ugh.... Who else has a DSM from hell??!!

[AnewDSM]

Anyone else just have that DSM that you want to drive off a bridge?

This would be my one..

My 1994 Eclipse has been a constant headache since I bought it...... I got it for a steal, and usually that means problems. I shold have had a light bulb turn on and warn me of this but... I'm just dumb.

Get the car for $400....

Get it home, change out the Coil pack, o2 sensor, and put in a few other sensors. I checked the wiring and fixed a few that were badly repaired...

Car starts right up and then the other problems just piled on top..

Turns out the car was in a fire and almost the entire engine harness was melted and botched back together by someone who obviously didn't have any idea what they were doing with a crimper and connectors...

After a whole lot of trial and error, I ripped the entire harness out and replaced it with one that i had in my shop.

Once again the car fired right up and then I was able to drive it for a while, then it started getting an inconsistent rattle sound that noone could figure out where it was coming from.

Thought it might be the hydraullic tensioner giving out and letting the belt slap around.. (turns out it was the problem)....

The other day I was on the freeway and the car just shut down completely... I am not reading any oil on the dipstick but the gauge says i have pleanty of pressure.. I just did an oil change about 100 miles ago.... but i think it might be the wrong stick for the car anyhow....
I Added some oil and now I have a knock in the lower end when it tries to run... It only will run with a crappy idle right now and has 0 power under load which makes it turn itself off.... awesome right?

So when I was changing the upper/front motor mount for a new one I decided to check the tensioner and the tensioner pulley... I loosened the pulley and re-tightened it ... I cranked the motor over by hand at the crank pulley with the 1/2 socket.... the belt now gets tight then loose... tight then loose... tight-loose, tight-loose.... And surprisingly enough this is when i actually realized that the tensioner was bad officially... (i can press down on the timing belt between the cam gears and it depresses the tensioner like a hot knife through butter.)
I am so surprised that it never skipped time or lost the belt completely on the road....
Now the car sits in the driveway waiting for the "awesome" non-knowledgeable people who work at the auto-parts store to order me the correct tensioner and pulley for the car.. (why do people who know barely anything about any car end up being the people who work at the parts store?????) makes no sense.... it's like their hiring process goes like this.:

a) Do you know what a car, truck, or suv/van is?
...
b) yes..
...
a) That's awesome.! Good good... now, do you know the numbers 0-9?
..
b) yes..
...
a) amazing. you're doing great... ok, final question, do you know what good .
customer service is?
...
b) uhhhh..... n....
..
a) oh! it doesn't matter... welcome to the team!...

.....

anyways, back to what i was saying...
This 1g is the root of all evil...

No matter what I do... I cannot fix the idle surge when it does run... and i replaced the sensors and checked for leaks.... (that's what we all say)



Anyone else just have these nightmares of 1g's or 2g's?
I want some opinions if the problems are ever going away or if once they start, it just is like a revolving door... fix one ---- another one is swinging around to kick you in the. @**....

 

[ajpm26]

Ahh, my talon was the same way.... The things you learn about the car after you buy it. Oh well, I didn't even bother trying to fix problem by problem and just pulled everything out and am redoing everything.

But for the idle surge, these links may help you Terry's Talon Troubleshooting Tips #3 - Fast Idle (aka. Idle Surge)
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-engine-fuel/191137-how-fix-your-idle-surge-problem.html

good luck with the car.

 

[NOSLO2PT0]

I might have ya beat. Back in late August, I picked up a non-running 94 Tsi FWD A/T for a daily driver. $700, 81k miles, exterior ok, interior MINT. Previous owner tells me there is no compression, so I'm thinking timing belt victim, no biggie. Couple hundred bucks, couple hours worth of work, we good to go. That's when the fun began.

I pulled the head off, tested it, only to find there were no bent valves. Turns out there was so much carbon buildup on the valves that they weren't closing all the way, thus no compression. Rebuild the head, slap it back on the car, and think I'm ready to roll. Car won't start still. Have compression. No fuel. Test fuel pump. It works just fine. Check the MPI fuse, it's blown. Replace that. Car still doesn't start. Pull ECU. Board is completely fried due to leaking caps. Slap in another ECU, car takes about 15 min. to clear up, burn the oil/carbon off, lifters pump up. Idles like a champ! Drop it into gear, take off down the street, and get an intermittent misfire. WTF? Change plugs/wires but get no change. Narrow the misfire down to cyl #3. Swap out another injector, same thing. Random misfire, code 41 "injector circuit". Cut off the original injector plug and install a 2G push-clip type connector. Still misfiring. Swap injector resistor box, problem solved!! Take the car for another test drive.....trans doesn't shift. GREAT! Pull the TCU, and the board is fried even worse than the ECU was! Go to the junkyard, grab another TCU, and throw it in car. Same thing. Limp mode. Pull the TCU, throw in a shift box. Car shifts gears, but when you go from 1st to 2nd, it hangs in 2nd gear for a few seconds, then kicks back down into first gear. Pull the trans pan, go to swap valve bodies, and notice the kickdown band is broken. So, now the car sits needing the trans to be pulled out, then pulled apart.

Ever since I've bought this car, it's been one thing after another. I haven't been able to drive around the block since I've got it. It runs like a champ now...just doesn't shift.

Oh yeah. The knock sensor was destroyed and I believe the O2 sensor is shot as well. So there's more replacing I need to do.

 

[AnewDSM]

oh man.. i feel your pain... I went through almost the same thing when i picked up a 92 talon N/A for free for doing a stereo install for a friend...
Never figured out why it wouldn't start.. got so fed up with it that i cut the front of the cr off and sold the font end to someone... parted out the rest..... broke all of the windows for the frustration it gave me... took a sawzall to the quarter panels.. jumped on the roof and peed inside of it...

i'm not joking.... Although that is sac-religious to do to a DSM, I felt the need to do so because it just pissed me of so bad... too much blood, sweat, and yes tears went into the dang thing just for it to never work... Piece of crap! ...
good luck with the tranny situation... man that's a tough bit to chew for thinking you got a steal on the car....
try re-tapping the bolts that mount to the tranny from the engine mount and putting a little larger grade 8 bolts in there... sometimes when the trannys start to sag the shifting goes to crap... this might just fix your problem, who know's. it worked on one of my first gens... M/T though...

 

[jukematt]

The problems do go away if you fix the stuff that is wrong and stop there. But then if you upgrade, you may have no trouble or it could create more issues. With these cars, they must be taken care of according to what is recommended by the factory. If it says to change this or that fluid every such and such miles you do it! Same with everything else with the car. When people don't take care of them, they have a bunch of issues.

When I got my 2G a little over a year ago there was a bunch of stuff wrong with it. I've slowly fixed those issues. The only things left are the paint (bad paint failure/cancer/melanoma/etc.) as far as problems go. I did have a major boost leak by the smic but got a good deal on stainless steel piping here on DSM Tuners and now I'm running great again! My car is almost completely stock at the moment. It will stay that way for a while since I'm in school.

The only other thing I really need to worry about is the timing belt. It looks fine but I don't know when it was done last and if that goes, I need a new engine, which will cause the car to sit for a VERRRRYYY long time! I can get the money together for parts but then I need someone/someplace to change it.

Good luck figuring everything out and I hope to hear sometime that you finished it and not having problems.

 

[AnewDSM]

jukematt... yeah be careful with what you do on a school budget.... I'm on the same one... but my 2g is getting modded out and i can't stop buying parts... ... there will be problems i know... but if i buy everything new... limits the possibilities...

If you're unsure about your timing belt... for sure get it done by someone. just make sure it's by someone who knows what they're doing.. a botched timing job is no worse than a belt breaking on the road.. one turn of the key and buh bye valves and possibly a piston or two...
Save the money and take it to the mitsu stealership if you need to... sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to keep that car in good shape... plus... if they screw it up.... new parts for you...

 

[Bishikid]

yea I was there too got my car over 2 years ago and Im barley able to drive my DSM haha its barley starting to cooperate

 

[AnewDSM]

I hope i don't have any problems with my 2g that i'm building... way too much money involved to create headaches for myself...
Everyone gets their problems, which is appearant. But I need to get this dang 1g N/A all fixed up so i can just get rid of her and focus on my 2g...
I think it's time to let her go....
off a bridge...
or down a canyon..
possibly into a lake.

 

[jukematt]

I think it's time to let her go....
off a bridge...
or down a canyon..
possibly into a lake.

HAHAHAHA that's great.

And yeah I think I'll save up and either have the dealer do it or possibly English Racing. I think I'll call them tomorrow and find out their price.

 

[overboosted1g]

I am also a victim of the mysterious Dsm problems. It all started about a year ago when I found what I thought was an amazing deal...yeah right after months of searching I finally decided what I wanted to be my first car it was a 1992 eagle talon tsi Awd auto. I was told it ran before being pulled apart, typical Dsm it needed a headgasket well when I got it home I discovered it needed a lot more then a gasket I pulled the motor apart and the cylinder walls were destroyed that was no big I honed the block put it back together and did all maintenance and what do I discover, that it needs an ecu so I put the new one in and it fires right up only for me to notice all the nasty fuel leaks so I replace every single fuel line. Problem solved now I need to fix the brakes after replacing all rotors lines and calipers it was all good. I take it on it's first test drive all is good I am so happy that my $300 dollar car is on the road. I drive it for about 3000 miles. The turbo wasn't in the best. Condition so I upgrade to a big 16g and all supporting mods only to drive the car for another 150 miles and it spins a rod bearing...so much for my $300 investment now it's getting a built motor.

 

[AlteredCustoms]

Im selling mine, After two motors, 3 head gaskets, 4 transmission rebuilds, its time to go....

 

[NightRiderSRT4]

Im selling mine, After two motors, 3 head gaskets, 4 transmission rebuilds, its time to go....

jesus man . wtf kept happening?!

 

[AnewDSM]

jesus man . wtf kept happening?!

sounds like the common foot made of lead disease....

***
so another update with my 94 eclipse N/A.... luckily i hope this problem is not going to cost me too much... I got the timing all done yesterday and drove it down the road... perfect... got it on the freeway and not so good.... (i had wires 2 and 3 crossed) my mistake but whatever......
Then i drove it 25 miles from my house and tools because i thought it was all good.... HA!
The dang thing just start vibrating and bogged down to a stop... I assumed that my coilpack was bad because when i messed with the wires it ran good and then like crap when i stopped.... so i had my parents bring me a spare that i had at their house... (they were pissed it was like 11:00 at night...) They get out to me with some tools and i swap it out... same thing!!! dangit!... car ran like crap... it wasn't the coil pack....
turns out that now i need to go get new wires because i don't know if these ones are good any more... (while trying to fix the car we must have taken them out and put them back in like 50 or so times) so they're probably shot.... AAAnd.... never buy basic NGK plugs.... ever... they are the biggest pieces of garbage ever... the top comew off very easily and the spark gets crappy... plus... the metal at the tip that carries the spark is too week for compression in the cylinder.... one of my plugs keeps bending itself shut no matter what cylinder i put it in.. so don't buy them.. they are crap....

This car is literally going to kill me... or make me broke... ... one problem after another...
That bridge or cliff is getting closer by the minute..

 

[Ms95TSi]

I also have a DSM from hell. I payed 1700 for mine and have put a couple grand into since I bought it. The guy that owned it before me worked on it himself and didn't know what he was doing, it was a mess. I should of taken it to a mechanic since this is my first turboed car and don't know a ton about them but when I test drove it it ran pretty damn good and I couldn't resist.

 

[socostsi]

my 92 tsi awd i got 3 months ago is starting to look like satans spawn

 

[flaatr]

I paid too much for mine based on some of the janky shit I've been finding (all fixable).... oh and after I bought it, on the drive home, it blew up!

Haven't driven it since going on 4 weeks.

-Raffi

 

[Rollinukwn]

don't worry my friends ... When they do run its a nice feeling ...


I bought mine for like 2500 was a 4g63 colt befor that was a 88 conquest 2000.00 both were the DEVIL ..


The colt one day would run its booty off... then it would just say i dont like 16lbs anymore im gonna make you turn the boost down to 7psi for a few days ... But when it ran it was fun ..

Hell there was some days i didint think it would start crank crank crank .. vroom die crank crank ... vrooom ok its gonna run for 3 hrs today .

I ended up selling the colt for like 1300 now it runs mid 12's i think and traded the conquest due to a leaking heater core to a guy for a mustang to sell .WTF

I think the bigist problem is with DSM's is people sell them everytime when there's a problem they cant figure out and it just gets worse by people just throwing parts at the car's and it could be something as simple as a leaking capacitor on the computer to a relay that gets hot on the fuel pump after running for 5 mins...

 

[gvr4550]

i swore i bought satans car dont stress to much just keep putting money into it like i did and every part on the car will eventualy be new

 

[OstarMotorsport]

most guys go through that so dont feel like your the only one...

 

[ShawnsGarage]

In the end. Its worth every bit of the headaches. Just do it right the first time. Eventually you will have no problems and the satisfaction of knowing everything is done right.

 

[gho5tone]

In the end. Its worth every bit of the headaches. Just do it right the first time. Eventually you will have no problems and the satisfaction of knowing everything is done right.

Agree. Just the fact that everything is done by yourself and becoming a DSM (driver slash mechanic) is all worth the trouble.

 

[AnewDSM]

Agree. Just the fact that everything is done by yourself and becoming a DSM (driver slash mechanic) is all worth the trouble.

I agree with you.... worth every bit of the trouble... i wouldn't trade the experience for anything.
I started dealing with motors in January when i got my first dsm (92 talon N/T) and i haven't stopped yet...
I went from knowing the basics, like oil changes.... to i can build an entire motor now....

Just wish this GS would work right....
That's what i get for purposely buying someone else's problem and assuming i can fix it though...

But it's ok... I'm just going to keep buying them and storing them up...

I now have a 98 GS, a 95/99 GST, and a 94 GS...

 

[flaatr]

In the end. Its worth every bit of the headaches. Just do it right the first time. Eventually you will have no problems and the satisfaction of knowing everything is done right.

I sooooo agree with you! Even still... even with the right parts some cars can be headaches... The Antichrist, a.k.a. the paper weight (non-DSM), in my garage is proof of that but no matter how much it infuriates me I would never sell it.

I don't like shortcuts... Do it once, do it right.
Duct tape has no place in my toolbox.

I decided it would be best to let a professional take a look at it... sometimes that's the right thing to do. I should have it back soon.

-Raffi

 

[standard235]

My 94 has been an uphill battle but I haven't had any issues lately.

Except my driver side cv boot at the hub is torn to hell. Gotta replace that now...

 

[2GbTalonGuy]

You shouldn't be buying shitty auto part store tensioners in the first place.