even with all my skill i cant fix my car. help please.

[TurboMirage]

the mirage is fixed. video inside. updated sept 22

the story is this. i'll be blunt.

i downshifted to 2nd at 90mph. chaos ensued. that is all i will say.

symptoms i have had since the incedent-
car BOGS from 4700-7000. sometimes i will get lucky and for a brief moment the car will have full power in that range, but then still bog. from idle-4700 power is normal.


stuff i have changed-
spark plugs
plug wires
dizzy cap
dizzy rotor

I EVEN pulled off the timing cover to discover i was OFF by 1 tooth. fixed that, rotated the motor a few times and it was perfect. put it all back together. same problem.

what i havent changed YET but is next on the list-
fuel filters
crank angle sensor??
actual distributor

im tossing a new code, i just havent read it yet. if i reset the ECU, the code pops up within ~20 miles.


input is appreciated.

 

[civicious]

I did the same thing (more or less) a while back on my Prelude, and it destroyed a lot of shit. Did almost EXACTLY what you're describing, but it wasn't anything in the fuel filter/distributor/injectors. It jumped a couplea teeth on the timing belt, bent 12 valves, and shattered every single valve guide.

I highly doubt it messed up your distributor, but I'd definitely check the valvetrain before I'd check anything else. If you don't have a way to do a leakdown test, you can pull the head, remove the cams, and with the lights off in the room shine a flashlight onto the top (cam side) of the head, and look at the bottom (combustion chamber side) and see if you can see any light shining through. Light shining through = bent valves.

 

[girls_are_mean]

I'd check compression. I don't know what kind of car you have but the VVTI celica 5spds where having a problem where people would downshift from a high speed to 2nd gear and would bend all the valves and stuff.

 

[TurboMirage]

its a 2000 Mitsu Mirage 1.5

i've got a NEW RPW stage 1 head/cam coming in the mail. not a big deal if something is fucked up in the valvetrain. its complete so all new RPW springs/retainers and etc.

 

[phunky.buddha]

That's what my shit looked like after a mis-shift to 3rd at 90mph. I can't imagine what yours looks like after going to 2nd.

 

[TurboMirage]

hmmm interesting

nice. IF it comes to replacing the bottom end, atleast i can get one for like 200 bucks.

idk. i think the car would run much worse than it does if there were holes in teh pistons or bent valves.

on the mirage board, its been noted that piston/valve contact doesnt occur until 5 or 6 teeth.

 

[reikoshea]

but look at the revs we're looking at.....something tells me its time to pull the head.

 

[TurboMirage]

and it will be pulled when i install the brand new stage 1 PnP head/cam

 

[civicious]

if his pistons were that screwed up, it shouldn't run at all....



I still vote 'head'

 

[phunky.buddha]

idk. i think the car would run much worse than it does if there were holes in teh pistons or bent valves.

I drove mine with the pistons like that for a good 1000 miles. I didn't immediately know that anything was wrong, not until the engine finally let go with a big "bang" on the freeway and blew oil all over the engine bay.

 

[TurboMirage]

2500+ miles so far.

 

[Turbo&Auto]

Do a compression check and that should eliminate bottom end or not. Seems like the head though.

 

[NissanNiNjA2nd]

If your timing is on, then the problem is your valves.

End of discussion.

 

[TurboMirage]

we'll see

 

[TurboMirage]

for the record...

no weird noises from the motor, and oil/coolant levels are perfectly normal

 

[TurboMirage]

I did the same thing (more or less) a while back on my Prelude, and it destroyed a lot of shit. Did almost EXACTLY what you're describing, but it wasn't anything in the fuel filter/distributor/injectors. It jumped a couplea teeth on the timing belt, bent 12 valves, and shattered every single valve guide.

I highly doubt it messed up your distributor, but I'd definitely check the valvetrain before I'd check anything else. If you don't have a way to do a leakdown test, you can pull the head, remove the cams, and with the lights off in the room shine a flashlight onto the top (cam side) of the head, and look at the bottom (combustion chamber side) and see if you can see any light shining through. Light shining through = bent valves.

i was thinking about this again.

buuut unfortunately i dont have the time to pull the head to check.

i'll just run it until it dies, or my new head comes in the mail and i find time to pop it on

 

[civicious]

Do a compression check and that should eliminate bottom end or not. Seems like the head though.

leakdown, leakdown, leakdown!

 

[NissanNiNjA2nd]

I agree... gotta be valves.

 

[TurboMirage]

how can i get that leakdown shit done.

 

[civicious]

Go buy a CLT tester, and hook it up to your air compressor. Pretty much what you do is put the piston at TDC on the compression stroke (so that all the valves are ideally closed) and fill the cylinder with compressed air. The CLT tester attaches to the spark plug hole exactly like a compression tester does, only the CLT doesn't have a schrader valve (so if the psi drops you can see it on the gauge)...what you're looking for is to see if air leaks out of the cylinder. If it's leaking out of one of the valves, you'll be able to hear a whooshing sound coming from the head.

It's somewhat confusing when written down, but if you see it in person it'll make perfect sense.