So I'm looking into buying another 2g. So that I can work on Kimberly and have her down for a period of time and have another car to drive. Anyways, I found a 95 Eagle Talon with 90k and supposedly a blown head gasket and in need of a water pump. Body and Interior are immaculate except slight peeling of clear coat and a small dent in the passenger door (all I've discovered). Now the problem is in her ad she states that it starts however, does not move (dies and the pedals freeze up) not quite sure what she means by this as I have not looked more than through the windows as they didn't have a key readily available. I tried to search for any similar situations but couldn't seem to find anything. What would cause this? Thanks in advance for any assistance you might shed unto my situation.

Ryan Bastian

Massive vacuum leak.

Ok so this is gonna be a stupid question I should know the answer to but, how would a vacuum leak cause the pedals. Does it have something to do with the brake booster maybe? I'm going to go back Sunday when the owner is available so I can get into car and check out the problems first hand. Any explanations or suggestions are greatly appreciated thank you nicho

A vacuum leak will not make the pedals freeze up. She might not know what she's talking about. Also what reason would there be for all of the pedals to freeze up when they aren't even connected and their linkage/lines travel to different sides of the car. A vacuum leak will cause the car to die when you try to give it throttle. I'm thinking maybe shes holding the brake down when she started it and when it dies the brake pedal gets firm because there's no booster vacuum. Also I would be worried about the over all condition of the motor itself. If she knows it has a blown head gasket and faulty water pump how do you think she discovered it? Simple, it overheated. The question you have to wonder is to what point did the car overheat before she decided it was a good idea to turn the motor off?

See the whole pedal freezing up thing didn't make sense to me either I'm just taking her word for it. As for the motor condition I completely agree. She said she had a mechanic tell her they were bad. i m going to go back tomorrow when they have a key and take a look at the motor and suggestions on things to look for?

You really wont be able to tell much by looking at the outside. what you want to be able to see are the pistons, rod bearings, and cylinder walls.

Pistons - Check for any obvious mechanical damage like broken ring lands.

Bearings - Most of the time if a car runs hot the piston ring to cylinder wall friction is increased. This extra friction can wear bearings out prematurely or cause a bearing to melt to its rotating surface(crank) causing a spun bearing.

Cylinder walls - Check for scoring or chips in the cylinder walls.

I believe you also said it needed a water pump? Does it need one because of the mileage or because it's bad? Is it leaking or locked up? In severe cases when a timing belt driven water pump locks up it can cause the timing belt to slip or even break resulting in bent valves, damaged pistons, broken rockers, etc etc..

Some signs that the car has an head gasket leak. check the radiator fluid for oil or chocolate milk looking shit. Also you can check the oil for water (also chocolate milk looking shit, convenient eh?). These are sure signs of a head gasket failure.

Ok thanks again for the advice. I'm not sure whether its locked up or what the situation is with the pump. She did say it runs not quite sure how well but...yea but in the chance it did slip a tooth or a couple and bend the valves a simple compression test will tell me that. Correct? Any suggestions on where to start looking for a vacuum leak? Thank you again sir this has been very helpful.

No problem that's what we're here for =) And yes a compression test will reveal some internal motor damage such as bent valves but there's also other kinds of detrimental internal damage (but it's definitely a good idea to run a compression test before buying the car). For instance the bearings could be bad or a piston ring land could be cracked or chipped (sometimes it will lose compression and sometimes it wont). As for a vacuum leak check all the vacuum lines that go the throttle body and to the back of the intake manifold for obvious leaks, cracks, and disconnections. The proper way to test for a vacuum leak is guess what? That's right a vacuum tester lol. I'm not entirely sure if they rent them at auto-parts stores but I know the shop has one. However there are two "ghetto" ways to do a vacuum test that I know of.

Note: I didn't discover these "ghetto" tests and I'm not sure who has. So being that I can't give credit to the founder all I can say is it wasn't me. I just like to put my name on things :thumbsup Just kidding.


Tony's Ghetto Test #1 (if you don't smoke skip to #2)
The cigar/cigarette test. With the motor running at idle take a few puffs and blow the smoke around the throttle body and watch to see if it gets sucked up anywhere. If not blow some around the back of the intake manifold and again watch for it to get sucked in. If nothing still blow it around the fuel rail and again watch for it to be sucked up. It sounds kind of silly but I find this to be the most effective method. If the smoke does get sucked in replace the leaking gasket/seal/vacuum line.

Tony's Ghetto Test #2
Take a can of starting fluid (Any brand will due). Spray it first on and around the throttle body with the car idling. If the car bogs down you've found a leak. If nothing try the back of the intake manifold and down by the fuel rail. If the car bogs at any time locate the faulty gasket/seal/vacuum line and replace.