How reliable has your DSM been?

[onegeenewbie]

Alright, so I guess these cars aren't so bad afterall. The hunt begins today. thanks everybody.

 

[LordDigi]

I want to throw in that 6 bolts blocks are not invincible and will get crankwalk, although it is VERY rare ... it still happens.

... so far everybody says that they're mechanics cars or that they're pretty decent cars if you modify them correctly.... it's about 50/50 ...

This seems to hold true throughout the DSM world, but also holds true to any older turbo car. When these cars came out in 1990 most of the general public didn't understand what turbo was nor how to properly care for one. Most were used and abused and went through many owners that neglected them because of ignorance, which is where the "these cars are unreliable" comes from.

My point is that there is always gonna be the ones that will hate on the car because of their limited knowledge. And on the other side, will always be the DSM enthusiasts ... Maybe there's some reason why a AWD DSM holds the world record

http://www.shepracing.com

 

[1gjosh]

1g dsm's have such a bad reputation. the only reason they seem "unreliable" is because kids get ahold of the cars and start throwing speed mods at it and expect it to hold up. Wrong! its 15-16 year old car it probably needs routine maitenence. Fix everything thats broken or worn first and you will see that these cars are actually daily driveable. And most tranny issues are from idiots beating the hell out of the poor thing. any well maintained, taken care of dsm cant be just as reliable as any car.

 

[LordDigi]

 

[femmeDSM]

You've gotten some great advice - glad to see you're looking into a DSM, as they are awesome little cars with a lot of potential. And yes, they can be as reliable as any 15 year-old car. Routine maintenence is key - I cannot stress that enough. Keep on top of your service intervals and keep a general eye out for the occasional "mysterious random part failure" (common on any 10+ year old car!) and you'll be absolutely fine. I'd recommend your first purchase be a factory service manual from Chrysler (you can find these online in PDF format). Haynes and Chilton guides are good for very basic stuff, but as there are a lot of year-specific differences, a FSM goes into more much needed detail

Oh, and by the way:
My 1990 GSX was purchased with 79,000 weekend miles on the chassis, and 9,000 miles on a well rebuilt engine. So it is definitely possible to find one <100k

 

[onegeenewbie]

QUOTE=1gjosh]1g dsm's have such a bad reputation. the only reason they seem "unreliable" is because kids get ahold of the cars and start throwing speed mods at it and expect it to hold up. Wrong! its 15-16 year old car it probably needs routine maitenence. Fix everything thats broken or worn first and you will see that these cars are actually daily driveable. And most tranny issues are from idiots beating the hell out of the poor thing. any well maintained, taken care of dsm cant be just as reliable as any car.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for this excellent did-bit of info. I plan to update everything that I see that's worn out before I modify, just like I did to my vw when i first got it because that seemed to work out well since it was very reliable. Updating will also go hand in hand with performance too though . I like older cars because of their simplicity, but it comes with a maintenance price <_<

I'd recommend your first purchase be a factory service manual from Chrysler (you can find these online in PDF format). Haynes and Chilton guides are good for very basic stuff, but as there are a lot of year-specific differences, a FSM goes into more much needed detail

Oh, and by the way:
My 1990 GSX was purchased with 79,000 weekend miles on the chassis, and 9,000 miles on a well rebuilt engine. So it is definitely possible to find one <100k

Thank you, I'll be searching for one of those asap! Repair manuals are very important

yes, and I'll be patient in finding one like that

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oh, and beating a dead horse or not, I keep hearing bad things about these cars and I had a belief that that wasn't true since i've seen very fast ones before that are very tractable. thanks for all the help.

 

[tehsleeper]

Well I've currently got a 2005 Mustang GT that's almost at 30k and I want to make it a weekend car as well as invest in some mods. I've been looking around at a DD car with good gas mileage that's still fun to drive. I've found a nice '97 GSX that's a single owner 100% stock car with 108k on the clock. How reliable will this be for mostly around town driving? I don't really plan on modding the car at all, if anything it'll be just exhaust. I might make a few trips back to my home in Socal which is about a 400mile 6 hour drive. How do you think it will fair?

 

[housegsx]

As long as maintenance has been kept up it should be fine. I would do a compression test and also make sure the transmision can shift good when romping on it. The only time my car has ever broken down is when the transmission went at 105k.

 

[John_GST]

I wouldn't say you are going to have problems. You might want to find out if the timing belt has been changed and if not you will want to get that changed. Check for shaft play in the turbo and other routine things. Then on your trip I would say go 2 hours or 200 miles at a time then stop and take a break for about 30 minutes or so. That will extend the life of your car on long trips. Good luck

 

[tehsleeper]

I wouldn't say you are going to have problems. You might want to find out if the timing belt has been changed and if not you will want to get that changed. Check for shaft play in the turbo and other routine things. Then on your trip I would say go 2 hours or 200 miles at a time then stop and take a break for about 30 minutes or so. That will extend the life of your car on long trips. Good luck

So these engines can't run for extended periods of time or what?

 

[gixrman]

I think you should look for another car. These cars beg to be moded and then start breaking. Fast and fun, reliable no. Sell your Mustang and come over to the dark side....

 

[Nicks2319]

So these engines can't run for extended periods of time or what?

They run for extended periods if the proper maintenance is done. As stated, check the timing belt and accessory belts, make sure there is no fluid loss, etc. etc.

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

A lot have high mileage on the original non-rebuilt motor. The problem arises when maintenance is not kept up, and modifications are starting to be put in--which tends to make the owner drive the car much harder, do stupid things like AWD launches on stock clutch, turn up the boost while missing other key components to safely do that.

Also previous owner will play a big role on how reliable your car will be.

1gs are older, so they will tend to be less reliable, they are also cheaper so more younger kids who are not responsible enough to own these cars will neglect a lot of things causing them to be unreliable as hell--but since your not going for a 1g anyways, this does not apply to you.

Another big problem is keeping the car stock. These cars are fun to mod, easy, and relatively cheap compared to other cars, assuming maintenance is kept up. One mod will need to another.

Oh yea, I got 350 miles on 13 gallons freeway driving, this was stock. I now have upgraded spark plugs/wires/intake/bov/licp... and I manage to pull off the same miles with mostly city driving. You really have to be disciplined with the throttle. Also with 1 gallon to spare! 126k+ mileage on original motor....... ORIGINAL BELTs, PULLEYs, also when I first got the car, there was a huge oil leak and drove from socal to norcal on <4qts of oil. Compression and everything is perfect still. My DSM karma is good, and the gods hooked me up

 

[Snobordin8]

So these engines can't run for extended periods of time or what?

I had my last DSM for ~2 1/2 years with not a single problem, it's all about the maintenance.

These cars are easy to make fast though, be careful or the mod bug will get you.

 

[tehsleeper]

I'm not to worried about the mod bug, if anything I will try to make the car as fast as my car is currently. Plus reliability an mileage is key, modding usually detracts from both of those areas. I'm really hoping I can talk down some of these lunatics who want to sell 100k+ mile GSX for 13 grand. If I don't I'm just going to get a little Civic eg hatch.

On another note I'd never sell the Stang, way to many memories and I'm a sucker for V8's. I'm putting on some longtube headers with electric cutouts this summer. It's going to be earth shattering loud. I plan on taking my stang to low 12's N/A on 91, which doesn't require any internal work on the engine thank god.

 

[emitsu97]

Just pick up a Civic. There's a reason people want so much for these cars.

 

[tehsleeper]

Just pick up a Civic. There's a reason people want so much for these cars.

I might end up doing that because the more local sellers(very few) who have GSX's aren't anywhere near KBB prices. Oh well, they're going to be sitting on those cars for a long time. I'm not stupid enough to buy a 100k+ GSX for 13k.

 

[twinturbo3k]

I might end up doing that because the more local sellers(very few) who have GSX's aren't anywhere near KBB prices. Oh well, they're going to be sitting on those cars for a long time. I'm not stupid enough to buy a 100k+ GSX for 13k.

Lol but a 17 year old kid with mommy and daddy behind him is.

 

[emitsu97]

I don't think Supras are anywhere near KBB either.

 

[tehsleeper]

I guess so. I just find it funny someone was asking 5 grand over the highest KBB value for a stock car that's over 100k miles. These cars are pretty great but they're not like Supras or anything where you can realistically ask for a ton more than KBB values.

 

[Indyxc]

Bad choice for a daily driver for a couple reason. First off the 97+ GSXs sell way over blue book when in good condition, because they are in demand. Second off they can be reliable, but there are more reliable cars out there for less. After all it is a 10 year old car, that naturally will need things to be replaced.

And most of all, if you enjoy modifying Mustangs, you'll soon learn how easy it is to modify a DSM. You can get it running about as fast as your mustang very quickly and easily, and it all goes downhill from there.

IF you really want a DSM as a daily driver that won't be modified (You think, that will most likely change) get a GST. A lot cheaper and more effective as a daily driver in warm weather.

 

[tehsleeper]

Bad choice for a daily driver for a couple reason. First off the 97+ GSXs sell way over blue book when in good condition, because they are in demand. Second off they can be reliable, but there are more reliable cars out there for less. After all it is a 10 year old car, that naturally will need things to be replaced.

And most of all, if you enjoy modifying Mustangs, you'll soon learn how easy it is to modify a DSM. You can get it running about as fast as your mustang very quickly and easily, and it all goes downhill from there.

Well I saw a 96 GSX for much less, but at the same time I like the later body a lot better and don't want to hassle with the upgrading on my own. I think I need to re-evaluate what I'm looking for. I'm a little afraid that i'm putting performance first, but whenever I drive friend's cars I always miss the power so I'm trying to find something that's got some performance with mileage. I'd really liek to get a GSX possibly a GST(FWD is not my favorite thing) but it's looking more like I'm going to get a cheap eg hatch with a JDM engine already in it. The performance is a bit less but the mileage is better. I may be getting overzealous by looking at the GSX.

 

[Indyxc]

If you are looking to spend around 10,000-12,000 dollars and are looking for a fun, reliable, awd car consider a 03-04 Subaru WRX. A friend of mine picked up an 03 with around 53k for 12,000 and it was a great car until he had too much fun and wrecked it.

 

[emitsu97]

How about an Audi?

 

[housegsx]

How about an Audi?

Great dd! Used ones can be had cheap. I'm looking for a 01-03 A6 4.2 right now.