Austarion

ok, so i handed my car to a nearby (incompetent) mechanic to do a major service on, since it'd done 210k kms. I know i could have and should have done it myself, but i had little time on my hands then, and i figure what takes me 6 hours will take a mechanic 1.

after a whole lot of pushing and prodding, a month later i get my car back, but not running (it was driving fine when i handed over the keys).

the so called mechanic has told me that he had issues with the timing, as the marks didn't look like they lined up, so he put chalk marks on all the gears and kept them aligned that way when chanign the belt - he did not recalibrate the timing. I even gave him redzone's number and ask him to give redzone a call if he couldn't figure it out, but he decided he didn't want to make the effort.

other things he did was change the water pump, and he also said that the bolts holding the turbo to the manifold were a bit loose, so he tightened them up.

so what my car is doing now is that i can start it, but it's continually on the verge of dying. if i pump the gas, it will stall and die.. if i very gradually push my foot to the floor, it'll continue to idle, but only just.. revs don't get any higher than 1000 rpm despite my foot being on the floor.

once it's a bit warmer (i.e. after 5 to 10 minutes of idling), the revs will actually start to climb, and it can sort of be driven..

so, i can think of 3 things..

1. either the injectors/intake have completely shat themselves (could it also be the fuel pump?), as they were already leaking quite badly before or..

2. the timing just needs to be adjusted/corrected - i'm thinking this is not the case because it shouldn't work better when it's warm right? or..

3. the mechanic disconnected something important and forgot to reconnect it.. i've checked the vauum lines etc, but i have bad eyes, so chances are extremely high that i've missed somethign simple..

So... any ideas? if it helps, on the way home (yes, i didn't have a choice but to drive it home.. luckily just a 3km trip), i noticed the car seemed to be overboosting, as if the wastegate wasn't opening.. but there didn't seem to be any disconnected or loosely connected vacuum lines near the turbo..

any help would be much appreciated. thansk in advance guys!

I'd check the timing, 'warming up' is pointing to that possibly? What an imbecile.

I would say its definately cam timing

Man what a nightmare... This isn't the only horror story i've heard of mechanics fking up starions... (my current boss had a Staz, took it in for a routine service, he got it back and after the drive home with it sounding/feeling weird he went inside only to come back out several minutes later to find it on fire.)

I'm soo afraid something like this will happen to me, mine is coming up on 210 and i'm mechanically inept, so i'm def. gonna have to get a mechanic to do my shit.

:(

I feel for you man, it's like someone putting your girlfriend in a wheel chair.

-Ash

i recently changed a few parts on the JA and pulled the distributor out too far. Thought I had it timed right but couldnt get it. Got an auto elec to come sort it. He yimed the dizzy ok but told me its still running rough ? He didnt bother to check the plug leads, they werent on the right plugs :roll:

check your afm and map sensor ;) then get the timing right

my 2 cents

man what a wanker. doing a cambelt on one of these is IDENTICAL to doing one on a 80's L300, which he's probably done a million times, if he's actually a real mechanic..

step one - check cam timing

step two - check injectors to see if they're dribbling

step three - ???

step four - profit

Where abouts in sydney are you? I may be able to have a quick look

Thrash,

Take Adrian up on his offer of help and do whatever you can to make it happen - even if you have to tow the bloody car to him.

It will be the best investment of time in your life. (Interpret that as Adrian really knows his shit ) :beer

Thanks heaps Adriano, I'm up in North Ryde (between epping and chatswood).

I've got tomorrow off so i will spend all day trying to figure this out.. perhaps try to get the timing sorted.

if i make a mess of it, or if i still don't manage to figure out what's wrong, i'll happily tow it to you if that'd make it easier for you :)

If I knew anything about Starions or mechanics LOL I'd come and help you, you're only 15mins from me.

lol, that's not saying much.. in 15 minutes i can make it to parramatta in the west, hornsby in the north, north sydney to the east, and lidcombe to the south :P

where are you located?

Inner West near Balmain.

ahh cool cool, hope to see you at the next sydney meet/cruise!

Sadly a little way off getting my Staz

Any news?