how reliable are dsms

[gstdsmeclipse]

i just bought a 99 gsx and seem to have no luck with it. it seems like its just one
thing after another. its supposedly a 12 second car at 14 psi with a evo111 16g turbo fmic 272 bc cams 3 in exhaust and a base map tune. what i wanna know before i go any farther with these cars is how reliable are they. done right can i have 500 reliable hp. not think twice about going 500 mile road trip now i understand all things wear out but i read one guy on here say all you need to do for these cars is buy a manual some tools and devote your whole life to fixing them. so what hp is safe {your not gonna break} and am i gonna have to work on it all the time thanks your help dsmtuners

 

[DSM1G90]

Stock for me. have 190K on the 1990 Laser and over 200K on my 1991 base Eclipse. Bought the Laser 5yrs and 30K miles ago.

Been to the coast and south twice with my Laser with no problems at all. Lock the cruise on at 80MPH and gathered close to 30mpg.

Outside of the basic maintenance on any vehicle, just an ECU replacement on my Laser is all it needed.

I've seen over 300K on 1G DSM's still running strong on original parts.

But, doing on the fancy mods to extract the high numbers in HP drastically reduces these numbers mainly due to the owner using and abusing their vehicles to the max at all times.

If that 1999 of yours was still in stock form, it'd be barely broke in ready for another 10 plus years of excellent reliability.

Thus, to your question: EASY on the gas pedal, no WOTS and an occasional turbo blip, drive sane and follow the laws of the road - that is the safest way to drive to use less HP .. .and your motor will like and appreciate it as well.

Dunno if you wanted to hear these facts, but they have definitely worked excellent for me. Who in their right mind would want to live under the hood under ANY car? Fun at first, but it's time to leave it alone for a good long while.

-DSM

 

[spyderdrifter]

They will be as reliable as you make them. Sure they got bad rep for breaking down all the time, but if you take car of it and keep it well maintained, they're no different than the most reliable car you can think of.

 

[Sebba]

Morons are the reason their cars break down consistently, either that or you're pushing the limits of stock parts. Can't blame that.

 

[cianfar]

They are pretty reliable if you take care of them just like everything else. I drove my 95 GST from New York to California in the middle of summer and had no issues. Live there for a few years and got a hold of 98 GST and move back home to NY. Drove the car back and pack full of junk with leaking tranny fluid and made it home safely! The cross country trip are no joke! Once you hit Texas all the way to Cali, It's mostly moutain climbing and 100 degrees plus climate. I have to say they are pretty reliable!

 

[91stocker]

Its a car, it can only be as reliable as the owner.

Having a turbo makes it inherently more costly to maintain as does being all wheel drive. Both add maintenance cost over owning say a n/t fwd. Now i know maintenance costs and reliability are two different things, but when some broke kid has owned it for the last 5 years and performed zero maintenance then sells it to you. You can expect a good bit of initial cost.

Plus you have to remember these cars are 20 years old now.

My view though is, i will never own another turbo awd car as my dd for the simple reason of cost alone. The money spent maintaining it could buy you several fwd n/t's.

Better kept as a weekend warrior type role in my opinion.

Sorry to get off topic slightly as none of that though changes how reliable the car is. If your ready to spend the money maintaining a turbo awd, better yet a high powered, heavily modified, turbo awd then so be it. It will be as reliable as you want it to be, or as deep as your pockets are.

 

[Mischif]

I say its all in the tune. The better the tune the more reliable its going to be. The worse the tune the less reliable it will be.

 

[954g63gst]

Yes, you make your car reliable. If your making 500hp max. Then save that tune. Then tune it around 450hp and drive normal. Don't boost every gear, just going to get milk. But your car is older then ten years. You should do shocks and control arms front and rear. Then get alignment. After that worry about clutch and brake components. If you have a safe tune , your clutch is set properly and all new control arm bushings and ball joints. You shouldn't have an issue every month. My 2 cents

 

[FLASH1970]

i just bought a 99 gsx and seem to have no luck with it. it seems like its just one
thing after another. its supposedly a 12 second car at 14 psi with a evo111 16g turbo fmic 272 bc cams 3 in exhaust and a base map tune. what i wanna know before i go any farther with these cars is how reliable are they. done right can i have 500 reliable hp. not think twice about going 500 mile road trip.

Cheap, fast, reliable... pick 2.

You need to give us more info on the car. 12 second car on a 16g pushing only 14psi... highly doubt it. The 16g can easily get your car into the 12's but you'll need to push more than 14psi. What fuel mods are on your car, a FULL list of mods on the car, how many miles, engine compression... you need to keep up on maintenance. 500hp is really pushing it on the stock bottom end of the 7 bolt in your car. Without upgrading the trans & engine (outside of ARP headstuds), I'd say about 350whp is a good reliable goal if driven sensibly. Plenty to put the hurt on new Mustangs and Camaros.

I drive my 99 GSX 120 miles a day and it just passed 252k miles. It's been a great car I think. I've owned it since 178k. I have had to do things like replace wheel bearings, timing belts, alternators, power steering pump, clutch, front core support (that's probably not going to happen to everyone), brakes, control arms, fuel injectors... stuff I don't mind doing on a car with that many miles. It leaks a 'lil oil but it doesn't rattle and buzz and squeak like my Cobalt...

 

[untouchablecc]

I daily drive mine. Hx35 turbo with a bolt on housing, bc 272s, 6bolt bottom end with balance shafts still, never rebuilt since 91. I just keep up on my belts and hoses and gaskets. There is a lot of little bs that you have to weed through when you first pick up a dsm because most owners put cheap parts on or didnt do the required maintenance on top of beating the nuts off of them so by the time you get one the timing belts shot along with pulleys and various oil leaks.

 

[DSM1G90]

Better kept as a weekend warrior type role in my opinion

Why I have two DSM's. My 1.8L Base Eclipse with an auto is my little runaround the town and to work vehicle - a bit on the gutless side, but, with a strong motor that it contains and a rebuilt tranny (I snagged from a junkyard for 100 bucks and my neighbor and I installed a few years back,) it hold its own in city traffic, but do miss electric windows when driving this vehicle being all crank windows and no AC.

I rotate the vehicles a bit just to keep them both exercized and in great condition, but eventually want to restore the Laser (being a 23 yr old vehicle - built in 1989) and keep it as a collector's vehicle.

 

[EvilTsi95]

They will be as reliable as you make them. Sure they got bad rep for breaking down all the time, but if you take car of it and keep it well maintained, they're no different than the most reliable car you can think of.

Did we just become bestfriends....? I think so

 

[cones]

i just bought a 99 gsx and seem to have no luck with it. it seems like its just one
thing after another. its supposedly a 12 second car at 14 psi with a evo111 16g turbo fmic 272 bc cams 3 in exhaust and a base map tune. what i wanna know before i go any farther with these cars is how reliable are they. done right can i have 500 reliable hp. not think twice about going 500 mile road trip now i understand all things wear out but i read one guy on here say all you need to do for these cars is buy a manual some tools and devote your whole life to fixing them. so what hp is safe {your not gonna break} and am i gonna have to work on it all the time thanks your help dsmtuners

If you make 500hp in any car that was designed with 210hp in mind you open yourself up to reliability issues. We all know the 4g63 is a stout motor capable of those numbers - but is the rest of the car capable of handling that much power? In other words, 500hp on stock axles won't last long.
So it's really a question of how much you're willing to spend. Start with determining a budget and work backwards from there, prioritizing parts/expenses accordingly. Keep in mind, you'll never get you all of your money back out of the car. if you invest $8k into your DSM you'll be fast as hell, look good and it can be very reliable. But don't expect to be able to resell the car for that amount. It will just be a $3-$4k car with $8k worth of parts.... For someone who loves DSM's (or any specific type of vehicle), the ROI isn't the biggest concern.

If you just want a 500hp car and don't care about the make/model, maybe your money will take you farther on a different platform. If you're set on a DSM, find the cleanest, best example you can afford and build up from there.

Good luck!

 

[Gsxhero]

every time i have ever bought a used car i had to do some work on it. Your car will last longer if you drive it nice (dont redline every shift) drive like an old lady haha. also keeping the boost below 14 should help. most of us that race our cars and upgrade them expect them to break from time to time. Use a good senthetic oil, water wetter to cool radiator temps, try to get some loovers etc for airflow threw the engine bay. If there were no such thing as heat and friction, engines would never break.

 

[Jstue]

DSM's are tanks. They want to be scolded, I've pushed a bone stock 7 bolt bottom end to its demise on Q16, it took a lot more punishment then I could bare. They are hookers, but if you treat them well they will take care of you and make you a sandwitch every 3,000 miles. However, hookers like it rough.

 

[boost97gst]

i just bought a 99 gsx and seem to have no luck with it. it seems like its just one
thing after another. its supposedly a 12 second car at 14 psi with a evo111 16g turbo fmic 272 bc cams 3 in exhaust and a base map tune. what i wanna know before i go any farther with these cars is how reliable are they. done right can i have 500 reliable hp. not think twice about going 500 mile road trip now i understand all things wear out but i read one guy on here say all you need to do for these cars is buy a manual some tools and devote your whole life to fixing them. so what hp is safe {your not gonna break} and am i gonna have to work on it all the time thanks your help dsmtuners

Ok, a good rule of thumb is the hotter the fire the shorter the lifespan right? You are asking for 500hp from a 2L engine. Now, if you demand that 500 often by hammering it, your engine will break much much faster than one with 200hp. IMO, even if you build it with the best parts.
Conversely, if you have said 500hp on tap and treat it like a normal car 95% of the time it will last quite a while.
In my personal experience, the 4g63 is not as reliable as the 420a. This is almost surely due to the fact that people tend to hammer the gas when a turbo is under the hood. DSMs are an abused creature .
Now we build these cars to handle a ton of punishment but you have to remember, they are old. So other odds n ends will fall apart no matter what rods/pistons you have. Its all about how you drive it,how you maintain it, and what your goals are that will determine how often you have powertrain related failures

DSM's are tanks. They want to be scolded, I've pushed a bone stock 7 bolt bottom end to its demise on Q16, it took a lot more punishment then I could bare. They are hookers, but if you treat them well they will take care of you and make you a sandwitch every 3,000 miles. However, hookers like it rough.

. nice. Ya know, come to think of it from all the money ive spent MY dsm is dirty whore ha

 

[Pipnorcali]

I take nothing but the best care and mine breaks all the time (only has 85k) but its usually little things.

 

[Crazylilpunk]

500whp cars just arn't really "realiable". It's just not realistic to think that a car making over double the horse power it was originally designed to make, is going to be reliable. You can make a 500whp Dsm no problem, and it will usually run pretty good if it is taken care of properly, but if you want a car with 500whp, then that means you plan to run it hard and enjoy it for what it is, and that's when things break. And if you arn't going to run the car hard, then there is really no reason to have 500whp. Catch my drift?

 

[JFZERO ECLIPSE]

500whp cars just arn't really "realiable". It's just not realistic to think that a car making over double the horse power it was originally designed to make, is going to be reliable. You can make a 500whp Dsm no problem, and it will usually run pretty good if it is taken care of properly, but if you want a car with 500whp, then that means you plan to run it hard and enjoy it for what it is, and that's when things break. And if you arn't going to run the car hard, then there is really no reason to have 500whp. Catch my drift?

I believe it's the "if I want the power on tap, I have it available mentality"

I'm only after 400 whp with my clunker, I have on 550 miles on it since I bought it and it has a few quirks that are slowly being ironed out....

One thing at a time and don't bite off more than you can chew...

 

[oldman_tau]

being stock more reliable!

 

[Mike1ls]

I say its all in the tune. The better the tune the more reliable its going to be. The worse the tune the less reliable it will be.

+1 on that! I have always been a firm believer in as long as your car is tuned corectly and isnt running overly lean then it should last you a while. That is also with me assuming that the person isnt an idiot and knows how to properly maintain a car some what and isnt WOT at every stop light . I find myself struggling with the last part of that ....


OP, if you are really wanting to know if you can have a reliable 500+ HP DD, then IMHO, it comes down to the build. If you expect to push that kind of power without upgrading a few things then you will probably will find out that it wont last you very long. But by the sounds of it you have a decent start on the car and hopfully keep it on the same heading. Ive got a buddy that just got done rebuilding his 7 bolt 1G on stock internals with an hx40, and 274's that should make 420 AWHP and thats his slower DD DSM.

My main point is, these cars can be a reliable DD. But with being a turbo AWD they will be more expensive to maintain, not to mention they are around 20 years old. But if you want a 500+HP DD, then I think it will come down to the right parts, tune, and the person turing the wrenches...

 

[phillytalon]

ive found its just as reliable as anything else you mod. you have to check it before you beat on it.
think your car is making 180 per cylinder and v8 is making 80hp a lot more to more about. preventive maintence is key

 

[GPTourer]

I used to beat on this car a lot when I first got it and it did lay down on me a couple of times. I believe I had to have it towed a total of three times since I bought in 2001. These last several years I've learned more about it, stopped abusing it, and I haven't had any issues with it except for one sixteen year old heater hose leaking.

Some of these cars have been passed around and used and abused like two dollar whores. I'm the second owner of my car and it was bone stock when I got it. That can mean a huge difference. When you buy one of these cars the best thing to do first is preventative maintenance and tune ups, but that just isn't much fun. People want to jump straight into the sexy stuff like boost controllers and big fat gangsta turbos and get right into tearing ish up.

 

[phillytalon]

totally agree, all depends onhow bad it was beat on when you got and if you beat on it

 

[gstdsmeclipse]

thanks for all the comments its been very helpful. i didnt expect to drive it around with 500 all the time but have that map available and i think he had it at around 20 psi when it ran 12s. i plan down the road a 2.4 stoker kit i think. a little bit bigger turbo a short route fmic stage 3 cams and i already have ecmlink i just need to hook it up and thanks again you guys kept me in this. lets see where it goes