She died...

[Camel_Kid]

Well, today I was driving the Laser around, and at first she seemed to maybe have a touch of the nasty C-word... lots of sputtering, and a low-end sounding knock. The knock could've been the precat's internals (think red swiss cheese), but I'm not sure...


I was cruising down the road out by my house, and noticed she was acting REALLY wierd... downshifting, being sluggish, upshifting, all that good stuff... I shifted into neutral, and she hit close to 300 (yes three hundred) rpm's... I got to the stop sign, and she died. She wouldn't start after that, and it seemed like the battery was draining severely quickly.


She was burning hot when I popped the hood, so I'm hoping it is just a case of overheating (it would be a hell of a lot better than crankwalk, frozen engine, or something more drastic)... the temp gauge was reading colder than normal when this all happened too. Normally a good thing, but not when the car is acting funny.


Any opinions on what this may be would be greatly appreciated, whether it's the dreaded C-word, the thermostat, or a locked up engine.


- Camel

 

[xcelr8n]

ok its probably not crankwalk, other then that, did the temp gauge soar?
sounds kind of similar to my ecu issues in my old car

 

[Camel_Kid]

no, the temp gauge went down, then she died at the stop sign... I'm thinking the engine is locked up, because I went back out to her about 5 minutes ago (about an hour after she died), and she was cooled down a bit... a lot better than she was originally doing (frying eggs, cooking steak, etc).

All she did was started shifting around, getting slow, and showing me that she was cold... then she died, and the engine was hot as hell...

I'm still hoping it's just the thermostat that f5cked up, and it overheated.... but to the extent that it overheated, I'm sadly starting to realize that this may be the end of my DSM.


- Camel.

 

[Camel_Kid]

got her back home and threw the battery charger on her out of curiosity... she started, up, but wouldn't keep on when the charger was taken off, and the battery was sucked dry within approx 1 minute...

I'm quite confident that it was the alternator that went out.
(WHEW! At least it wasn't the head gasket, or the engine locking up!)

Also, anyone know where I can get a new (maybe hi-performance) exhaust manifold for a 2.0 NT Laser RS for cheap???? Mine's got twins... two 3" long, by 1/8" wide cracks in it... yes, 1/8" wide... I can see into them! Whaddya suggest for an exhaust manifold... If the swiss cheese-looking precat wasn't enough exhaust leak, now I gotta replace the manifold as well!

I dunno... for 700 bucks, it's kinda what I get... a $700.00 1994, with 148,000miles, and an auto (Chrysler autos are the worst transmissions in the world), I guess I got a good deal... no matter how bad of shape the car is in, or how much I'm gonna need to spend.

Ohh... and I need new radiator mounts, and the bolts that hold that f5cker on... also, can I borrow a tap kit? I need to reman the screw holes that hold the radiator mounts on as well... ohh, and I am pretty sure that I have a slight bit of crankwalk... why else would the engine be sputtering like a Harley, and why would I hear a sharp grinding in the bottom of the engine when it reaches approx. 2500rpm's?


If these are not symptoms of crankwalk, please inform me before I go get the crank reground.


Either way, I'm still glad she's back to life.
Leave it to Chrysler to build a car out of a tank.... and then throw a faulty transmission in there as well. (ALL Chrysler Autos are weak, and last about 100,000 miles before immediate service is required)




- Camel

 

[xcelr8n]

ok, you dont have crankwalk bro...
why bother putting a hi-po header on, it wont do jack... buy a used one from the internet for like 50 bucks, and if you want buy a cat back you will see the same results maybe slightly better then a header.
That noise youre hearign could be timing belt related, maybe the tensioner, balance shaft etc, have a pro look it over perhaps if you care that much
and finally when was the last time you had the tranny serviced, fluid and filter?
any tranny will take a shit if you leave the factory oils in there for 10 years I would imagine.