Engine died while driving

[tooslickz]

Hi all. I've been lurking the forums for a while but today my supra died on me. I have an 87 N/A supra. Got it about 2 years ago with 95k miles. It has been good to me while I've had it. When I got it, it wasn't running and everything so I took it to my mechanic and he changed the power steering, water pump, retorqued the head because of BHG I guess. I didn't know what that was at the time but I guess he knew about BHG problems with the old supras.

Today it died on me while I was driving on the freeway. Thank God no one was hurt. Anyways I heard a rattling when I was pushing on the gas and when I let off it was quieter. I knew something was wrong so I tried to get off the freeway as fast as possible. While I was in the exit lane, the engine cut off and I coasted to the exit street. There was a little smoke when I tried to start it again, and also the steering was completely gone cause I'm guess the power steering also shutoff.

I just want to here your guys opinion on what happened so I can tell my mechanic. I'm not the mechanic type so I don't really know what went wrong or what to tell him.

Thanks in advance.

 

[CyFi6]

Sounds like rod knock if you heard rattleing.... And BHG if you saw smoke, but this all has to be verified by someone with experience.

 

[benchwarmer]

Sounds like rod knock if you heard rattleing.... And BHG if you saw smoke, but this all has to be verified by someone with experience.

Sounds about right to me. The rattling sound means you're going to have to do more than just replace the gasket. You're likely looking at a full rebuild.

 

[CRE]

Too many possibilities and too little info. Why you asking us if you're taking it to your mechanic anyway? Sounds like he may know his way around well enough, at least he knew about the BHG propensity.

 

[BlackDynamite]

Too many possibilities and too little info. Why you asking us if you're taking it to your mechanic anyway? Sounds like he may know his way around well enough, at least he knew about the BHG propensity.

You are right CRE, But yah know there are so many shade tree Mechanics around these days, i WOULD ask questions. They could SAY something is wrong with it and not even mess with it.

Sounds like it has spun a rod bearing. When I had bought my black supra, it died pulling into my house. It was knocking and then just stuttered off...

I drove it a week on a spun bearing ;]

It was a BEAST!

 

[benchwarmer]

Too many possibilities and too little info. Why you asking us if you're taking it to your mechanic anyway? Sounds like he may know his way around well enough, at least he knew about the BHG propensity.

You and yer damn logic....

 

[CRE]

I can think of a couple things that could shut the engine down and cause, what to a lay person might qualify ever so descriptively as, a rattle that aren't rod knock. Yes, some things are more common (and downright more likely) to certain engines but let's not jump to conclusions... especially with such a vague description.

Yes, there are shady mechanics out there. It sounded like he has faith in his though.

tooslickz, checked the oil lately? Can you be a bit more specific about the noise? Did the car sound like a Mac truck (a diesel), did it sound like someone was hitting the engine with a hammer? When you last tried to start it did the engine actually turn over? Are all of the belts tight? Were you doing donuts in a parking lot (no, I'm not joking)? When you get smoke out the back, what color is it and what's it smell like (smell sweet? smell like gas? smell like burning oil?). Has the timing belt been replaced to your knowledge? Did you hear anything like "back firing"?

You and yer damn logic....

Err... sorry. :nono:

 

[chopstickz]

check how much power you have on your battery.

 

[tooslickz]

I can think of a couple things that could shut the engine down and cause, what to a lay person might qualify ever so descriptively as, a rattle that aren't rod knock. Yes, some things are more common (and downright more likely) to certain engines but let's not jump to conclusions... especially with such a vague description.

Yes, there are shady mechanics out there. It sounded like he has faith in his though.

tooslickz, checked the oil lately? Can you be a bit more specific about the noise? Did the car sound like a Mac truck (a diesel), did it sound like someone was hitting the engine with a hammer? When you last tried to start it did the engine actually turn over? Are all of the belts tight? Were you doing donuts in a parking lot (no, I'm not joking)? When you get smoke out the back, what color is it and what's it smell like (smell sweet? smell like gas? smell like burning oil?). Has the timing belt been replaced to your knowledge? Did you hear anything like "back firing"?




Err... sorry. :nono:

I didn't check the oil recently but it was due for an oil check 3k miles. I don't know what kind of rattling but it was just something I never heard before. I don't mess around with cars. It didnt' sound like a hammer. I don't think I heard anything when I tried to start it it just started to smoke a bit and I shut it off right away. The smoke came from under the hood and I don't think from the back, but the temp looked fine on the gauge but I know taking readings just from the car measurements isn't always accurate. There was an odd smell but I still have no way to describe it. I was also too scared to try and start it again. I just replaced the timing belt about 2 months ago. There was no back fire noise(gunshot right?).

 

[CRE]

Wow, we get more info and everyone drops out? chumps.

Ever smell burnt electronics? If it smelled anything like that then look over all of the wiring running from the battery. Look in the fuse box as well.

Or, did it smell like french toast? Sweet, kinda syrupy or such... That'd be coolant (most types anyway).

Another possibility is that you were blowing exhaust gasses out the intake (possibly the timing belt).

Check the oil level, check the coolant level and look to see if you're loosing any fluid onto the ground... if so try to see if it's coolant or oil.

I don't know how to describe the sounds I'd expect, so you get to try to describe it to me since you're the one who heard it. Try to think of thinks it sounded similar to. Like "cans on a string being dragged by a newly wed couple's car", "a really bad drummer practicing on a plastic trashcan with a big metal spoon".... okay, well, descriptions like that MIGHT work... lol. If it was something more like a rumbling flapping sound it may have been the timing belt giving up.

 

[BlackDynamite]

Make sure the belts are tight. If i remember correctly, when you replace the the timing belt you have to take off the harmonic balancer. If it was loose, it could have have come off, My black supra did this once. If it fell off and the belts went with it, then you have no water pump, alt., power steering ETC.

That could cause it to knock, from no coolant being pumped(causing motor to knock or seize) or the harmonic balancer itself rattling around.

Also, was the dial pin put back on the crank, if there is no pin and the crank bolt becomes loose, then it is possible that it is rattling around and it might not be spinning with the crank. It's possible, but not likely. Your harmonic balancer would have to have a good bit of slack.

 

[AJ'S 88NA]

Sounds like the timing belt to me. But I'm not as good with sounds as CRE is BTW CRE, how does a 7M sound with the valve lash adjusted right?

 

[cuel]

AJ: Quiet (Not like I'd know, mine needs a bit of "adjusting")

Sounds to me like a pulley locked up, and tossed the belt(s). Good luck, though, and hopefully that's all it is.

 

[CRE]

I'll let you know about that tomorrow... I can tell you how loud one shim that's got .01" too much clearance sounds though... ARGH! (EDIT: Oh, and after this I highly recommend everyone make a little time to check their clearances... I had only 3 shim clearances that were within specs.)


I'm thinking seized pulley or timing belt too. There are some other possibilities, but I think those are far more likely than a BHG.


EDIT: I'll add that the last time I lost a belt a rock or something chomped a chunk out of my power steering belt. The part that was cut made a wonderful banging sound as a strip of it thrashed everything it could reach until a few seconds later it was sucked into the water pump pulley and started burning... kind of reminds me of something I heard recently.... can't remember what though.... hmmm. :naughty:

 

[webbs7mgte]

again agreed with cre hard ot help with vague info but at least u gave us osmethign to base off of but go backk to teh garage pop the hood and try to start it see where the smoke is coming out of i had a smiliar problem but the smoke was form a abck fire due to a bad MAF sensor and it was a back fire and white smoke coming out of the TB so find out where the white smoke was coming out of and also drain ur coolant check if their is any oil in it or any coolant in the oil flush both out and see what its liek and try to find out if any exhaust smoke is white and let us know

 

[CRE]

Well, while we're all on track with everyone agreeing with me (which I am TOTALLY ok with :naughty: ) let's not keep suggesting certain things, such as cranking the car, until we check on some other things... such as making sure there isn't a valve sitting in a piston, a stray valve shim eating up a cam, or the timing belt's gone and there's no oil flowing. Checking the coolant and oil are good ideas (even if to just make sure they're still there ), but we've NO idea how capable this gentleman is. It sounds to me as if he has no aptitude at all and should have the car looked at by someone competent prior to causing further damage.

If he wants to learn how to diagnose things and work on the car himself this probably isn't what he should be starting with.

Anyone here in his area who's willing to play mentor?

Stick to the little things we know he can probably do himself such as checking the oil level, looking to see if the coolant is discolored or oily, and check if if any of the belts are chewed up or gone.

A bad AFM shouldn't cause smoke to come out of the intake.

 

[benchwarmer]

Where abouts in Cali are you tooslickz?

 

[tooslickz]

Hey guys, so I went to the mechanic this past week. He looked it apart and said the engine was dead and either I'd have to rebuild or find another engine. I guess rod knock(?) was the culprit which I feared. It was fine just the day before but then died on me the next day.

Getting another 7mge was about $700 and total to replace was about $1500 is what he quoted me and he said that there were other engines like $450 but he didn't trust them. Is this a decent price? Also he said the engine only had a warranty of 3 months. Rebuilding it would run about 2500-3000 and another mechanic didn't even want to touch it. I may be forced to just get another car.

I am located in Los Angeles, more specifically in Monterey Park.

Thanks for all your input guys.

 

[chopstickz]

i think thats tooo much honestly. i know shops here that would replace it for $800. Hell, i think Kaizen Motorsports would even do it for less than $1k for a 7mge swap and they know what they're doing. Rebuilding is a different story as it takes time and machine work.