why all of the problems with DSM's?

[2DaTrakNow]

Ive been looking for a turbo 2nd gen DSM. I have found a ton that i like...but every one has had some kind of engine problem, whether its the head gasket(very common), or the crank, or something else of that nature. What are the best years to buy to get rid of these problems? ive heard the 99 gsx's are suppose to be the best eclipses ever made, and i heard that the 95's were good too. Well... ive also even heard that all of the 2nd gens are weak and break down very easily, and once you mod them its problems for life. Can somebody explain all of this too me?? And one more thing! Some of the people i talk to will not believe that talons and eclipses have the same motors because they only hear bad stuff about the talons, and only good stuff about eclipses...Why is that???? I love these DSM's to death, but if i cant trust em i dont want them...

 

[alex]

Ive been looking for a turbo 2nd gen DSM. I have found a ton that i like...but every one has had some kind of engine problem, whether its the head gasket(very common), or the crank, or something else of that nature. What are the best years to buy to get rid of these problems? ive heard the 99 gsx's are suppose to be the best eclipses ever made, and i heard that the 95's were good too. Well... ive also even heard that all of the 2nd gens are weak and break down very easily, and once you mod them its problems for life. Can somebody explain all of this too me?? And one more thing! Some of the people i talk to will not believe that talons and eclipses have the same motors because they only hear bad stuff about the talons, and only good stuff about eclipses...Why is that???? I love these DSM's to death, but if i cant trust em i dont want them...

Well, first off, once you start modding any car, your going to have problems regardless. The reason you will see a lot of these cars that have blown gaskets, etc., is because they have a turbo in them. There is a great amount of pressure in the head, and if you are on the gas a lot, you can easily blow a head gasket. As far as being a best year out there, if your looking at all DSMs, the 1g 6 bolts are definetly the best years. Those would be the 90 and 91 DSMs. I would probley get the 91 because I dont like the popup headlights. They 95s are pretty comon. You will see a lot of 95s out there. Another thing to with the 7 bolt motors, (years of 92-99), they have been known to crankwalk. The main reason for that is because of its weak bearings. The eclipses, talons, laser all have the 4g63 motor except when you have the 420a engines. There are only minor differences with the cars themselves.

 

[DGajre777]

Crankwalk is way overrated. I won't look for a 6 bolt engine just because the 7 bolt might get crankwalk. 6 bolt engines can crankwalk too. Another problem is when people start modding cars without performance proper maintenance. Talons and Eclipses are the same. The only difference between a 2G Talon and 2G eclipse is the headlights, bumpers, sideskirts, tail lights and driver side airbag. Everything else is the same and Talons are cheaper than Eclipses.

 

[Quasimondo]

Well, first off, once you start modding any car, your going to have problems regardless. The reason you will see a lot of these cars that have blown gaskets, etc., is because they have a turbo in them. There is a great amount of pressure in the head, and if you are on the gas a lot, you can easily blow a head gasket. As far as being a best year out there, if your looking at all DSMs, the 1g 6 bolts are definetly the best years. Those would be the 90 and 91 DSMs. I would probley get the 91 because I dont like the popup headlights. They 95s are pretty comon. You will see a lot of 95s out there. Another thing to with the 7 bolt motors, (years of 92-99), they have been known to crankwalk. The main reason for that is because of its weak bearings. The eclipses, talons, laser all have the 4g63 motor except when you have the 420a engines. There are only minor differences with the cars themselves.

Pop-ups didn't disappear until 92. As far as why so many DSM's have problems, I chalk it up to poor maintenance, bad tuning, or quite simply a lack of common sense.

I've seen head gaskets go to excessive boost. Generally speaking, on a stock gasket, you shouldn't be going past 20 psi, especially if you're still on the stock head bolts.

Six-bolt engines continued until mid-92. Check the VFAQ for how to tell between a 1G six-bolt and a 1G seven-bolt.

Personally, I think crankwalk is overrated. It is a problem, but it shouldn't be enough to scare you away from a good, well-maintained 2G. 2G's are getting up in the miles anway so chances are that if it hasn't walked by now, it's not going to.

If you mod right the first time, you won't have problems. Cranking the boost up to 20 psi while still on the stock fuel system is not a good idea. Not doing the proper maintenance before you do any modifications is not a good idea. Treating these cars like a Honda or Toyota that you can beat silly and not stay on its maintenance schedule is not a good idea.

Best advice I can give you is when you're looking at these cars, if they look like they've been abused, don't buy it. Question the owner about how he's taken care of the car and if he doesn't give you the confidence that he's actually taken care of the car and isn't trying to sell the car to pass his problems on to you, just walk away.

 

[Jason84]

if your new to DSMs.... id probably suggest starting out with a 1g AWD(versus trying to look good for a woman in a 2g and crashing into a pole while your trying to impress her with your BOV sounds and looks of a sleek 2g) no offence to 2g owners .... some people dont like them... some people cant handle the power. yes it may sound funny but these cars aernt for everybody... if you cant change your own oil or do your own brakes ETC normal maint. and KNOW when something is wrong i wouldnt suggest getting one..

very minor problems can lead to very big problems with these cars unlike ALOT of other cars.

and why all the problems you ask? what other cars do they sell like these ?? besides the subarus.. which do have problems also... but not as many people own them as DSMs so you dont hear about it as often.

there aernt many cars out there you can get for a couple grand and be running 12s(13s-14s for the average joe) like these... as long as you know what your doing and keep up with maint your good to go...

 

[95blackGsTurbo]

The car will only be as good to you as you are to it. Problem is people know how easy and cheap these cars are to mod so they think that they can just throw a boost controller on with no aftermarket gauge or something and crank it up. They don't support what they do. As far as 6 and 7 bolts go I would never take out a running 7 bolt and put a 6 bolt in. I see nothing wrong with the 7 bolts other than the highly unlikely case of crankwalk. The cars are starting to get over 10 years old with 7 bolts and have enough miles that it just isn't an issue anymore. All cars have problems it's just that most people think since they put on some little mod that they are automatically a mechanic and are too stubborn to take it to a real mechanic to get fixed and cause more problems than they fix. The cars really only have a few issue's that are consistant with the generations...1g's have idle problems from time to time and 2g's have problems with there crank pulleys and a few other small things. The rest of the problems are usually directly related to something the owner did to cause it.

 

[DGajre777]

its nature of dsm.....you mod it, you get to know car better, you try to fix what isn't broken and you break it, and that's nature of man...man seek action what involves winning and making himself better over others to show female he is better than next guy to him and it's always gonna be like this..we just made sport for us....what called Street Racing Culture..whole human being depends on female and every man try get female no matter what
sorry for my deep thinking...420 rulezzzzz

Can you translate this in simple english? I have no idea what you wrote above. How do you break something by trying to fix something that isn't broken? WTF And if it isn't broken why would you fix it? You don't fix anything when you upgrade. I'm lost.

 

[2DaTrakNow]

Can you translate this in simple english? I have no idea what you wrote above. How do you break something by trying to fix something that isn't broken? WTF And if it isn't broken why would you fix it? You don't fix anything when you upgrade. I'm lost.

The old saying "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" is something that people who dont beleive in aftermarket parts say all the time. For example, i am always buying aftermarket parts for my quad and my cars. Well, my dad doesn't see why i am replacing all of the perfectly fine stock parts, with something high performance. He just doesn't understand why i replace good parts with other parts, which is why he tells me "if it isn't broke, don't fix it". Now for the first part of your question about breaking stuff, by trying to fix something that isn't brokem has to do with what everybody else said. When you start modding your car, stuff starts breaking. Higher temps and higher boost and improper tuning can all lead to problems that cause things to break. So when you replace(fix) something that isnt broken, with a high performance part things often break. That is the answer to your question "How do you break something by trying to fix something that isn't broken?". Then you said that you dont fix anything when you upgrade. Well yes, your right. Nothing does get fixed, but it is just what some people say. That just goes along with the quote of "if it isn't broke, don't fix it".

 

[G3ne]

The old saying "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" is something that people who dont beleive in aftermarket parts say all the time. For example, i am always buying aftermarket parts for my quad and my cars. Well, my dad doesn't see why i am replacing all of the perfectly fine stock parts, with something high performance. He just doesn't understand why i replace good parts with other parts, which is why he tells me "if it isn't broke, don't fix it". Now for the first part of your question about breaking stuff, by trying to fix something that isn't brokem has to do with what everybody else said. When you start modding your car, stuff starts breaking. Higher temps and higher boost and improper tuning can all lead to problems that cause things to break. So when you replace(fix) something that isnt broken, with a high performance part things often break. That is the answer to your question "How do you break something by trying to fix something that isn't broken?". Then you said that you dont fix anything when you upgrade. Well yes, your right. Nothing does get fixed, but it is just what some people say. That just goes along with the quote of "if it isn't broke, don't fix it".

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sorry for my english, i born in Asia and grew up in Siberia..Russia.. :/

 

[dsm-onster]

Ive been looking for a turbo 2nd gen DSM. I have found a ton that i like...but every one has had some kind of engine problem, whether its the head gasket(very common), or the crank, or something else of that nature. What are the best years to buy to get rid of these problems? ive heard the 99 gsx's are suppose to be the best eclipses ever made, and i heard that the 95's were good too. Well... ive also even heard that all of the 2nd gens are weak and break down very easily, and once you mod them its problems for life. Can somebody explain all of this too me?? And one more thing! Some of the people i talk to will not believe that talons and eclipses have the same motors because they only hear bad stuff about the talons, and only good stuff about eclipses...Why is that???? I love these DSM's to death, but if i cant trust em i dont want them...

don't trust them... sell them to me for cheap

Ok. I have a turboford, grand national, a dsm. I've turboed a KA 240sx and a 5fse camry... and all the mustang/camaro guys say "man whats up get reliable power not blown head gaskets and the like". Meanwhile i beat them or at least have the same times as them and are as reliable as them. If I so choose i can be less reliable and more powerfull and really beat them badly.

Bottem line: you can take your turbo 2G DSM to the same power-to-weight ratio as the big boys for a fraction of the cost and get a reliable life out of the setup. But most of us (including me) push the envelope because there is an envelope to push... Therefore we fork up trannies, rods, etc.

As for the eclipse vs. talon thing... they are all DSMs and consequently can produce the same results. However, I have seen more talon guys push their cars harder... maybe it's an american thing....