psi
SAFC II
palm logger
tubular manifold

That's basically it, but perhaps once i get to that point ill be even more power hungry.

I'm not concerned about the price of what i want to do to it, just the obstacles that i encounter along the way with random things breaking and me not being able to fix them. Is there a chance i may run into nothing at all ?!

O yeah and my turbo is leaking some oil at the moment as well

 

[turbo2g111]

Just make sure, maintainence before mods. If you start modding a bad engine, you will only run into trouble.

 

[MJMgsx]

I'm sortev wondering if i made a bad choice buying a car that needs alot of maintenance when i cant do it myself simply because of the fact that i live in an apartment and have hardly any tools.

I think you should expect to put some money into the regular maintenence type stuff (belts, plugs & wires, boost leak test, etc...) I wouldn't give up yet. The car is 11 years old! So try not to get too frustrated if stuff comes up. It happens to all cars, not just DSMs!

It's definitely worth keeping!

 

[RyanJ]

This post is not going to be too helpful at all, just something I've been thinking about. I've had my dsm for only a month or so now and I've still to finish getting alll the little gremlins out. I was just wondering when you guys think of a dsm what do you picture? Because I think of the Millenium Falcon. This huge hunk of junk flying through space at 3x the speed of light and the driver is just praying to god that sh*t doesn't just start falling off.

Edit:spelling

 

[twack]

Welcome to owning a dsm. I live in an apt as well and i still do my own work. basic tools arnt that hard to come by. unless you learn to do your own work alot of the time the car will be a money pit. ive run into a few people who have had no trouble with their car after they mod it. but usually the more powerful you make the car, things will break once in awhile

 

[blcknspo0ln]

So far i've replaced the alternator , timing belt, transfer case

I thought this was part of the DSM regular maintenance schedule ! Don't feel bad, your car is treating you quite well. As the other guys said, keep up with your maintenance and don't beat the living piss out of it and she'll treat you great On the other hand, when something does break, keep in mind youre producing more than double the power from a factory car (nevermind that it's a DSM). At any time you make that much more power than what it's supposed to, things will start breaking. That's the way of life of modifying cars. Just keep your head up .

 

[timloomis]

Well after I rebuilt the engine,I had boost leak after boost leak.Injector seals were out,tb shaft seals gone,front stabilizer bar bushing gone,outer tie rod gone,fuel pump unit had a leak in the line,constant belt squeel,something is still in my blower motor,etc...This is after I bought the car that was sitting in a field for 3 years with the engine out,in the bed of a truck,with the head off.It gets worse man,.

 

[ashram]

Hey man I feel your pain, I'm constantly fixing something on my car and the worse thing

is that it always breaks down when I need it the most. Everytime it breaks down I

tell myself I gotta get rid of this car. but when I get it back from the shop I fall in

love with it again.

 

[RGdsmNewb]

Thanks for the replies. What are the main maintenance things i should be checking regularily?? or is there a link on vfaq somewhere ??

 

[blazebolt]

Thanks for the replies. What are the main maintenance things i should be checking regularily?? or is there a link on vfaq somewhere ??

Here is a list I got from Satan when I was doing my 60k maintenance (I did everything myself but the timing belt).

Check Fuel System
Check Fuel Hoses
Replace Fuel Filter
Replace Air Filter
Check Emission Control System
Replace Spark plugs
Replace Ignition Wires
Replace Timing Belt
Check/Replace Drive Belt
Change Oil/Oil Filter
Change Manual Transaxle Oil
Flush Coolant
Check Brake Pads
Check Brake Lines
Check Ball joint and steering linkage seals
Check Drive Shaft Boots
Replace Rear Axle Oil
Check Exhaust
Check SRS Airbag
Check Clutch Lines

I also replaced the valvecover gasket, sparkplug gaskets, and the half moon. When I got the timing belt done I replaced the water pump and had all the seals replaced. All this was done within 1 month after purchasing my car (had 98K miles), and so far she's still running strong with oil changes every 2-2.5k miles. When you do start modding, just remember to do supporting mods first or risk damaging the car. It sucks buying stuff that doesn't increase HP, but it has to be done.

 

[Rex2342]

Do yourself a favor and scrape together 200$ and go pick up a tool set from Sears and a manual for your car and start learning. This will be the best investment you'll ever make and will outlast the life of any car. Just start out doing little things like alternators, oil change's, belt's and stuff and work your way up. If I didn't learn to work on these things my car would probably never have seen the road again because I couldn't afford to have someone else fix her all the time. Now I won't let anybody else even work on my car. Sure it's extremely frustrating at times and you will get very dirty and hurt yourself but when everything comes together and you feel that animal pull 20psi to 7k it's a feeling you really can't describe. Also don't forget that you have one of the greatest tools ever invented at the tip of your fingers! The internet and forums have greatly increased my knowledge of cars and the way I learn and pick things up. Don't give up one her. She's already yours just stick with it!

 

[stockfornow]

Well, it's a DSM... I have put in about $1,500 into my car to just make it running allright without upgrades. However, I will still need to do some more stuff to it, and then finally start upgrading it.