Engine Noise...not good.

[Jag1718]

Ok...so i'm showing my car off a little to a couple friends...giving them a ride and giving it some gas and what not. I decide, what the hell, i'll see how fast i can get it up to. So we get it going and i get it to about 125 - 130 mph...i break and everything is fine...so i turn around and decide to do it one more time since it is on the way back home....well this time after doing it...i notice a distinct ticking noise at any level of rpm and it seems like a reduction in turbo power...however, i'm afraid to test it cuz of the god awful noise i get from revving the car up more than 2500...The car has the stock guage and no boost controller so i didn't think i could over-boost by any means. The car is a 98 vr4 with 55,954 miles and hasn't had the 60k service yet. I mean, i hear the noise ALL the time and it gets worse with more power...hard to describe noise other than ticking/or the noise like when u try to start a lawn mower and u hear it starting up but it chokes off and dies. The car is completely stock...any advice?

[YogsVR4]

STOP DRIVING THE CAR!

There is a chance you've got some rod knock going on and could blow a rod right through your engine. Get it into a shop (towed on a flatbed) and have it checked out. The other possibility is that one of your turbos has been toasted which won't hurt the motor directly, but is still not worth taking the chance on driving it more.

[Jag1718]

Yah, that's good advice man, unfortunately i posted from a friends house and i needed to get home...probably a nice 15 minute drive and i figured it drove fine from where i was, i can make it....WRONG. 1 minute from the house...bam engine dies. I'm like ok....maybe something disconnected please!!! No the car won't start or even turn over...engine locked....great. Call tow truck and now i have a dilemma...I can either have the engine swapped for one with probably higher mileage...cost me 100$ on an engine swap because i bought the best warranty possible on the car at purchase where i only have to pay a 100$ deductible...or i can do an engine refurbish...that will probably cost me 1700$ or so...any suggestions on which would be a better decision? I don't know if we have the money or not for the refurbish but i didn't really want to lose 56,000 miles on my car to a 100,000 mile engine swap...nevertheless, input would be great....thanks.

ps: i feel like a real idiot with the limited knowledge i have about engines...i'm going to take classes so i can learn much more....

[Thourun]

Just hang out here, you'll learn alot.

[StealthModifier]

The sound ur describing sounds just like what happened to mine.. come to find out it was a spun bearing, but i put another engine in it, check out nippon motors.. i got a motor from them with about 40k miles on it for about $950

[Thourun]

What exactally is a spun bearing? I have head alot about it going bad but not what it is lol.

[Jag1718]

Well, since we recently bought the car from a dealer on monday...we're waiting to see what they suggest and to make sure it falls in the cna warranty. That's probably the problem i have but they said they won't know for sure till they take the engine apart. Tomorrow i think the car will be going to the mitsu dealer and see if they can't find an engine. I want to suggest to them that an sl engine would even work because it's still dohc and they could mount the turbos onto that engine...couldn't they?

If anyone else hears a sound like this coming from the engine...hope this can be a lesson learned to prevent anyone else falling to this kind of a problem...Good luck with ur cars.

[StealthModifier]

My spun bearing was on the crank. its when the bearing actually spins itself over, i dont know how exactly to explain it ,but it causes the rod to knock because both sides of the bearing are on one side and nothing on the other

[StealthModifier]

The SL and the VR4 have different compressions , it would probably be better to put another twin turbo engine in it.

[Jag1718]

Thanks, definitely going with a TT engine then....hopefully i can find a decent mileage one...it sucks losing mileage.

[StealthModifier]

I found some twin turbo engines for around $2400.. the miles on all the motors from that place have from 30k-45k miles on them

[Jag1718]

do u mind sharing where u found these motors at? I'd be so happy if i could get mileage like that on an engine...would my car still put out 320 horse or would it be a little slower or what? Thanks man.

[StealthModifier]

the site i got mine from they sell japanese engines... an to compare my old engine that i spun the bearing on to the japanese engine, the one i got in it now is stronger than the one i had b4 so it could be more than 320 on a tt... but the site is...http://www.nippon-motors.com/

[Jag1718]

sounds like a good deal to be honest, thanks for the support man and i hope it does put out more than 320 haha. I'll keep an update on how things are going. Thanks again.

[StealthModifier]

no problem, glad i could help