a few problems, need some help

so first thing is first. my suspension/steering issue.

so when i drive the car and start switching lanes, turning the wheel slightly, the car whobbles. i can feel like the car jiggle. along with this it feels like the car slips slightly. it's hard to describe. dry,wet, any condition it does it. it feels like it slides into the lane.

i thought it was my long blown shocks, so i sprung for the coilovers expecting to solve the problem. so i put on the D2's and still does it.

i don't rub anywhere. my tires are literally new. swaybar links are intact. and it did it with 2 diffrent suspension set ups

any help would be great. i want to have ideas before my mech looks at it.




second issue is engine related. i'm a little over 109k on the clock now. when i start the car its hard. it takes a bit of cranking and start rough. it burns quite a bit of oil. i assume this as i have no leaks anywhere. my thing is when i start the car and give it some gas keep the revs up so it doesn't shudder it blows a bit of blueish smoke followed by black soot/smoke.

i would say the engine is going tho shit the bed, and going for a headgasket. but the coolant is normal

just want to hear thoughts.

1. most likely camber issues. i had the same if not worse problems back in the day. Another thing would be the motor mounts

2. Im going for a fuel issue for the hard start up - Either pump or FPR. With a stock fuel system its really hard to add a one way check valve between the fuel filter and the rail.

Q: do you smell raw fuel sometimes?

If oil gets to the combustion chamber it'll partially foul the spark plugs and the engine will studder for a a few seconds until you rev it. I had the exact same problem before the rebuild and was the main reason for it. I'd start the car and then 10 sec later there will be clouds of smoke coming from the tailpipe and it's continue for some time until the car warms up. After that there'd be no smoke .

I have to say it's either valve seals or oil rings.

ok so you think i should just get the camber kit for the front? any links to some at a reasonable price. i seen some that made my jaw drop.


ya i smell fuel quite often actually. to be honest the car runs like shit. it doesn't pull right at all.

check around the fuel filter for leaks. I tiny leak would cause hard starting

this is the cheapest i could find

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/INGAL...s_Accessories&

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/95-99...item3a454b7145

but you need the rear kit as well. Do it right

The way you describe the slip,wiggle slide thing I would bet one or more of your rear control arm bushings has a lot of wear.

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Originally Posted by w/oarctic7g

The way you describe the slip,wiggle slide thing I would bet one or more of your rear control arm bushings has a lot of wear.

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i feel the wiggle/slide from the front. it's like a feeling through the steering wheel

hey chris, was the balljoint recall done on your car?

if it has im leaning towards a bushing up front as well

for the suspension issues, lift the car up and wiggle the wheels back and forth at the 12 o'clock and six o'clock positions. Make sure those ball joints are still good as well as the wheel bearings. If that checks out, wiggle it at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock position and make sure the tie-rods arent loose. Failure to both the ball joints or the tie-rods can be fatal.

I agree with Mko about the hard start. Do a volume test on the pump and it should pump out atleast 300mL in within 30 secs. Also pull off the vacuum line on the FPR, if the hard start goes away you might need an FPR. Try cycling the key on and off a few times before you crank it and see if it gets better. If the check valve for the pump is bad the rail wont hold residual pressure which can cause a hard start.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kolio

i feel the wiggle/slide from the front. it's like a feeling through the steering wheel

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how does it feel like? as you drive and you feel this rapid switching to either one of the directions and the steering wheel kind of jumps

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mko

how does it feel like? as you drive and you feel this rapid switching to either one of the directions and the steering wheel kind of jumps

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like it slides. when i turn it it feels not quite like a jump but a smooth hop

was the lower balljoint recall done up front? just trying to eliminate that as ive seen a 2gs fail in front of me before and it wasnt pretty.

ya it was done a while back. then i had to replace the passenger side again. tomorrow i'm jacking it up to wiggle one wheel at a time

I'm gonna say wheel bearings, I had a similiar problem roughly 20K miles ago, replaced my two front ones, went away.

whatever you need i got it brand new. just drop me a PM.

With only 109K on the clock your engine should be like new as long as the timing belt and oil changes have been done. My daily driver has 263K and until just yesterday had never had a motor problem. A thought about the oil consumption; Pull the spark plug wire from each of the spark plugs. If the oil seal in the spark plug tube is leakling you can collect an amazing amount of oil in the spark plug tube. As the oil builds up it can effect how well the car runs. This is not the most likely cause of disappearing oil but I just had this happen to me. Car suddenly experienced an increase in oil loss without obvious signs it is burning it and then the other day the car would only turn over and try to start but just wouldn't fire. I was thinking the plugs needed to be replaced as I can't remember when I last did them. When I pulled the plug wire from the spark plug tube two of them were soaked with oil. Must have been two inches of oil in the spark plug tube. Those two plug wires were literally falling apart from their continous oil bath. I now need to pull the valve cover and replace the plug tube oil seals and the plug wires.

Its normal to use a quart in 3000-4000 miles, but he said it only smokes on start up. It's either the valve seals or guides, more likely are the seals. The oil enters thru small gaps between the valves and seals into the cylinder where it fouls the spark plug, making the engine to idle rough, it still fires and ignites the mixture, but the presence of oil makes it a little harder, and it puff out blue smoke, because the oil gets burnt. When the engine warms up, the gaps are closed or reduced and no or less oil enters the cylinder.

Oil in the spark plug tube would only cause misfire due to the spark being shorted earlier in the tube and not at the spark plug tip. This misfire is evident at any temps or rpms

my tube seals were changed at 85k

and the oil it eats is significant. a quart disapears ever 11-14 days

i don't know what the car went through the first 50k of it's life