To all those who thought, "it would never happen to me"

[AsILayDying]

Sorry to hear man... I feel your pain though. I got rod knock, so my car is gonna be hibernating in the garage for the winter until I have the cash for a new engine. Until then, I'm ruffin it in a 97' Camry... Sorry to get off topic, but is www.overbore.com a reliable source? They seem legit and other people on DSMtuners have used them and had nothing bad to say. They have great feedback on Ebay too. If anyone knows, that'd be helpful. If it makes you guys feel any better, I'm just turning 18 in a month and I'm already having to start my "next broken DSM part" funds.

 

[Flash]

Beau, buddy will you please give the Cosworth pistons and Cosworth rods a try. Pretty please!

 

[bartels903]

I think your problem is that you drove your car.

because you put about .5 of a mile on your car a month, panzy

 

[Drift_SM]

because you put about .5 of a mile on your car a month, panzy

I second that!

Grant I nominate you as are "official DSMtuners -I dont drive my car I'm a panzey man" title.

Can we have a show of hands?!

white 2g love buddy.

 

[Flash]

Oh come on, cut me some slack.

But seriously, it works!

 

[97ClipseDSM]

I've had my car for almost exactly 2 years now (9 days until) and I really haven't had any problems with it at all. I road race it, ran a mid 12 at the 1/4 and it still had more in it, drive it to school, and even deliver Italian food for a local restaurant in it. I bought it with 59k on the clock and it just hit 90k today. When I bought it 2 years ago, I took it to get the timing belt done immediately at a place my dad suggested. I didn't know better at the time, if I could do it over again I would have taken it to one of the DSM mechanics around this area. I thought he replaced the balance shaft belt as well, but I guess not.

I was doing a delivery tonight and when I arrived at their house, I noticed the car felt like it was vibrating a little more than normal, as if the exhaust was bolted directly to the chassis or something, the car would vibrate with the RPM. I didn't think much of it but I popped the hood and couldnt see anything unusual. I drove off with it still vibrating and figured I'd drive it the few miles home and check it out there. As I drove off I noticed the car was hesitating when it got to about 3k RPM, and then got worse. It started stuttering and bucking a little, and really didn't want to boost or accelerate. I did a U turn and drove to a good place to pull over, and before I pulled over it had already died. I coasted it and parked it along the street. It's dark, cold, and windy and I didn't have any tools with me, not even a screwdriver. There was a CEL and DSMlink said it was "Crankshaft Position Sensor Malnfunction". Great... It refused to start, didn't even try to catch.

I had it towed home and a few DSM friends came over, one who's been through just about everything with his car. We pulled the timing covers off and checked the timing. We aligned the cam gear marks and looked at the crank pulley. There's a T mark and a 10 mark below where it says BTDC. I don't know much about this stuff, I'm more of a bolt on and suspension guy, but I'm pretty sure the mark on the pulley is supposed to be aligned with the T, but instead it was over past the 10, I'm guessing around 14-15 or so based on where it was. Can't be good..

I'm assuming the BS belt snapped and took out the CPS and the timing belt...I'm also assuming the valves are bent and the pistons probably aren't too happy either but I don't know.

Here's the lesson. I was one of those guys who always read these countless posts on DSMtuners about crankwalk, bent valves, blown motors/trannies, etc, and thought to myself, "eh, that'll never happen to me." The car's in tip-top shape, well taken care of, runs perfect, never had any problem. Next thing I know the car's on a flatbed.

Here's the killer: Tomorrow is the dyno day. I've been looking forward to this day for about 2 months now, and I'm even supposed to lead the canyon cruise to the dyno...great time for this to happen. The sight of seeing my car getting lifted onto the tow truck was surreal, in fact this whole night was. I still can't believe this happened. It's so much that it hasn't even really registered yet. I was planning on buying a 1g n/t to use as a daily beater anyway, now might be a good time and drive that until I get the GSX finished.

Dude Im so sorry about your car man. If it makes you feel any better, a few years ago when I had my 98 GST, I went through 3 bottom ends and one longblock in a matter of months. The mechanics i was taking to werent doing the job right, and I also rushed to do things, plus the car overall was a salvaged, rusted, sh!tbag. Even worse luck my tranny at the shop got stolen and I ended up having to pay half for a new one. Now years later, I bought my GSX with 50k and I still have the 60k service to do. Im at 63k right now, I figured Id do it at 65k but after reading this post, I think Im going to get the timing belt and balance shaft belt replaced asap. Good luck with your car, I hope everything works out ok.

 

[v2ner]

I hope you get it up and runnin again soon because that's one pretty ass 2G you got there.

 

[eclipsegsx1736]

Update:

Well, I'm able to borrow a car to use for school and work for now, so I decided to take my time and make sure I do it right. I don't have all that much money to work with, but I figured since the head will be off I'll replace some things while I'm in there. I ordered ARP headstuds, Mitsu Metal HG, Manley valve springs, valves, new knock sensor as well as new crank sensor, balance shaft eliminator kit (duh), and a few other goodies. I ordered most of the stuff from SBR, and I'll keep the car at home until they come in, then tow it out to my DSM mechanic (I do just about everything myself at home but I don't have the courage yet to do head work, and clutch work, everything else I do though).

I realized now is a perfect time to get some other stuff done. While I'm waiting for the shipment I'm going to get the front bumper repainted (in the shop now), repaint the valve cover and some other stuff, port the manifold and maybe the turbo, and clean everything up as well as I can.

She should be alive within a week...not being able to drive her for the last few days has really made me appreciate having this car, I know I'm going to appreciate it a lot more when I get it back. I can't wait to jump back in and feel 25 psi again.