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ARG!!!! I almost made it!


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Posted

With just over 1100 miles to go to hit the 250k mark, my car took a dump on me on the way to work this morning.

 

This morning was going to be a great day, nice and warm, I had the windows down, the top open, the music playing... gas was $1.98 for the 93 octane stuff, so I filled up. Everything was swell.

 

Right before pulling onto I75 I noticed smoke coming from the rear of my car. I thought that maybe the left rear emergency brake was partially engaged again, so I pulled over to maually release it.

 

Much to my chagrin, white smoke was pouring out of my tail pipes. And I mean pouring...

 

I managed to limp the car a few miles back to my house and popped the hood. The engine is making a ticking noise like some kind of huge hyperactive clock. The smoke is not as bad, but I don't think I'll be driving it anywhere. I had to drive my wife's 4-door Hyundai Elantra in this morning. :x

 

I have neither the time, place, nor patience to do a teardown on this thing, so chances are high that I will take a butt-load of pics tonight and throw an ad in the For Sale section. Watch for it after work!

Posted

If I can get a decent amount of change for the TGP for some cash down, I am looking at a used 97 GTP. Miles on it are kinda high at 133k, though, so I am not sure.

 

What do you guys think?

 

edited to remove the link, which was causing the screen to scroll. The vehicle was sold, anyway. Back to looking

Posted

I'd try to get some lower mileage for that price... there was a '98 around here a few months ago with 85,000 miles for just $6000.

Posted

Sorry bout that. You should pull it w/ a truck just for the satisfaction of seeing 250K on the odo. :D

Posted

Well, the GTP was sold. So, no worry about that.

 

I have no idea what might be wrong with the TGP. It could be something as simple as a broken valve spring or a failed lifter. But then, it could be broken rings with a piston slapping around in there. Just hard to say. Maybe when I get home tonight I'll pull a valve cover and take a look.

 

I really would like to get it to it's 250K mile mark. I am really disappointed that I got so close. And I was going to start modifying everything, too!

 

Heck, it's not costing me any money where it sits, so I might as well get the tools out and work on it in the driveway to see what it might be.

Posted

I just don't get it...

 

I got home tonight, fired the car up, no ticking, no smoke, no nothing. I drove it around for about an hour and it ran without a single complaint.

 

So, anyone have an theories on what might have happened? Did a big chunk of crap shake loose from somewhere and fall into a cylinder, burning and causing all of the smoke maybe?

Posted

:shock: That's really odd. Maybe one of your coils is dying and flaking out off and on.

Posted
Maybe one of your coils is dying and flaking out off and on.

 

Thats what happened to me...

 

Could be that the smoke was the fuel going into the cylinder, but not getting spark. Sounds like shit and runs like shit. But it may be completely different for you, after all, I didn't have any ticking, just a bunch of vibration.

Guest Anonymous
Posted
Well, the GTP was sold. So, no worry about that.

 

I have no idea what might be wrong with the TGP. It could be something as simple as a broken valve spring or a failed lifter. But then, it could be broken rings with a piston slapping around in there. Just hard to say. Maybe when I get home tonight I'll pull a valve cover and take a look.

 

 

Thats what the RPE was like... huge plumes of smoke and a loud ticking noise. Not sure what it was, that engine is probably now the fenders of a few new civics..

 

If you do a part out... ive got a few requiests,...

Posted

White smoke = coolant. If a headgasket blew or a lower intake gasket or something like that it could easily cause coolant to get into the engine causing the white smoke, thus causing internal engine damage. Check the oil and see if there is coolant in it.

 

Shawn

Posted

No oil in the coolant or vice versa. Tomorrow night I'll pull the plugs and take a look.

Posted

Well, crap. I didn't get the chance to work on the car last night, so I am going to try again tonight. New coil packs at Autozone run about $29 a piece for delco, so I think I am going to replace all three, plus the wires, and I already have replacement AC plugs in the garage.

 

Hopefully this will solve and prevent future problems. The TGP is still running great, so who knows what really went on.

 

Less than 1k miles to go now!

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Well, here is an update. I just got back from a week-long vacation in a beach house in Outer Banks, NC, and since it is Father's Day I took advantage and started to do some car work. I had some new plugs and wires, so I decided to pull them and figure out if I had a bad coil pack. The front 3 plugs could be used in a manual on how a used sparkplug should work. Great color, no deposits, nothing bad at all.

 

So, after fiddling a while, I tried to start it up and remembered I really low on gas, so I went to fill it up. About 2 minutes after filling the tank, I started to smoke again. I remember that the last time I smoked was right after topping off the tank. It smokes for a few, then quits.

 

Do I maybe have a hole somewhere in my fuel tank filler neck, maybe, that when I top it off, I get raw fuel running down the outside of the tank and on to the hot exhaust :?:

 

Other than that, the car runs like a champ, so that's my theory.

Posted

The car would ignite if that happened, I would think, unless it was such a minute amount.

Posted

i'd say the seal at the top of the gas tank isn't seated right or has broken down and is leaking now.

Posted

I don't see anything unusual as far as stains go. On closer inspection, the smoke seems to be definitely coming from the exhaust and not from any of the pipes etc underneath. It smoked badly for only a few minutes, and then quit. On the ride in to work this morning it had no problems at all.

 

I am at a loss, but if the problem can be solved by not topping the tank off, I can live with it.

 

~700 miles to go before the big 250k!

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