Hey all,
I'm the buddy TitaniumVtec is talking about. Since Hurrican Wilma, I have been without cable or internet connection until a couple days ago; so, TitaniumVTec posted on my behalf. Here's the long story short:
While driving down a scenic road down here in Miami, on my way to meet up with a friend, I was stuck behind some guy in a large GMC Yukon or Denali. He was going 10-15 miles below the speed limit. There was no passing point for me as traffic was zooming in the other direction on the two way road. We got stopped at a red light. There was no one else around, and the light turned green. But this guy decided he was just going to sit there on the green. The turning lane next to me was clear so I just went around him. No big deal. I pushed her in first, past him, went into second, brought her up to speed at around 45mph and shifted into third.
Here's the problem, this jerk decided he was going to floor it as I was passing him to keep my shoved over into opposing traffic. I easily out accelerated him, however, once I started cruising, I saw his lights right on my tail. Now before I get any flames of what YOU ALL would have done, I simply did not want and could not deal with the drama. I shifted from fourth to third to second and accelerated away from him, pedal to the metal.
Believe or not, the guy still was racing up behind me, and I then shifted to third gear just under redline.
Here's the problem, My synchro is going bad in Third Gear (a new transmission was on the Christmas list for me this year and I just missed a great one from SoS, Doh!!!); when I tried to shift into third gear it simply would NOT go into gear and when I let off the clutch the car lurched to a stop locking the wheels. The tach bounced off the redline a couple times and I stomped on the clutch AND the brake.
The odd thing is, this all happened between S.W. 112th Street and S.W. 104th Street. After my car locked up, I shifted into second and proceeded down the road another block and pulled off in the middle of the road on a large, yellow lined center median. BTW, the jerk almost hit the back of me and swerved off to the other side of the road. This is less than a half mile distance. From hearing what I have said, one would think I traveled much further than that.
And Yes, the jerk still wouldn't leave me alone. Even after almost slamming into the back of me after chasing me down, he still came right up behind me until I pulled off on this median. He then pulled off the road on the grass to the right and yelled at me "Good, I want you to pull over, you crazy driving bastard"......Weird, I'm the crazy driver, but he turns Road Rage Vigilante. I called my police station to see if one of my fellow officers were in my area but they were tied up on other calls. I decided once again, that I don't really need any drama, so I put her in gear and drove on to meet my friend.
When I arrived at my destination, I noticed the car at a slightly different idle tone. She wasn't sputtering, just a deeper, slightly slower idle. There was also, a very slight ticking noise coming from the rear of the car. I couldn't tell if it was from the engine bay or exhaust.
Still that night I took her for a run and she drove fine. I noticed an ever so slight loss of power that would only occasionally occur.
Like TitaniumVTec said, I brought the car to the dealership and explained to them what happened while asking for a compression test along with other diagnostics they could run to determine anything about my car. A few days later they called me to tell me my car checks out fine. I go pick my car up, and later that night took her for a drive.
Now I notice the power lag a bit more. Also, the engine would idle very low, almost to the point where she was about to shut off and picked up the idle again.
I took her out on the highway for a good run. Oddly, the power felt strong and constant throughout. At one point she took me to 140mph in fourth gear (no flames this is late at night on an empty highway and spare me the "but your a cop" crap please).
After that running her a few times up and down that strip of road, she idled rock solid and the power came on smooth and crisp with no hesitation. The next day, however, she started to idle up and down again. Pushing her pedal to metal felt as though I had a slightly clogged fuel injection or something. There was definitely some power loss felt, though it was very slight.
I had been trying to contact the dealership and I've come to believe that no diognostics were ever run on the car . I had purchased some new spark plugs for them to intall while doing the compression test along with an oil change. They changed the spark plugs and charged me for the labor, but I saw nothing about a compression test on my reciept. When I inquired about what diognostics had been done to determine my engine had a clean bill of health, I was told that they would call me back. I have yet to hear from them.
So, I called a master mechanic (MIKE of MCAmotorsports) where he explained that the valves my have been slightly misaligned creating a slight leak. Like someone has said before, he will do a leak down test to determine which if any cylinders are compromised.
When I asked him to give me a rough estimate regarding the possible repairs needed, he told me between $4k and $5k. OUCH!!!
Talk about being nicely Reemed!!! In hind site I should have slammed on my brakes and let that jerk run into the back of me....But I know I would be too worried about my car to have that happen. That was a damn big truck that jerk was driving!!! He may have nocked me off the road into the canal just off to the right or even into opposing traffic.
Give me some feedback guys. Is this estimate about right considering how my car is running? Is a lower amount to be expected? Do they make rear missle launchers, or James Bond style gadgets to get some jerk off your back?
Are Mariah Carey's Boobs Fake?
No seriously, I'm really down about this. I have trouble justifying the cost of spending five grand on my car. This money was supposed to go towards the purchase of a new transmission.
Now what do I do? Tough situation I tell ya.....
Thanks for listening though....I guess I didn't shorten that long story much at all huh..LOL..sorry.
Blade
lol
