So I drove to a car meet last night. Managed to launch the car into a dip on a service road and immediately smelled oil after a horrible noise. Didn't notice anything wrong other than smell though. I got to my destination w/o issue ate and then on the way home I'm cruising in 4th at about 40 mph and the check engine light came on. I'd never seen that light before so I kept going looking for a place to pull over and then the light turned off but I felt like I lost quite a bit of power and if I touched the throttle the light would come back on and then repeating the process on about the third cycle of the light coming on it felt like I had almost no power and then the red battery warning light popped on for about a quarter of a second and then I blipped the throttle and it disappeared. Then I get on the highway and not another issue. When I got back on local roads I gave it a couple pulls and nothing. I have no idea what that was, but needless to say I'm a bit paranoid after that adventure. Has anyone else experienced something similar?

 

First check your charging system (battery, cables, connections, alternator).

 

Tried to drive it up to the shop to have my mechanic take a look at it and the check engine light came on again and then I noticed 0 rpms and it died on me in 4PM traffic. Cranks fine, battery was strong, got a trailer and pulled it up to the shop and the guess was the body harness. After trailing it to and from the shop get the car home and it starts up with a big cloud of white smoke. Picked up an engine hoist on the way home too. I guess I'll pull the motor this week and figure out how to get the body harness out of the car to inspect it. Should be fun in Texas haha.

 

Just checked out the body harness (above the driver's side wheel well) and it looks great. Is there another place where the body harness is under extreme stress?

 

Did anyone at the shop actually put the car up on a lift and look at it? Sounds like you hit bottom pretty hard, smelled oil burning etc. right before all the problems. Priority for me would be a thorough visual inspection underneath.

 

Didn't even take it off the trailer. Body harness was their guess so I took it home. Checked out the harness and nothing. It starts when cold and then dies now. I took the cat off and it turns off even faster. Nothing looks out of norm from what I saw. Going to change the motor and hope for the best. *shrugs*

 

Pulling the engine seems like overkill. Find out what went wrong first!

I seriously doubt you messed up the engine. You may have had the tire rub through the fender liner and short some wires, something could have just banged loose, who knows.

Diagnose the problem then make a plan of action, not the other way around.

Dale

 

It's been losing coolant since September so I have an extra motor already. I pulled back the driver's side fender liner thinking that was the problem.



Seemed to be fine. Then I pulled the cat off to see if it was a clogged cat. Strangely I didn't even see smoke coming out and it idles for even less time. It seems to start fine when cool but once warmed up the car just dies. Could it be coils or a stuck injector? I dynoed the car last fall and it made 205 whp but the ignition was breaking up and it wasn't getting full boost.

 

OH also when I turn the key to the ACC position the fans come on and turn off 2 or three times in 1 second intervals. I don't recall this being the typical from before. Can anyone confirm this?

 

I have two bolts left motor mounts and then the engine is ready to come out. I wasn't able to run the gas down like I usually do so I probably have about 9 gallons of fuel just sitting in the tank. Any creative ways to get it out without making a mess?

 

Why do you need to drain the gas? You don't need to do it in order to remove the engine...although I have no idea why you're doing that either.

 

Installing a new fuel pump. Thought it might be best to drain the gas prior to attempting it.

 

Fuel pump is accessed from above. Through the hatch floor. You don't have to pull the tank and no reason to drain it.

 

I figured to install a pump and doing wiring it would be smart to drain the tank just as a precaution. Got the motor out, pulled the slave out and a bunch of fluid came out when I removed it so I at least found one issue.

 

Well I got the new motor set in the bay and as I was examining the turbo I noticed a hole inside of the compressor housing. Has anyone else had a similar issue with Borg Warner turbos? It's pretty hard to get down there to get the picture, but it doesn't seem right to me.