Ummm... Sparky backfired/misfired and stopped working at 120km/hr on the 401

[northguest47]

Crap news for me, here are the observations:

-doing about 120km/hr on the 401 a single backfire is heard from within the engine compartment area
-the motor being at say 4000rpm or so winded down on its own to zero in just over a second or so
-somehow the transmission was, or seemed to be in neutral, can't remember if the stick was still in 5th or not
-a bunch of new lights came on, the car was not happy, the power steering was working still or so it seemed
-tried to start the motor while coasting the starter seemed to not even respond
-coasted to safety on the shoulder, got an expensive tow home
-no codes have been read, the car was left as it was un-touched, just the battery removed and trickle charged

Cursing myself if its the timing belt because that would be my fault. If the motor failed well, that wouldn't surprise me given what it has been put through at 250,000+ kms.

Haven't even looked at it to figure out the answer yet, this is procrastination. Because the motor has to be re-built any way you cut it.

In the meantime, a 2007 Chevy Aveo LT with excellent body shape and only 79500 kilometers was found. This car has 1.6L 5sp, AC (extra pulley, longer belt), power doors, windows, mirrors, and sunroof, factory tints, fog lights, cruise control, lady driven, garage stored, original timing belt and water pump, completely stock. The air intake hose has some duct tape on it, overall the motor looks very similar to me but the air conditioning definitely adds a lot of stuff that is not in my older car.

Soooo I have now solved two problems. Back on the road with this sweet car, the bushings are all tight, the gear shifter is tight, the steering is tight, the suspension is hilariously tipsy. On the bright side now my setup has two motors (one working), two ecus, two of 'a lot of other things that might be useful'. I dream about learning how to re-build that first motor. Thing is are the motors interchangeable, one has AC, the other doesn't.

The cars are very similar so to me its weird to get into the newer one.. the seat doesn't have that broken spring, the left turn signal actually cancels on its own, the hatch latch isn't seized, there is super minimal stuff on the body in fact its ridiculous how un-rusted and un-dented this car is. The sun roof makes the ceiling lower and its was totally noticeable right off the bat, however it will probably not bother me in a few weeks, given the fact that I have a darn sun-roof! The drivers side window servo makes a duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh sound when moved up and down, don't know what that is. But really ... this car has soooooo much potential.

Pictures to come tomorrow:

[Daox]

Sounds like you found yourself a nice replacement. Why keep the 06?

[northguest47]

Because ... parts for one, plus the motor may be re-built in the future. Plus at least one of the motors is probably gonna get a turbo some day.. when I get a round tuit

I finally took some pics of my new ride, gonna make a new garage entry and I will link the pics here.

[northguest47]

By the dang way, I love this car. Is that not obvious by now?

[northguest47]

Today for the first time a chevy corvette was observed doing 'what a corvette should do'. Was it a co-incidence, who knows. At least finally some dude in a corvette stomped the pedal. It sounded great, not really that loud compared to the crappy cars I hear that 'want to be amazing' but actually just are 'the same car with an annoying exhaust'. Ugghh... I will solve that problem.

What with electric cars shredding internal combustion motors today, its all about a lot of things:

-up front cost 3000 CAD, this is hilarious its 2222 USD surely this is a good day
-overall cost
-cost of gasolina at 25-33 mpg over the lifetime
-cost of electrilina in the futures dudes
-cost of power steering rack swap, for example sucks balls
-cost of 6 dollar clutch release bearing sucks even more balls
-cost of 7 dollar cheapo thermostat ahh, don't sweat the small stuff



this car is the best of the old cars in my humble opinion, and we'll see how long the new one lasts, perhaps I am wrong
perhaps there is another one, another auction awaye

[MetroMPG]

Congrats on the quick replacement for Sparky!

Parts cars are a great idea ... provided you have a place to park it, and neighbours who either don't mind or are too far away to care! (I currently have my eye on a parts car for my '98 Firefly. )

Any news on what the engine issue was??

[northguest47]

MetroMPG I find it difficult to believe that it was not my own fault for putting off the 4th timing belt replacement. And its so frustrating for me to admit this because it means it was human error that ****ked the motor. Still it has not been diagnosed I haven't even taken the scangauge off it to read the codes I just needed some distance from the car.

I will take the scan gauge off and see what we can learn from this motor.. from everything I have researched I find it difficult to believe that it wasn't human error.