Yay...another one bites the dust
02-01-07, 10:27 PM
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Yay...another one bites the dust
Well... I was on my way home from the gym and I ran over something (I heard a lovely pop sound... I figured a bottle or something). Or so I thought. And when I turned onto the final street before my house, I got a flat...my car was shaking so I turned onto a side street. Problem is, my car still had that horrendous shake when my car was standing still.
Is there any reason to believe this ISN'T a blown seal?
Is there any reason to believe this ISN'T a blown seal?
02-01-07, 10:59 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr rx-7 tt
Look to see if you have a lose hose going to the boost sensor on the firewall.
Great, thanks. Will check in the morning when there is light. I'm really not getting my hopes up that this will be an easy fix.
02-02-07, 12:55 AM
#5
Weird Cat Man
I'd start with basics and pray....
You think you ran over something.. maybe you did. Check the underbody. Are the splash guard and tranny-guard still there? Any wiring harnesses dangling? What about the oil cooler hoses? Still there? Damaged?
Under the hood, check that MAP sensor as suggested. If that hose is damaged in any way, the car will run horribly. If all else fails, start looking into checking compression.
You think you ran over something.. maybe you did. Check the underbody. Are the splash guard and tranny-guard still there? Any wiring harnesses dangling? What about the oil cooler hoses? Still there? Damaged?
Under the hood, check that MAP sensor as suggested. If that hose is damaged in any way, the car will run horribly. If all else fails, start looking into checking compression.
02-02-07, 07:56 AM
#7
Racecar - Formula 2000
Originally Posted by Fd2Blk
Well... I was on my way home from the gym and I ran over something (I heard a lovely pop sound... I figured a bottle or something). Or so I thought. And when I turned onto the final street before my house, I got a flat...my car was shaking so I turned onto a side street. Problem is, my car still had that horrendous shake when my car was standing still.
Is there any reason to believe this ISN'T a blown seal?
Is there any reason to believe this ISN'T a blown seal?
Apex seals don't usually blow just cruising down the street. Maybe whatever you ran over popped up and tore something off, like a plug wire, a ground wire, a vacuum hose, etc.
Dave
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02-02-07, 02:15 PM
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Originally Posted by DaveW
Just to confirm - you actually did have a flat tire? Which tire?
Apex seals don't usually blow just cruising down the street. Maybe whatever you ran over popped up and tore something off, like a plug wire, a ground wire, a vacuum hose, etc.
Dave
Apex seals don't usually blow just cruising down the street. Maybe whatever you ran over popped up and tore something off, like a plug wire, a ground wire, a vacuum hose, etc.
Dave
Unfortunately, no. I was blown away when I stopped moving and still felt the 'flat tire wobble' at idle. That's when I suspected the worst.
I went today to check on the MAP sensor, and the line looks as though it's never even considered coming loose, so unless it is damaged below where I could see (I tried to look for holes), I don't think that's the culprit unfortunately.
As far as running over something, I didn't see anything in the road and I'm normally pretty aware. But when I heard the pop (it really DID sound like it came from somewhere low on my car) I saw what appeared to be dust that I could have kicked up (since it was dark, I suppose -- knowing what I know now -- it might have been smoke) in my rearview mirror. I thought nothing of it for the good minute or 2 that my car was running fine. Then after sitting at a light, I made a right turn and the 'wobble' started, so I pulled onto a side street.
I will probably have to have the car towed to my parents' (they have a large driveway) before being able to get under the car to inspect for damage. I don't really want to run the car and risk damage to the turbos.
Looks like it will be a honda civic hatchback for me until I feel good about spending $5K for the rebuild. :-/
02-02-07, 02:33 PM
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Originally Posted by 93VRTouring
maybe you broke a motor mount? 
Other than the wobbling, what symptoms do you have? does it blow massive ammounts of smoke? is it hard starting? are you getting any dummy lights coming on or warning buzzers?
Other than the wobbling, what symptoms do you have? does it blow massive ammounts of smoke? is it hard starting? are you getting any dummy lights coming on or warning buzzers?
No smoking that I saw while I was driving it last night, but I was likely keeping eyes forward in case it was a flat that would suddenly steer me into oncoming traffic. Would it be equivalent to a freezing cold morning start worth of smoke? Because I think I would have seen that or anything even half that much.
I haven't attempted to start it again out of the fear of doing further damage. But there was nothing out of the ordinary except for a very wobbley idle that I noticed. No coolant/oil lights, temp was still at the normal level and the check engine light was not lit up. I tried to take stock of anything out of the ordinary before shutting down last night, and all seemed well except for the shake.
I suppose I'll be checking the motor mounts too, then. Thanks for the input.
02-02-07, 02:42 PM
#15
Originally Posted by Fd2Blk
No smoking that I saw while I was driving it last night, but I was likely keeping eyes forward in case it was a flat that would suddenly steer me into oncoming traffic. Would it be equivalent to a freezing cold morning start worth of smoke? Because I think I would have seen that or anything even half that much.
I haven't attempted to start it again out of the fear of doing further damage. But there was nothing out of the ordinary except for a very wobbley idle that I noticed. No coolant/oil lights, temp was still at the normal level and the check engine light was not lit up. I tried to take stock of anything out of the ordinary before shutting down last night, and all seemed well except for the shake.
I suppose I'll be checking the motor mounts too, then. Thanks for the input.
I haven't attempted to start it again out of the fear of doing further damage. But there was nothing out of the ordinary except for a very wobbley idle that I noticed. No coolant/oil lights, temp was still at the normal level and the check engine light was not lit up. I tried to take stock of anything out of the ordinary before shutting down last night, and all seemed well except for the shake.
I suppose I'll be checking the motor mounts too, then. Thanks for the input.
Did you happen to notice your shifter vibrating more than usual?
02-02-07, 03:02 PM
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Unfortunately, I don't have a boost gauge. One of those things I just need to do.
My idle has been fairly erratic depending on the day. The problem is my tach is no longer reliable (I intend to pull out the cluster and do the fix when weather permits) and the needle likes to bounce with no change in engine tone. All that aside, my rpm DOES hunt at idle a bit, but when it is good and warm and it settles it's at the 800 mark. Before that though it goes anywhere from 800 to 2000. I've also noticed that while starting the car in 1st prevents it from revving to 3k, it still revs to about 1500 - 2000.
Shifter has seemed normal leading up to the incident, but as I said, I haven't started it again. I am not sure what kind of risk I am taking starting it again. If it helps in the diagnosis, though, I'll do it.
Thanks for all the replies... it really helps to have a whole bunch of intelligent rotorheads on the case.
My idle has been fairly erratic depending on the day. The problem is my tach is no longer reliable (I intend to pull out the cluster and do the fix when weather permits) and the needle likes to bounce with no change in engine tone. All that aside, my rpm DOES hunt at idle a bit, but when it is good and warm and it settles it's at the 800 mark. Before that though it goes anywhere from 800 to 2000. I've also noticed that while starting the car in 1st prevents it from revving to 3k, it still revs to about 1500 - 2000.
Shifter has seemed normal leading up to the incident, but as I said, I haven't started it again. I am not sure what kind of risk I am taking starting it again. If it helps in the diagnosis, though, I'll do it.
Thanks for all the replies... it really helps to have a whole bunch of intelligent rotorheads on the case.
02-02-07, 03:18 PM
#17
you know it's supposed to jump to 3k RPMs then slowly back down to normal when you first start it, right?
It's going to be hard to say with a broken tach and no boost gauge. I'd put the car up on ramps and check the mounts for the engine and tranny. see if it rocks excessively, does the engine look like it's leaning? also, check to see that all your pullies are tight(not the belts, but the pullies themselves) if you have a loose eshaft pully, that could throw the engine off balance.
also...beaverton lol
It's going to be hard to say with a broken tach and no boost gauge. I'd put the car up on ramps and check the mounts for the engine and tranny. see if it rocks excessively, does the engine look like it's leaning? also, check to see that all your pullies are tight(not the belts, but the pullies themselves) if you have a loose eshaft pully, that could throw the engine off balance.
also...beaverton lol
02-02-07, 03:24 PM
#18
Racecar - Formula 2000
[QUOTE=Fd2Blk]Unfortunately, I don't have a boost gauge. One of those things I just need to do.
My idle has been fairly erratic depending on the day. The problem is my tach is no longer reliable (I intend to pull out the cluster and do the fix when weather permits) and the needle likes to bounce with no change in engine tone. All that aside, my rpm DOES hunt at idle a bit, but when it is good and warm and it settles it's at the 800 mark. Before that though it goes anywhere from 800 to 2000. I've also noticed that while starting the car in 1st prevents it from revving to 3k, it still revs to about 1500 - 2000.[QUOTE]
I get the feel from this that you may be having an ignition/electrical problem and all of this (erratic idle, flaky tach, the "pop" you heard) is related. If you had unburned fuel in the exhaust, the could have caused the "pop," i.e., a backfire. The shaky idle may be saying that something in the ignition that was weak finally died.
Dave
My idle has been fairly erratic depending on the day. The problem is my tach is no longer reliable (I intend to pull out the cluster and do the fix when weather permits) and the needle likes to bounce with no change in engine tone. All that aside, my rpm DOES hunt at idle a bit, but when it is good and warm and it settles it's at the 800 mark. Before that though it goes anywhere from 800 to 2000. I've also noticed that while starting the car in 1st prevents it from revving to 3k, it still revs to about 1500 - 2000.[QUOTE]
I get the feel from this that you may be having an ignition/electrical problem and all of this (erratic idle, flaky tach, the "pop" you heard) is related. If you had unburned fuel in the exhaust, the could have caused the "pop," i.e., a backfire. The shaky idle may be saying that something in the ignition that was weak finally died.
Dave
02-02-07, 03:26 PM
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Originally Posted by 93VRTouring
you know it's supposed to jump to 3k RPMs then slowly back down to normal when you first start it, right?
Originally Posted by 93VRTouring
It's going to be hard to say with a broken tach and no boost gauge. I'd put the car up on ramps and check the mounts for the engine and tranny. see if it rocks excessively, does the engine look like it's leaning? also, check to see that all your pullies are tight(not the belts, but the pullies themselves) if you have a loose eshaft pully, that could throw the engine off balance.
Originally Posted by 93VRTouring
also...beaverton lol
heh yea... it's not as cool as you might think.
02-02-07, 03:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Mahjik
Borrow or rent a piston compression tester. You can do a quickie test just to see if the engine is a problem or not.
02-02-07, 03:35 PM
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Originally Posted by DaveW
I get the feel from this that you may be having an ignition/electrical problem and all of this (erratic idle, flaky tach, the "pop" you heard) is related. If you had unburned fuel in the exhaust, the could have caused the "pop," i.e., a backfire. The shaky idle may be saying that something in the ignition that was weak finally died.
Dave
Dave
Interesting take on the situation. I just had the car tuned up: he changed the plugs, and told me the wires were in good shape. He also replaced the O2 sensor (my engine light came on recently and when I checked the code it revealed a feedback system problem). Would an electrical/ignition issue as you describe be noticeable in a checkup like this?
Also, on the note of the O2 sensor... the feedback code can also imply a system running too lean/rich, if I recall correctly. I wonder if this has any possible connection.
02-02-07, 03:40 PM
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Originally Posted by bajaman
There is one helluva difference between a shitty running engine with blown seal versus how a car feels with a flat tire!
What you describe is very strange.....
What you describe is very strange.....
02-02-07, 03:54 PM
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Originally Posted by bajaman
^ Understood....doesn't sound good, I am afraid to say....good luck!
Thanks, I'm just hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
I think I may have the car towed to GroundZero motorsports (the place that did my tuneup) and have them try to diagnose the problem.
Upside: I live close to Pineapple
Downside: It would be a while until I could get my engine rebuilt.
So hopefully it's an electrical/ignition problem or a mount problem or something less damaging than a seal problem.