Shifts normal now?
Shifts normal now?
yes, it shifts good now. Drove it a bit more last night.Originally Posted by OG_SRT4
Sweet!
Messing with the VSS, the wires broke off at the sensor, right where they go in. Barely touched them, probably original sensor. Car still drives down the road fine with no VSS, is that normal? No power loss light or anything... It wants to stall at EVERY stop sign now, but seems to idle better. The shifter has been fine. The timing belt is riding too far on the outside edge of the cam pulley, is that a sign of it being too tight or too loose? I also noticed the alternator adjustment bracket is rubbing on the lower radiator support, looks like it has been all it's life judging from the groove in the core support. I'm going to go price some VSS sensors...
IIRC, the belt running too far away from the valve cover indicates too much tension, while the opposite is true for too little. The VSS should fix the stalling problem, it sounds like it might have been having issues before the wires broke. I've driven cars with them not functional and they were fine, except for the idle being weird. Good that you replace it.
The rubbing may be a sign of the engine not being aligned correctly, or a mount that's not right.
Great to hear that it's on the road!
Mike
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." - Patrick Henry
Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.
- Edmund Burke
Not only did Autozone have it cheapest, they can also have it by tomorrow morning!
The new VSS made a world of difference, returns to idle much better, doesn't want to stall anymore, etc. It still doesn't have a perfect idle, but getting better.
I had the same experience when the VSS went out on my GLHT
PT Lifter upgrade wouldn't hurt, I've read it smooths out the idle, I hope to have a set installed this spring.
Also I noticed a huge difference when I switched the 02 sensor to a 3 wire.
Should have went 4 wire but at the time I didn't know any better.
Last edited by Keito; 03-24-2016 at 05:58 AM.
Big +1 to the O2 sensor, the added wires are for the heater circuit, which means it will come on-line sooner and stay there, with more accuracy and live longer if you run leaded gas from time to time.
There is a blue wire that provides power to the injectors and the group of solenoids on the fender, which is the one I'd splice into for power on the O2, the other wires are just grounds.
Mike
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." - Patrick Henry
Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.
- Edmund Burke
I'm still running the 1 wire, maybe I'll upgrade to a 4 wire soon. I really need to look at the timing belt next, it's definitely too tight. Unfortunately I have a family member's mini van in my garage all torn apart right now! Front struts and alignment will be done soon too, can do it at work during spring break.
Well..... I wish I had good news... Did some stuff early this morning and got home before the wife and kids, so I decided to take the Charger out. Let it warm up a bit, and went out for a drive. Went through a couple neighborhoods and hit a lot of stop signs to check on the VSS issue, the car was running GREAT! Took it out on the open road and opened it up a bit, again, running awesome! I probably went 6 miles total on my test drive loop, then decided to stop by my house and make sure nothing was leaking/broken before taking it on a longer drive. At idle in the driveway the low oil pressure light came on, revved engine and light went off. Hooked up my oil pressure gauge and sure enough, under 5 psi pressure hot idle. Rev the engine and it jumps up to 50/60 psi. BUT when snapping the throttle, I heard the unmistakable sound of rod knock until the pressure built up. Shut car off and went inside. Blah
Full rebuild time or just inspect the bottom end and maybe swap some bearings?
Step one, pull the pan and see what is going on. This whole bottom end was checked out, plasti-gauged, etc. It was low mileage and looked great. Not sure why this would happen. I did start the car up last night and oil pressure was good cold/engine wasn't making any noise. I don't know, I swear I heard some rod knock yesterday.
Back to the drawing board! #3 Rod bearing failedhttp://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/sh...dle&highlight= At least I got to drive it a little bit and have made good progress from where the car originally was. I'm trying to think positive here! I was originally hoping to drive the car awhile and work the bugs out while collecting parts for a 2.4 swap. I really don't want to start a 2.4 swap until my wife and I buy a house. I don't want to have to tow parts cars around and haul parts/etc. while moving. Buying a house is still another year out, so I am forming an alternative plan. Choices:
1) Original short block is sitting on an engine stand right now, start going through it and install the top end from current motor
2) Remove current engine, clean thoroughly, swap cranks
3) Guy on craigslist has a "25 year" collection of turbo dodge parts for sale, see if he has a T2 common block or even a 2.5 T1 common block I could buy, maybe he has a good running engine I could drop right in. May call him this week...
I lean toward choice 1., at least then you know what you have to work with, unless you come upon an engine for cheap that is in good shape, confirmed by a cursory disassembly.
It sure would be nice to have it to drive this summer...
Mike
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." - Patrick Henry
Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.
- Edmund Burke
I'm leaning towards choice one also. The engine ran when parked. The previous owner was driving it with a badly blown head gasket and was just adding water to the coolant. It was then parked and sat for 10 years. When I got it I add some fresh gas and jump started it, it fired up with no strange noises. Didn't run it long, but drove the car into the garage. Engine was then pulled and put on a stand.
Check the deck of the block to be sure there aren't any low spots that will kill the head gasket quickly. If there are, you'll need to fix that or face a never ending chain of blown head gaskets... (don't ask how I know!).
If it's flat, you'll be back up and running in little time, and, as something of a bonus, have another engine to build up, or maybe start working on the parts you'll need to do the 2.4 swap, stuff like mounts, etc.
Mike
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." - Patrick Henry
Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.
- Edmund Burke
Spare engine is apart, sadly the crank is in poor condition. It sitting for 16 years with a mixture of oil and water in the crankcase caused all the main journals to develop rust. Time to find a new plan.
The engine/trans combination is completely loose in every way from the vehicle and sitting on a transmission jack, still in the engine bay. I just need to jack the car up higher and pull the engine/trans out the wheel well. It's crazy how easy this thing is to work on. I charged the battery in my electric impact and went to town. Only spent a couple hours to get to this point. Still not sure which route to go. The original engine block is at work completely disassembled. I threw it in the "dishwasher" parts washing machine and it came out rather nice. It is waiting for me to measure it out. Other option I'm turning over in my head is pulling the current crank out of the current engine, sending it to be turned, new bearings/oil pump/rod bolts/etc. and cleaning things as good as possible. That'd be the quickest route to get it running, but still seems a little risky.
Went to pull a part today. Was eyeballing a PT GT/Auto. Valve cover, intake, cams appeared to have been off for awhile, debated pulling the engine and keeping it for future use but apparently it was already purchased as the forklift rolled up to pull the engine out. Found a handful of 2.2/2.5 N/A cars, but no turbo cars. There was an 87 Reliant, 93 sundance, and a Dakota 2.5/manual trans. Left with some parts for the daily driver so it wasn't a total bust.
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