sad. my car crapped itself today

[black turkey]

im very sad today, my car is now dead and on its way to a work shop.

teh story: i picked up my bro from the hospital (he had a baby, a boy 8 pounds, Jack), it was the first time he had been in my car and he asked if it was fast, i said its not too bad and gave him a little demo, around the streets (not speeding, just accelerating and braking hard) and then he said it must handle pretty good, so i went down this road which is slightly off camber and very fun to drive at high speed, so to get there i had to overtake a truck, so i did and i noticed the car was a lil bit slower than usual, but i didnt think anything of it so i continued. anyway we got to this place we wanted to go, so we ripped down the road and i hammered it in 3rd all the way to just under 140 and went around this bend and followed the road up the hill, then (still flat in 3rd) it started to lose speed slightly and then suddenly a very very very loud clapping noise took over all sound and then about a half a second of that the car turned off.

we rolled to a stop and i try to start it up, its starts but there is a loud slapping noise (metal to metal quick slap) from the motor which is also shaking the car badly. so i pop the bonnet and take apeak, nothing out of the ordinary in the way it looks, but the loud noide is coming from inside the motor, then the car dies again (the temperature gauge works and was in the middle, so not overheated, there is plenty of oil in the motor to.).

so thats it, it got towed and i will find out what is going on tommorrow.

does anyone know what could have happened?

also, please i know it was stupid to drive at those speeds, and yes i am a ***** head sometimes so please no abuse on me.

[J e r e M y]

hope it all turns out alright.

[ddot]

congrats to your brother, i hope the baby was not in the car aswell?

good luck with the car

[sinan]

*******

[black turkey]

the baby was definately not in the car, im not that bad lol. its with its mum and the hospital still. i took my bro home to go to work, i had work to, we were both late for work tho

[Keisari]

oh damn! i'm really sorry to hear about it! I don't know what's causing the noise exactly, but don't be surprised if there's quite a bit of labour involved...

don't feel that fanging it caused the current condition, tho. it must have been on the way out, it was just a matter of time... i know you'll work it out :D

edit: that camry engine might be looking slightly more appealing now ;)

Edited March 25, 2008 by Keisari

[1rocky]

congrats to your brother and his wife on the birth of baby jack but sad on your car hopefully it isnt too much to repair <_<

[SeiferST162]

This hurts just to hear mate. I have a nice little St162 that has just come back from a rebuild after breaking down in all most the same way. Execpt mine did it in my street when trying to teach a p plater in a holden some respect. Big bang and lots of smoke.. Very sad. Just found out that the piston head had cracked and dragged bits of metal through the engine. Most fatal! It took me months of work with 4 mechanics to put it back together with and import motor and a lot of swearing! ( read my post "1986 Celica ST162 Another new owner" ) Did it blow a lot of blue smoke?

[black turkey]

na it didnt blow any smoke at all. i went researching today and $2400 for a new rebuilt motor, the camry motor i was thinking about getting is no good appearantly.

another place that does all the taxi's up here said he can do me for 2000 fitted and all, he is a good friend of my dads. the motors they use have 4-60000 kms on them. so i reckon thats okay

[black turkey]

ok, mechanic has come to the conclusion that the motor is ****** beyond repair, i either have to a, get someone to rebuild the motor, or b, get another motor put in, im going to get the motor replaced by the taxi place i said earlier. is this the best option i have? the motor that i get will be one that has done minimal km, but not freshly reconditioned, but its a whole 800 bucks cheaper with mates rates and all.

or would a freshly rebuilt motor be worth the extra in getting? i believe an engine with 40k km is pretty new, i believe these motors would be ones from 01 (or similar aged) camry's, so should be in good nick and have lots of life in em?

anyway just thought i would get a second opinion from you guys.

[SeiferST162]

I would go with the rebuild. When i baught and import motor it had only done 36 000 k's but had a pretty hard life by the looks of things. I ended up spending antother $1000 fixing my "new" motor in order to get it to run... oh and its going back in to the shop on tuesday for more work. That odd hissing noise is starting to scare me. oh and it still has a list of problems longer than anyone would care to read. I wish now that i had have just got a rebuild, It would have worked out cheaper in the end. But if your mate is sure this engine is good then by all means go for it man. I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya. Ps. Never trust the wreckers, One tried to sell me a "great motor that runs really good" When i got there to see it, It was laying in 2 foot of water... Then he turns to me and says "she a beaut huh? yeah only $900" I laughed and ran away as fast as i could

[champ]

I had the same problem, only in my case there was no oil in the engine (whole different story about how when I first got the car, I took it to Auto Masters for a full service. Long story short, they didnt screw back the bottom properly and the oil was leaking slowly.... fast forward 2 weeks... driving on the freeway and then clank, clak, clank, clak...)

Anyway, I got a reconditioned engine, changed most of what was in the engine bay that needed replacing at that time too. Came up to just over $5k in total. It runs perfect now. But being a 22yo car, eventho the engine and most in the engine bay is all good, I'm still always replacing bits and pieces around the car. The latest being the gearbox and CV Joints.

So I wouldn't recommend spending too much on your engine replacement unless you will be keeping it a long time. I'll say go option B, but make sure you get a proper engine replacement. Also remember a rebuilt will mean a long period without the car.