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Not be confused w/ my ’99 Eclipse (partscar/beater) in the other thread that threw a timing belt and resultant head damage... this is about my ’97 Eclipse (my baby) that I’ve been ‘playing with’ (as my wife would describe) and had to hurry up and put back together since I was now down both cars. I generally drove my baby one month and my beater the next month (alternating), so I could add parts and perform maintenance along the way. I say ‘drove’ because I’ve been having a real doosey with my two Eclipsi and my wiffle’s Escape the last two months, and am selling the beater as soon as it is fixed.
For reference, my DSM Registry is here:
http://www.dsmregistry.com/details.php?car_id=137
Background:
In December, while I was waiting at idle/still in a Wendy’s drive-thru, my car started screeching loud as if the power steering was dead or dying (REALLY bad). I could rev the engine just fine, I could drive up to the next window just fine, I had use of power steering (could turn wheel), and my fuel, oil, boost/vacuum gauges were all showing normal. My car continued to screech/squeal loud for a total of about 30sec and just stopped, everything was back to ‘normal’. I was due to drive my beater anyways, so I parked my baby for the last month and have been driving the beater (till the timing belt shreaded).
Inspection:
Over the last month, I changed to a polished upper intake manifold (thanx boosted60), powder coated valve cover (thanx rshissler), and a couple other things here and there. So I had the opportunity to take a look, and here’s what I found:
1.) PCV Valve was definitely dead and the hose between valve cover and intake manifold was quite oily. As a result, there was a good bit of oil/guck in both the intake manifold and throttle body.
2.) I ‘popped the top’ and switched out valve covers, and took a good look at the shafts/rockers/springs/etc... and could not discern any issues with anything within view on the top of the head. Granted, I’m not a machine shop (just a weekend warrior) and was simply looking for things ‘out of place’. Everything looked very solid, uniform, and immovable. I will also mention here, that I did send the head to an actual machine shop about ~9months ago to get checked, cleaned, and leveled (when I put on a new headgasket), and they did fill in a hot spot for me (only thing out of the ordinary). Also, I checked and found good compression across all four cylinders.
3.) The spark plugs looked uniformly burnt (heh) across all four cylinders, nothing un-normal.
4.) I just noticed this morning, that when I pull the throttle cable (to rev the engine while parked), that smoke appears to be coming from either the vclamp between the sides, or from the inside half of the compressor side of the turbo (Hahn s16g) - as in, not the air filter half of the compressor.
Further Description of Problem:
1.) Screeching only happens every so often (infrequently), only for about 10~20seconds, and will only happen when car is idling (never when the engine is >1500rpms). So I winde up rev’ing my engine up to ~1500rpms to try and avoid it. The only difference I can discern (between idle and 1500rpms) is that my oil pressure raises from ~20psi up to ~45psi.
2.) Periodically, I will hear something rattling around in the head, at least that’s where it seems to be coming from (sounds loudest at rear of engine by intake manifold). Not quite like a screw was dropped in sounding similar to a constant pinball machine, but rather like something is I dunno... just rattling around a bit, hard to describe (not the normal tap/rhythm/chug of the head). If you rev the engine, the rap-tap-rattle goes away... and the engine does rev quite smoothly/nicely. Note: this is NOT the chatter from the clutch/flywheel/transmission... which is a brand new Southbend DXD-B (< 1yr old). You'll also note from my DSM Registry, that it is a built head w/ 3 angle valve (done by Dave_FL before I got it).
3.) The screeching CAN stop the engine... I noticed that if I sit there and let it do its thing (to see what it does), that my engine can stop/‘turn off’ (not always, and not even usually). Not that it typically does so, as my typically reaction is to rev the engine, but I noticed this when I had it parked and was checking it out (the car just stopped).
4.) I have no CEL’s (except my current MAP out of range)
5.) My power steering dipstick was at the very tip, right below the MIN. Filling to MAX does not resolve the issue.
Right now, I’m at a loss and am looking for some direction. My compression should be fine (recently checked), the head was recently checked at a machine shop (I’d like to think it’s fine). If there’s something wrong w/ my turbo and it seized, could it stop an engine? If there’s something wrong w/ the Power Steering, and the pump’s pulley seized, could it stop an engine? What do you suppose could cause the rattle I’m hearing? Anyone know of a good 420A shop down in South Florida?
I’ll take good, bad, or ugly news right now... but I’m hoping it’s not an expensive tear down. Help?!?
- J
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