Please Help Me Please

My girl's 97 GST Turbo (automatic :frown: ) is having two different problems...

1: When starting the car there is this terrible crunching or grinding noise but the car still starts. This noise has been going on a while now and does not seem to be going away.

We are taking it in to the dealer tomorrow but I just need to get some idea if I can fix it myself. Damn dealer charges $100 bucks just to look at it!?!?!

2: Sometimes...when the car is between 2000 and 3000 RPMs there is this strange Lag problem?? It's like all of a sudden the car just loses any strength temporarily...

Please help me out.

i have no idea on Q1 on Q2 it sounds like it might be a fuel shortage problem because your turbo should start spooling up at 1500 to 1700, but i could be really wrong. it is hard to diagnose engine problems over the net. hope this gives you a little help.

sorry, let me expand on that a little bit. here my reasoning, turbo spools up and forces more air into the engine at first it gets the fuel it needs but then starts cutting out because of dirty fuel filters/injectors or a weak pump. therefor the engine goes lean and starts cutting out. hope that helps.

Sounds like a boost leak to me, you're going to have to pressure test your intake to find any leaks. Check out www.vfaq.com

Rob

#1 - Is the starter making that noise?

there are so many poosibilites for #2 its either the turbo or teh car is running to rich or not enough gas. This could be to to intake problems ecu problems spark problems etc.

Is it a quick drop in power, fraction of a second? I'm willing to bet its ignition misfire causing fuel to be cut for a split second. I get this all the time unless I gap my plugs down to .026 (25-28 psi). It wouldnt be a fuel delivery issue, because at high rpm its fine and fuel demand is FAR greater there than at 2k rpm :wink: It would easily show up on the top end. Boost leaks tend to make you run rich throughout the whole rpm range not the low-midrange.

Be sure to only use only factory or NGK/Magnecores (and magnecares are a crap shoot too). Any other type will misfire at elast 50% of the time right out of the box. Also, turbo cars need the plugs changed no later than 10k miles. Maybe 15 at stock boost. But for 10 bucks, why chance it. I have to change mine monthly to give you a comparison... :wink: They come at the wrong gap, be sure to set them to 28-31. If you havent fixed this issue yet, and I have the right idea of your problem, try this and let me know if it works. If I dont have the right idea, explain the issue with more detail.

Thanks for the help guys...what happened is, a few months ago the dealer did an engine swap on her car due to an oil problem that blew her motor. Apparently when they put in the new motor somehow they bent the flywheel which in turn screwed her starter...
The other problem was apparently some loose bolts on her turbo. Everything was covered under warranty Thank God!
So we are back to having fun with the Eclipse....
Thanks again :)