Lucas71623
Probationary Member
- 7
- 0
- Mar 11, 2011
-
Williston,
North Dakota
Ok, I'm waiting to find out whats wrong with my car now and I'm dying to talk to someone, anyone about it. A little about me 1st. Im not a mechanic, I've never worked on my own cars. I know the basics of how an engine works, I know a bit more now because I've been reading and researching constantly, but still no hands on experience working on an engine. Ive read a lot of posts on timing and boost leak and a few other things, but I still have questions..
So here's the run down. I bought a 96 Tsi from my gf's brother that had been sitting a couple years while he's in the marines. It had some body damage and the engine wasnt running right (started but no power, loud knocking, etc) but the car only has 86k on it. Well Im living in this crazy ND oil boom town and long story short, I couldnt find ANYONE who would pull the engine and tell me the problem; but I did find a shop an hour and a half away from me that would do an engine swap for me. Yay! Alright so with some cash to burn and excited over finally having a car I always wanted I went to the internet, found as many places i could and picked one, the dsm graveyard. (I liked their webpage) They told me 4-6 weeks, it took 6 months, whatever. In the mean time while I'm waiting I buy a 96 GSX with no engine that's just sweet looking and have it shipped up from Florida. So when my engine showed up I used all the external engine accessories from the talon with my new engine and new turbo and put them in the GSX, and have the Talon for parts. For the turbo I went with a big t-28 from extremepsi.com, its internal wastegate and set for 12 psi. he told me it was the biggest turbo I could push with my stock fuel system. I dont plan on changing that until I move because there's definitely no one around here who can tune.
It took a couple months and finally my car was ready
The mechanic said he didnt get to drive it much, it didnt have plates plus it was blizzarding of course in sunny north dakota so he couldnt really test drive it but he said it idled fine.
So I pick it up and then that's where all the fun starts
1st thing I notice is the car is spuddering and coughing when I open the throttle anymore than around 1/3 of the way open. It felt like it wasnt getting gas. Also it was idling funny, not missing or rough, but would randomly climb to like 2000-2200 rpm when I'd slow down and engage the clutch. I called the dsm graveyard, told them what it was doing and he thought it could be boost spike causing fuel cut. I actually posted about this http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/424504-possible-fuel-cut-off.html
He had me re-route a vacuum hose coming off the WG to bypass the bcs and run it straight back to the manifold. i didnt realize how easy this was so I made the 3 hour trip to have my mechanic do it. While we were there I had him adjust the belts cause they were screeching really bad. We drove it around the block and it seemed fine. Got on the highway to head home and it started doing it again. So I go back to the internet, make my post, and the census comes back boost leak. Before I could get it back to the shop though it died, and heres that story.
I accelerate from a stop around a corner and down a long hill. Once I reached the speed limit I put it in neutral and was coasting down the hill. I look down and the tach is at 0 my engine is dead, wtf? Thinking it just stalled cause the idle dropped i put it in 3rd and popped the clutch bad move I think. The engine started for a moment, then there was a loud bang/clunk sound, followed by some knocking and the engine died again, wouldnt turn over.
Turns out the timing belt walked off the cam gears. I can tell this because it wore a groove in the gear cover and then it just gave and got shredded. Its in the shop now Im waiting to see what else is wrong. Valves Im sure, hope thats all.
In all of this there is a question: In all the posts Ive read I found 1 thats very similar, but it doesnt ever say the cause. In a later post he says it was a timing problem but doesnt say what. When I read that a light turned on because during the install my mechanic called me because he was having trouble getting the engine timed, he was wondering if I had different cams, no they're oem. I put him in touch with dsm graveyard, i assumed they worked it out. So now I'm like wait a sec, could all this be caused by my mechanic not timing it right? It makes sense, the spuddering, the idle climbing, the belt shreeking? apparently it can cause the timing belt to walk too. Plus it may explain why it ran better when we drove it around the block because he had just adjusted something on there. And here's where I'm confused. I understand how the engine works, I get that the valves need to open and close to let air/fuel in to be combusted by the piston thats attached to the crank and all that has to be timed for the engine to run right, makes sense. What I dont get is how a mechanic cant time an engine. He said that the notches on the cam gears werent lining up when he called. I assume he rotated the the crank, i read it could take 6-7 revolutions before everything lines up, is that normal, would he not have thought to do that? Another thing I dont get, is it possible for one cam gear to turn without the other, maybe it got turned while the belt was off when the engine was sitting in the shop? I just dont get the timing adjustment. To me it seems simple, turn each component until the notches line up and then put the belt on. I realize there must be more to it. Im reading about timing lights, I get how they work but I dont understand how to adjust the timing if the reading is off. Should it have been set by dsmgraveyard when the built it? If the cam gear notches are off how do you adjust them? Is it as simple as taking the gears off, rotating the crank until the 1st piston is tdc ( or wherever its supposed to be) and then put the cam gears back on with the notches lined up? Then repeating the process with whatever else the timing belt runs to, the oil pump balance shaft or something, which mine has a balance shaft eliminator, not sure what that is. Could this all be caused by a bad tensioner pulley? I read that somewhere. Wouldnt a mechanic check that stuff? he checked and charged me for every other dang thing he thought needed replacing
If someone managed to read all of this please help. I cant sleep until i know whats wrong with my car, and I dont know who is to blame. Is this install error, a defect from dsm graveyards rebuild, a misc bad part like a tension pulley?
So here's the run down. I bought a 96 Tsi from my gf's brother that had been sitting a couple years while he's in the marines. It had some body damage and the engine wasnt running right (started but no power, loud knocking, etc) but the car only has 86k on it. Well Im living in this crazy ND oil boom town and long story short, I couldnt find ANYONE who would pull the engine and tell me the problem; but I did find a shop an hour and a half away from me that would do an engine swap for me. Yay! Alright so with some cash to burn and excited over finally having a car I always wanted I went to the internet, found as many places i could and picked one, the dsm graveyard. (I liked their webpage) They told me 4-6 weeks, it took 6 months, whatever. In the mean time while I'm waiting I buy a 96 GSX with no engine that's just sweet looking and have it shipped up from Florida. So when my engine showed up I used all the external engine accessories from the talon with my new engine and new turbo and put them in the GSX, and have the Talon for parts. For the turbo I went with a big t-28 from extremepsi.com, its internal wastegate and set for 12 psi. he told me it was the biggest turbo I could push with my stock fuel system. I dont plan on changing that until I move because there's definitely no one around here who can tune.
It took a couple months and finally my car was ready
The mechanic said he didnt get to drive it much, it didnt have plates plus it was blizzarding of course in sunny north dakota so he couldnt really test drive it but he said it idled fine.So I pick it up and then that's where all the fun starts
1st thing I notice is the car is spuddering and coughing when I open the throttle anymore than around 1/3 of the way open. It felt like it wasnt getting gas. Also it was idling funny, not missing or rough, but would randomly climb to like 2000-2200 rpm when I'd slow down and engage the clutch. I called the dsm graveyard, told them what it was doing and he thought it could be boost spike causing fuel cut. I actually posted about this http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/424504-possible-fuel-cut-off.html
He had me re-route a vacuum hose coming off the WG to bypass the bcs and run it straight back to the manifold. i didnt realize how easy this was so I made the 3 hour trip to have my mechanic do it. While we were there I had him adjust the belts cause they were screeching really bad. We drove it around the block and it seemed fine. Got on the highway to head home and it started doing it again. So I go back to the internet, make my post, and the census comes back boost leak. Before I could get it back to the shop though it died, and heres that story.
I accelerate from a stop around a corner and down a long hill. Once I reached the speed limit I put it in neutral and was coasting down the hill. I look down and the tach is at 0 my engine is dead, wtf? Thinking it just stalled cause the idle dropped i put it in 3rd and popped the clutch
bad move I think. The engine started for a moment, then there was a loud bang/clunk sound, followed by some knocking and the engine died again, wouldnt turn over. Turns out the timing belt walked off the cam gears. I can tell this because it wore a groove in the gear cover and then it just gave and got shredded. Its in the shop now Im waiting to see what else is wrong. Valves Im sure, hope thats all.
In all of this there is a question: In all the posts Ive read I found 1 thats very similar, but it doesnt ever say the cause. In a later post he says it was a timing problem but doesnt say what. When I read that a light turned on because during the install my mechanic called me because he was having trouble getting the engine timed, he was wondering if I had different cams, no they're oem. I put him in touch with dsm graveyard, i assumed they worked it out. So now I'm like wait a sec, could all this be caused by my mechanic not timing it right? It makes sense, the spuddering, the idle climbing, the belt shreeking? apparently it can cause the timing belt to walk too. Plus it may explain why it ran better when we drove it around the block because he had just adjusted something on there. And here's where I'm confused. I understand how the engine works, I get that the valves need to open and close to let air/fuel in to be combusted by the piston thats attached to the crank and all that has to be timed for the engine to run right, makes sense. What I dont get is how a mechanic cant time an engine. He said that the notches on the cam gears werent lining up when he called. I assume he rotated the the crank, i read it could take 6-7 revolutions before everything lines up, is that normal, would he not have thought to do that? Another thing I dont get, is it possible for one cam gear to turn without the other, maybe it got turned while the belt was off when the engine was sitting in the shop? I just dont get the timing adjustment. To me it seems simple, turn each component until the notches line up and then put the belt on. I realize there must be more to it. Im reading about timing lights, I get how they work but I dont understand how to adjust the timing if the reading is off. Should it have been set by dsmgraveyard when the built it? If the cam gear notches are off how do you adjust them? Is it as simple as taking the gears off, rotating the crank until the 1st piston is tdc ( or wherever its supposed to be) and then put the cam gears back on with the notches lined up? Then repeating the process with whatever else the timing belt runs to, the oil pump balance shaft or something, which mine has a balance shaft eliminator, not sure what that is. Could this all be caused by a bad tensioner pulley? I read that somewhere. Wouldnt a mechanic check that stuff? he checked and charged me for every other dang thing he thought needed replacing
If someone managed to read all of this please help. I cant sleep until i know whats wrong with my car, and I dont know who is to blame. Is this install error, a defect from dsm graveyards rebuild, a misc bad part like a tension pulley?
I been hoping all this time it was an install error because I know this place is reputable and would cover the cost of getting me back on the road. No luck though, he says it was caused by a flaw with the idler pulley, it shifted or moved because it wasnt tightened right or something. Im not really sure how that attaches to the engine so Im not exactly sure what he was telling me, but point is that should have come ready to go on my new engine. My mechanic shouldnt have to dissect my new engine and make sure its put together right. He said he was lucky enough to notice that there were no valve rings installed ( again im not sure exactly what he's referring to, something to do with the cams) when he was installing it.
), it almost seems to me like you're getting taken advantage of because of your lack of knowledge. If you don't know what you're looking at, they can tell you anything. If I were you, I'd continue reading about the top end and timing areas of these cars, as it appears that's where your problems are. Once you get a better understanding of what all is involved, you might be able to figure out what went wrong in the first place, and then, whose fault it was if anyone's. Good luck bud. These cars can be slightly maddening.
