Engine crankwalked at 65k!!??

[TurbosR4me]

About 3 weeks ago, i bought a 96 GSX with 65k miles. When i saw the mileage, i thought wow, good deal. When I was driving it home from Oregon, I glance down at my oil pressure, and its 0!!! So, i pull over, check my oil, its fine, looks clean and notice my oil gauge sender is unplugged. Everything ran fine the rest of the way home.

A few days later i noticed a small oil leak around my drain plug. It was a really small leak, no biggie. But i religiously checked my oil every morning and night to make sure it didnt get low. It was always max, which i thought seemed weird, even though it was a small leak. But about 1 week later, my car starts idling horribly, so I figured fouled spark plug or wire. Re-gapped all my plugs, and it ran fine. 2 days later, it did the same thing, so I checked my plugs and wires and they were fine. I decided just to live with it till i got my new wires and plugs in the mail.

The day b4 my wires and plugs came, i was driving the car to work, and it completely died on the freeway. I thought it was just an ignition problem so I towed it home. My plugs and wires came finally (NGK wires, BPR7ES plugs) and after i put em on. NOTHING. The car wouldnt even turn over. Put a new battery in NOTHING, replaced my radiator fan fuse (which was bad for i dunno how long) and it started right up, but idled like shit. When i reved the engine over 3k rpm it knocked like hell. So, i took the car to a shop to get my timing checked. They pulled the oil pan, and found about 2 quarts in the entire engine!!! And, the oil had tons of metal in it. I couldnt believe it. I had checked the oil every day, and it was MAX!

Anyway, im pissed as hell, since im replacing a 65k mile motor with a 35k mile motor, anybody have any ideas how this could happen, or wut could have caused the metal. I dunno if lack of oil caused crankwalk, or my engine just crankwalked (which seems weird since i have a stock clutch). Thanks, sorry for the long ass story, just wanted to give u alot of info.

[kjewer1]

I still dont see the part where it crankwalked. Did you measure the crank end play? Crankwalk is a specific scenario, not just another way to say "hey I F'ed up my motor!"

[BoostedSpyder]

i hope the place you bought it from is buying the new motor!

[TurbosR4me]

Ya right, I wish!! Well, i pulled the motor today, the new motor should be here tomorrow. While its out im gonna replace the clutch to an ACT, put in a 14B, replace the plugs. Im not sure if I should attempt to replace the timing belt. The engine im putting in only has 30k miles. Is it worth it? I heard replacing the DSM timing belt is kinda .....risky. Is there anything else I should replace while the motor and tranny are out?

BTW, when i pulled the engine, i checked my plugs. Every one had extremely dark deposits. Those plugs were brand new and the car wasnt even driven with them in (just idled). Is it possible my brand new NGK's are all bad too?

Kevin, i havent checked the crank endplay yet, but im going to do it tomorrow. I dont know if the engine death had anything to do with crankwalk, just an idea. Thanks

[FourG63 97GST]

so you measured the crank yet?
how much play?