When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Seriously, keep the Ramblings shit out of here. If you can't answer a question reasonably, then don't post. There's already a contract being made for you Taco for the exact shit you pulled in here. Tread carefully.
Seriously, keep the Ramblings shit out of here. If you can't answer a question reasonably, then don't post. There's already a contract being made for you Taco for the exact shit you pulled in here. Tread carefully.
I'm glad to hear an engine swap is only a few thousand dollars. I called a junk yard not long ago pricing it out and thought they quoted me over $5,000. I'm guessing they were either crazy or it was the wrong quote. I certainly wasn't interested at that price plus labor. If I can do it for around $3,000 then I'll do it. Hopefully it won't come to a complete swap though. I'm supposed to find something out tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
Also full disclosure - I tried to keep the story simple in the OP to save time and confusion but in reality I was out of town and my dad took my car to get inspected. It cut off on him and he tried to get it to turn for a half hour. When I asked if he stepped on the gas or not he told me he did. Hard to get mad when he was doing me a favor though ish happens.
Also, about 6 months ago I did have a piston hit a rod which had to be fixed and I went ahead and did the timing belt/water pump too. I'm guessing this entire deal is a bad mix of the timing being off a little and my father dumping gas only to ignite the next day.
So speculation is that the intake flooded with gas trying to start, sat for a day, and then blew up? Is there something that will keep the intake gas from leaking back out?
Please tell me your dad tossed you the keys and just had a one-liner about "your car makes some funny sounds" as he walked off. To make up for all the "I have no idea how that hole got in the wall" and "that's not mine, I was just holding it for a friend" lines you tried to feed him when you were a kid.
Could be a bad injector that just spilled its guts and caused the misfire. No idea.. Have you tried unbolting the manifold and taking out the spark plugs? Does the motor still spin freely by hand?
Please tell me your dad tossed you the keys and just had a one-liner about "your car makes some funny sounds" as he walked off. To make up for all the "I have no idea how that hole got in the wall" and "that's not mine, I was just holding it for a friend" lines you tried to feed him when you were a kid.
Haha that's pretty funny. When he called me to tell me it blew up he couldn't stop laughing because the old/cranky mechanic at my family's shop went on a old country cursing rant about how he's been doing this for $*%($($ years and never #*@*$) seen anything like that before. Needless to say I hung up on my dad because the last thing I wanted to hear was how funny he thought all of this was. I guess it's easier to laugh when it isn't his problem...however I do see some of the humor in it now...I guess. lol
It sounds like the fix for this could be just a few hundred $ in parts? The intake manifold no more than $200 any something to fix the leaky fuel injectors(if that is what it is) would this be as simple as replacing O-rings? Or is there something else that would cause fuel injectors to leak. It's got me wondering if these o-rings should be replaced after so many miles... I've got over 200k on my TL and wondering if I need to add this to my TODO list...
I like how the dumb**K is like. hmmm what the heck happened.... 'Tried to open the hood , looks under...
'Something doesn't look right here...I can't quite put my finger on it......'
So speculation is that the intake flooded with gas trying to start, sat for a day, and then blew up? Is there something that will keep the intake gas from leaking back out?
I am not so good with internal combustion engines. Help me understand.
I don't think it had time to get to the belt and valves, pistons... Pressure went upwards. my guess is those are still good.
Stay in school kids..
Originally Posted by Tyzing
It cut off on him and he tried to get it to turn for a half hour. When I asked if he stepped on the gas or not he told me he did. Hard to get mad when he was doing me a favor though ish happens.
Also, about 6 months ago I did have a piston hit a rod which had to be fixed and I went ahead and did the timing belt/water pump too. I'm guessing this entire deal is a bad mix of the timing being off a little and my father dumping gas only to ignite the next day.
Mother father.. I figured something was up.. you sure he didn't spray intake with accelerant??
Dad stepping on the gas is irrelevant. The underlying issue of it not turning over is the real catalyst. Fuel is injected using pulse width based on several variables to ensure proper air-fuel ratio. The pulse width changes depending on timing. If it's pulling timing, it'll widen the pulse to keep everything copacetic. Also, the piston is attached to the rod.. I'm guessing you mean't piston made valve contact. Are you saying you didn't replace the valves.. shiett... Replacing timing belt and water pump isn't a fix to the issue of piston to valve contact, it's a bandaid at best. Did the piston make contact due to overrev? timing being off? valves out-of-spec?
On a related note, it's very common for the intake valves to loosen and the exhaust valves to tighten over time, causing misfires and shit idle after a while on the J-series. Driving in this condition is no bueno because not only will it pull timing to limit knock, it'll throw more fuel down the pipe. It also causes the startup to be rough since the AFR is effed due to the inefficient cycle. It's a domino effect. The exhaust valves won't efficiently cycle exhaust gases, which is rich with fuel as mentioned, and this can cycle back to the IM. Whether its through the intake valves (loose AF or poorly seated / damaged through piston contact) or EGR. This combined with several start attempts, probably allowed rich fuel mixture into the IM, causing the explosion. Probably the most likely scenario, which might be exacerbated by the injectors spraying from the runners and not in the chamber itself like the modern J-series engines with direct injection.
Anyways, it was a lot of fuel.. I've seen some explode, but not nearly this gnarly.
Again, pops probably isn't the one to blame. He was just caught holding the hot potato.
Originally Posted by oo7spy
So speculation is that the intake flooded with gas trying to start, sat for a day, and then blew up? Is there something that will keep the intake gas from leaking back out?
Intake can't flood with fuel from pops pressing on the gas pedal. Modern passenger cars don't use a carburetor anymore. Pops stepping on the pedal would only have an effect if the car was running. On startup the throttle body position and injector width are set. Only after several cycles have gone will stepping on the pedal allow the butterfly valve to adjust allowing more fuel to be injected to even out the AFR. The intake backfire is directly related to the events right before the backfire. Any extra fuel in the tract from the previous day would more than likely have made it out since it's not a closed system. If it were a stuck injector (rare) and faulty / unseated plug not allowing burn of air-fuel mix, I'd imagine the cylinder would likely lock up before allowing enough fuel to evaporate through the IM causing explosion (assuming stuck injector isn't atomizing fuel).
Update: Needs an engine. He has one with 85,000 miles 90 day warranty & needs a water pump & timing belt for $3,800 installed. I think he read this thread and knew my limit was $4,000 so got it as close as he could...
He did find cheaper engines but none he's willing to work on due to the milage. Sigh. I'm torn on what to do...
The car is worth $5-7k. You could replace the engine, sell the car, and end up with a few thousand, but you would have to buy another car. You could also try to part the car out, see if you could get a grand or two, and buy another car. That said, the cheapest option is to fix the car assuming it doesn't need more majors repairs in the near future.
How much is you insurance deductible and will they cover it? I doubt it, but worth asking.
Why not find another mechanic? As mention in here before, a 100k + mileage engine should cost less than $1000. 100k is nothing for these motors...unless you doing something crazy, like blow up your IM....but all jokes aside, $3,800 is a lot of money. You should be able to get it done for under $2,000.
Update: Needs an engine. He has one with 85,000 miles 90 day warranty & needs a water pump & timing belt for $3,800 installed. I think he read this thread and knew my limit was $4,000 so got it as close as he could...
He did find cheaper engines but none he's willing to work on due to the milage. Sigh. I'm torn on what to do...
Was the mechanic able to tell you what happened for sure and why you need a completely new engine? I'd check to see if Insurance would cover as well, worth a shot.. If there was a fire or something after the explosion I'm guessing that might be covered, but this no idea...
Update: Needs an engine. He has one with 85,000 miles 90 day warranty & needs a water pump & timing belt for $3,800 installed. I think he read this thread and knew my limit was $4,000 so got it as close as he could...
He did find cheaper engines but none he's willing to work on due to the milage. Sigh. I'm torn on what to do...
They're closer to the north pole don't he days are shorter there. Just so happens that the conversion from Canada days to USA days is 3:1 so 3 days = 1 day = 24 hours.
Update: Needs an engine. He has one with 85,000 miles 90 day warranty & needs a water pump & timing belt for $3,800 installed. I think he read this thread and knew my limit was $4,000 so got it as close as he could...
He did find cheaper engines but none he's willing to work on due to the milage. Sigh. I'm torn on what to do...
I doubt it needs an engine. He might mean he'll charge you more to fix the problem than replacing the engine, but I doubt it NEEDS a replacement.
His price is easily 2.5x the price it should cost. A replacement engine is $600.. and why are the water pump and timing belt off that engine.. red flag.
I've never heard any mechanic voice concerns about replacing an engine due to miles.. You're getting shafted.. tow the car anywhere else.