Need help FAST! Car died in the rain [it was the timing belt]

[TransDSM]

It's been raining non-stop here in Southern California and I was on my way home from work. As I was crossing the intersection right before my neighborhood the car died in the middle of the intersection. All the guage cluster warning lights went on and the boost gauge needle was jumping around. I coasted to the side of the road and proceeded to try to start the car. It wouldn't start and the gauge lights were still on. So I pushed the car all the way into the first part of my neighborood before I got too tired and soaked to push it all the way to my house. What the hell happened? Did some stuff just get wet and it will be fine tomorrow or am I screwed? The car was acting fine until it just out of the blue died and all the lights came on. I just left my car down the street but it's still pouring outside. How long do you usually have to wait if stuff gets wet to dry off enough to get the car started? I was so close to home too. It was fine the rest of my 30 minute commute home. Please any help or ideas will be appreciated. I need this car since the Trans Am is currently down with electrical issues of it's own.

 

[Jason90TSIAWD]

man usually things fry or ground out when they get wet and it takes a whole lotta wet because cars would be dying everytime it rained ya know...anyways sounds like you maybe lost your computer from the moisture....last time it rained last year my caps were a tad leaky and the moisture finished them off and i fried my ecu on my last AWD but....thats the only thing i can think being you still have power... unless your maf came unplugged..... but it would start without it sooooo check your ecu for smells and take its apart i bet you'll find some charred circutboard.....easy fix though so you might hope thats it !!

 

[TransDSM]

The original owner had the ECM replaced before. I am hoping it didn't go south I didn't smell any electrical burning in the car when it died. I am really praying that some electrical stuff just got wet and the car will be ok tom morning. I really need this car running. Damn TA for never running when I need it. This the first problem I have had with the car since buying it from the original owner 7 months ago. It only has 72,000 miles on the odo. Damn this never ending rain

 

[trbotaln]

I drive my car in the rain storm that you are talking about and I have no problems. Maybe check you ECU (for leaking caps). It takes a decent amount of water to hydrolock a motor so I don't think that happened to you. Also make sure that your battery is charged.

 

[DSM MAN]

Can someone give me a rundown on how to pull the ecu to check it? Or a link? Thanks.

 

[trbotaln]

On your car I don't know where the ECU is , but on my car it is behind the radio in the center counsol so check it out!

 

[92awddsm]

Can someone give me a rundown on how to pull the ecu to check it? Or a link? Thanks.

Step by step instructions for ecu removal can be found here http://www.tmo.com/howto/ecu1g/caps.htm

 

[DSM MAN]

Step by step instructions for ecu removal can be found here http://www.tmo.com/howto/ecu1g/caps.htm

Thanks.

 

[TransDSM]

Repair shop said that the timing belt busted. Hopefully I got extremely lucky and I didn't bend any valves but that's probably not the case. Looks like I will need to get rid of the car if the valves are bent. I can't afford to fix two cars with problems. How much do you think the car would be worth now? Dammit this sucks

 

[slugsgomoo]

it really depends on what you have on the car (stock/modded/heavily modded), how many miles, what kind of shape it's in aside from needing a top end rebuild, and possibly pistons, etc.

 

[TransDSM]

Here is my cardomain site on my car:

http://www.cardomain.com/id/transdsm

It is a 1992 GSX 6/4 combo. 5-speed with LSD. It has 72,000 original miles on the odometer and overall the car is in great shape. Only mod done was a K&N filter the rest is stock besides the audio. It has Polk speakers inside and all the speakers are amped using Sony and Alpine amps. I only used the car to drive to work and back. I bought it because my Trans Am was way too unreliable and cost way too much money in gas to use to commute the 30 mile round trip I make each day to work. So the TA would stay at home and I would only drive that car on days off or when it was actually in running condition. So assuming it just needs a head rebuild how much can I expect to ask for the car? Man this really bums me out I really liked the car

 

[TransDSM]

Looks like I might have gotten extremely lucky. The mechanic said there doesn't appear to be any valve damage. The car starts up and runs with no noise. The belt lost about 4 inches of ribbing which made it slip. They are keeping the car overnight since it still needs to be put back together all the way but so far the news is looking good. Fingers crossed that everything turns out the way it's looking right now.

 

[psychlow]

4 inches is usually plenty to do it - but if it runs, that means there's compression, which means it's very likely there's no bent valves. At least not on 2 or more cylinders.

There are freak occurrences!

I know of one person who BROKE the timing belt on a 4G63 that didn't break or bend any valves.

 

[TransDSM]

They said it started up and ran with no noise so I am praying all is well. I guess I will find out tomorrow the final outcome. The car running is definently a good sign though. All the guys were saying at the shop that I am extremely lucky. So everyone keep your fingers crossed that my GSX pulls through this one ok. Very scary stuff right now.

 

[TransDSM]

Well to me it seems that I did tweak some valves. The car idles fine and I don't feel any loss in power but the engine sounds like a fart canned Honda. There is also this sonic type vibration when I get around 3k rpm or more. The engine is noticably much louder. I can't even hear my turbo spool up anymore. At idle the car sounds pretty close to what it used to be but once you get above 2.5k it gets loud and starts to vibrate. Does this sound like some bent valves? The mechanic said it probably has some very slightly tweaked valves but it should be ok for now. I had them double check timing and it is spot on. Unless the car is driveable like this it looks like I might have to get rid of it. Any help guys

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

Well to me it seems that I did tweak some valves. The car idles fine and I don't feel any loss in power but the engine sounds like a fart canned Honda. There is also this sonic type vibration when I get around 3k rpm or more. The engine is noticably much louder. I can't even hear my turbo spool up anymore. At idle the car sounds pretty close to what it used to be but once you get above 2.5k it gets loud and starts to vibrate. Does this sound like some bent valves? The mechanic said it probably has some very slightly tweaked valves but it should be ok for now. I had them double check timing and it is spot on. Unless the car is driveable like this it looks like I might have to get rid of it. Any help guys

Well first I can almost guarentee they put your balance shaft belt on 180 deg off. That would be the source of your vibration and some of the noise could also be the motor ratteling it's self apart. They didn't take the exhaust of for any reason did they? That could be an exhaust leak your hearing. The loud noise could be bent valves or they just aligned the cam gears wrong but I would think you would have a noticable power loss if that was the case.
Print out the timing belt FAQ take it in to them and make sure they aligned the balance shaft properly. I am quite confidant they didn't.

 

[TransDSM]

Damn I have to work tomorrow too so I need to drive that car. Is it seriously screwing stuff up right now with the car running like it is? I don't have any other vehicle to drive to work and I work for the next few days. Think it would last a few days until I could get down to the shop? Also could you send me the link to that FAQ page. I saw a couple pages on the site but I don't know exactly what needs to be printed up to show them. The symptoms seem to be what I am dealing with. I get extreme engine vibration around 2.5k but to me the car is performing as normal. I have already taken a couple days off work to fix this car so I kind of have to go to work tomorrow. Damn this sucks.

 

[psychlow]

Yeah - if you bent valves, it's very likely your car wouldn't run. If nothing else, you'd certainly notice a loss in power.

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

I drove mine around for months before fixing it. The guy who owned it before me put it in off time. I wouldn't reccomend it but all it did noticiably was rattle some bolts loose. For a day I think it would be fine. Till the end of the week probably ok but get it fixed ASAP. Also keep the RPMs under 2500, it should be okay for a day or two.

 

[TransDSM]

The car accelerates exactly as it did before and the idle stays dead on it just vibrates and makes noise. Can someone give me a link to how the balance shaft should be setup? I might have to take tomorrow off from work again but if I do I want everything I need to show the mechanics what it might be. I don't know much about this stuff and I know they aren't going to be too thrilled about me coming back again so I want to make sure I am ready. Is this vibration causing major damage?

 

[psychlow]

I don't know much about this stuff and I know they aren't going to be too thrilled about me coming back again so I want to make sure I am ready. Is this vibration causing major damage?

No, it won't cause any major damage. I would try to stay off boost as much as possible from here on out, however.

It was the shops mistake - they should really fix it.

http://www.vfaq.com/mods/timingbelt-1G.html

NOTE: Crankshaft may need to be rotated up to six turns before all sprockets are properly aligned and the rear balance shaft is in phase, due to the oil pump-to balance shaft gear ratio.

Caution: MAKE SURE THE BALANCE SHAFT IS PROPERLY POSITIONED. It is possible for the oil pump sprocket timing marks to be properly aligned, and have the balance shaft out of phase. This could result in a SEVERE engine vibration.

 

[TransDSM]

Well it looks like this is the problem. The car is just vibrating bad but performance wise it drove exactly as it did before this whole ordeal. I am going back tomorrow morning and I printed up that entire tech article and see if maybe they messed up. I will just have to take another day off work because if I wait awhile before I go back I lose credibility if they decide to play it off. My engine feels and sounds like a vibrating phone. The idle needle stays perfectly straight and the car accelerates fine. It just vibrates and makes noise.

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

Good luck.
Be a hard ass if you need to. Make sure they fix their work.

 

[TransDSM]

***THE FINALE***

First I want to thank everyone who responded to this thread. I really appreciate the help that I got and you guys are the ones that got my car back on the road.

The balance shaft was 180* off. They didn't know the procedure to get the shafts aligned so I brought them the tech page and they were able to complete it. The car runs absolutely perfect again. It's back to its quiet smooth drive again. I can even hear the turbo again I am one very lucky DSMtuner. The car suffered ZERO bent valves when the timing belt slipped. Compression is normal in all the cylinders and it still has the power it did before. Chalk this up as one of the lucky 1% that did not suffer valve damage when the belt went. Once again thank you for all the helped and I now need to get to work