Your Bad VR4 Story?

[Vr4junkie]

I got one... well this one time long time ago I bought a Vr4 less than 3000mi later I ended up getting a rod knock and broke down ever since it's been in my drive way collecting dust well I can't say it's all bad its a nice tool table when working on other cars /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif .

 

[DR1665]

Quoting BpuVR4:
^ i dont know the inside story but that looks pretty sharp to me!



Let's just say some things aren't always what they're cracked up to be. You could have a different, 300whp, RUNNING GVR4 for every month of the year for it cost to buy - and un-f*** - that car. It's been the cause of some of the worst drama this community has ever seen, and driven wedges between good, local friends.

You might say it's cursed.

And that's all I got to say about that.

 

[James]

Mr. foster needs to post his story in here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif

 

[rexwagon1909]

Read my build thread lol. Got ripped off and a completely toasted motor with about a tablespoon of bearing material in the bottom of oil pan.

 

[91_427]

I bought my GVR4 in February of 2012. I rented a tandem axle car-hauler trailer with electronic brakes from the base recreation center for the day. I then drove 7 hours to pick the car up in Asheville, NC. The PO was a very honest and upfront seller, and he made no attempts to hide anything that was wrong. He even showed me a few things that were wrong that I didn't even think about checking for. Anyways, I bought the car after a short test drive and loaded it up on the trailer and secured it down with a 6000 lb strap on each corner of the suspension cross-strapped from left to right and right to left.

It started raining almost as soon as I got back on I-40 heading back to Jacksonville, NC. About two hours into the trip back I noticed my electronic brake controller light was off indicating that the trailer electrical whip had come unplugged. I pulled over to check it out and discovered the the electical whip had a pretty bad pinch in the wire located just under the tongue of the trailer tucked inside the trailer's frame. I decided to keep pushing on only doing 50 on I-40. About 20 minutes later I came upon a traffic jam, which forced me into the middle lane of the 3 lane highway. Once past the small jam traffic flow picked up, but traffic in the slow lane was too packed for me to get over safely. I was about to get over when a tractor trailer cut me off and braked erratically forcing me to suddenly brake. This sudden braking caused me trailer to fish-tail to an extreme degree. I tried my best to correct without steering into other lanes of traffic, but it was no use. After the sixth or seventh correction the front tie-down straps broke causing the car to come off the trailer, perform several spins into a guard-rail and the roll over to the shoulder of the highway. Meanwhile, I finally come to a stop with the trailer at 90+ degrees of the direction of my truck. The deck of the trailer cut a gash in my d/s rear tire and the tongue of the trailer bent my bumper and exhaust. Suprisingly no other cars were hit. The tractor-trailer that caused the whole event kept going and twenty minutes later while I was loading the car back on the trailer the North Carolina State Troopers graced my presence with their berries and cherries and issued me a ticket for an improperly secured load and a fine for the damage to the guard-rail.

Needless to say my galant is beyond repair. The entire d/s rear quarter panel is smashed in to the trunk and the trunk lid is bent beyond opening, the front bumper was shredded, p/s front fender is dented and warped beyond repair, as well as all the lights in the front p/s and rear d/s are smashed. Once I get back from deployment I will be getting another GVR4. My current GVR4 will become a parts car for my next one.

 

[James]

Depending on hat my daughter decided to let me get done today... I plan to pull my oil pan and valve cover. My hopes aren't high for what ill find.

 

[matt92vr4]

Wow, that's a terrible story. Glad no one was hurt. Any pics of the accident? I use to live in Wilmington and work in Swansborro, so I traveled through the base many times. Be safe on your deployment and get back soon to buy another GVR4!

 

[boostedinaz]

Quoting James:
Mr. foster needs to post his story in here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif



The story of #3 will be posted someday.

 

[Jesus_Negros]

I bought it.

 

[Steve885]

That was heart breaking story...

 

[DR1665]

Quoting boostedinaz:
Quoting James:
Mr. foster needs to post his story in here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif



The story of #3 will be posted someday.



If only we knew someone with a magazine. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/idea.gif

3/1000 is already 1000% improved. Wouldn't be surprised if it appraises for US$35k in the next year or so.

 

[DavsR]

I bought 1303/2000 for 1400 bucks with a nasty knock in the engine that sounded like it was coming from the head or the Oil pump. This was my first VR4 and my first DSM all at the same time. I replaced the oil pump first and removed the balance shafts thinking it was a bad bearing the balance shaft set up. While i was in there i didn't notice any sloppy rods or metal shavings so I put it all back together and fired it up. No change to nasty knock/tick. I replaced lifters twice with out the handy tool that doesnt require you to take the timing components off, so basically performed three timeing belt jobs if you count the oil pump replacement. well on the second set of lifters I managed to remove the knock/tick. HAPPY DAYS. So i decided to upgrade turbo, firt run on the new turbo I blew MAD CLOUDS OF SMOKE EVERY WHERE. Made the Nube mistake of upping the boost with out supporting mods. When i opend the hood it looked like an explosion of 10W40 had gone off in my engine bay, i was leaking oil from the timing belt cover and out of the every seal on the engine. Ended up cracking the ring lands on piston number three. I ended up rebuilding the entire engine my self, buying the oh so critical supporting mods (injectors, intercooler, downpipe, exhaust, ECU, ect) and now I'm 5K miles into the new build and running like a champ.... Untill those unexpected master cylinder failer, slave cylinder fail, throttle body seal fail, transfer case seized up on me, tranny spun somekind of bearing, coil pack failed, alternator failed, inner outer tie rods, lower control arm bushings, ICM failed, ect, ect, ect.... BUT.... I LOVE 1303/2000!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

Quoting rexwagon1909:
Read my build thread lol. Got ripped off and a completely toasted motor with about a tablespoon of bearing material in the bottom of oil pan.



You should stop claiming you were ripped off... or;

If you seriously think I intentionally sold you a car with a bum engine, start a bad guy thread about me and we'll take it there.

I drove that f***ing car an hour away to meet up with you, why in the hell would I do this if the engine was toasted? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Further, did you not check the oil while inspecting the car? Serious question, i honestly dont remember. We were at a f***ing walmart; for all I cared you could have drained the oil in a pan, refilled it with oil, from walmart, before ever purchasing it. I went above and beyond to help you sort out getting that car properly loaded up, i was so concerned about the car I had enjoyed so much, that I unloaded the car and reloaded it backwards to better distribute the weight on the trailer, because I was concerned something might happen to it!

Long story short, you either ragged that poor car out in the 100 miles you wound up driving it, OR the engine was in fact on its way out, unbeknownst to both of us and just your luck, it died when you got it home. Either of the case would result in you not being ripped off...

I've explained to you 100 times that I had a spare engine in my garage and I would have swapped that thing in if I thought for one f***ing second that the car I was selling had any issue with the bottom end.

Either drop it and move on, or take this to a bad guy post, but rest assured, I'll continue to add my input if you continue to troll this board.

 

[JamesFoster]

Damn dude... I feel bad for not selling you #852/2k after reading what you went through on this one... Sorry man.

Quoting Steve001:
I have a great one..you'll love this ... I bought 885 from a person on here.. I got tons of vids and pics the car itself was in great condition and seemed to be sound( I really should of went out and looked at it ) I also did a lot of research on the on the guy that sold it to the guy I bought it from who is on here as we'll.. Any way had it shipped it arrived.. Well right off the truck something seemed wrong.. Every time you push the brake I hear a loud screeching grinding sound ..weird .
I remember someone mentioning the rear brake sticks every once in awhile, well after taking of the rear wheels I find there's no inner pads just using the caliper piston as a brake shoes GREAT ..so I bought 2 new rear calipers,rotors, shoes, installed them and now I can drive.
So I drive the car in my neighborhood a couple times.. Sometimes dies at stop signs..has crazy lag and after a couple days starts a idle surge.
I went through the car cleand everything tightend and retightend.. And cleaned some more..I even coned keydiver to burn me a new chip. Thank u (MONEY TALKS).
Ok I think I got it under control..time to drive to the DMV and to work 20 miles round trip.. I go to the DMV then to work...no problems then on my may home I loose control of the RPM I don't know what to think and the car stars running time a pile of sh*t..I pull over to inspect don't see any weirdness I restart still shitty..I drive it home. Next morn check the timing belt. WOW what's this so loose I can lift it off the gears..I'm not a mechanic so I had it towed to a shop
It's been ther for six weeks..turns out every single bolt was hand tight or almost.. The timing tensioner almost fell off when he took off the cover.. nothig was clearenced so i had a oil pan full of squiters..the fly wheel was loose..ok so we got it back together. Did a compression check was getting 175 150 150 175. Did a leak down was loosing 30 % in the two middle cyclinders.. I had them jerk the head and strange no bent valves.. I took the the head to the machine shop they said all the stems were bent and the head was milled 20mm under spec so there was nothing they could do.
I found this nice guy at SIM in Michigan that had a old stock 1g brand new head that he would sell me for a reasonable price and he is doing a stage 2 valve package..SS valves ,duel springs, 3 grifters.5 angle seats..
I really hope this is the end......I JUST WANT TO DRIVE THE F%^#en thing. I'm pretty sure this car is going to break the bank or the marriage...lol will se what comes first

 

[Steve885]

To top it off, dude at STRICTLY IMPORT MOTORSPORT must not know his sh*t sent me a scratched up head that I had to have redecked and he swore it was for a six bolt motor, nope it's a 1 g 7 bolt head that I had to modify to fit 6 bolt head studs( of corse my mechanic at WORKS Motorsports who are compared to ROAD RACE of Northern California doesn't know how to do the mods) and he still hasn't refunded me ( ill be starting a bad guy thread later) I'm really starting to feel you can't trust any mechanic or business related to MITSUBISHI ,DSM and GVR4..

 

[matt92vr4]

I came to that same conclusion on 1996.

 

[BpuVR4]

Quoting Steve001:
To top it off, dude at STRICTLY IMPORT MOTORSPORT must not know his sh*t sent me a scratched up head that I had to have redecked and he swore it was for a six bolt motor, nope it's a 1 g 7 bolt head that I had to modify to fit 6 bolt head studs( of corse my mechanic at WORKS Motorsports who are compared to ROAD RACE of Northern California doesn't know how to do the mods) and he still hasn't refunded me ( ill be starting a bad guy thread later) I'm really starting to feel you can't trust any mechanic or business related to MITSUBISHI ,DSM and GVR4..



yea as I've gotten older I realize finding good help is harder and harder...at least in the new age of internet it's much easier to get help/answers.

 

[JCorbo25]

Quoting Steve001:
To top it off, dude at STRICTLY IMPORT MOTORSPORT must not know his sh*t sent me a scratched up head that I had to have redecked and he swore it was for a six bolt motor, nope it's a 1 g 7 bolt head that I had to modify to fit 6 bolt head studs( of corse my mechanic at WORKS Motorsports who are compared to ROAD RACE of Northern California doesn't know how to do the mods) and he still hasn't refunded me ( ill be starting a bad guy thread later) I'm really starting to feel you can't trust any mechanic or business related to MITSUBISHI ,DSM and GVR4..



I tried to warn you about Works Motorsports. Many Evo guys have had issues with that shop and I personally saw some of the 'work' they put into a Galant VR4...

In the Bay Area, check out FFTEC Motorsports. I have been hearing things about 'Teddspec' lately and people are swearing by his work, but I dunno.

 

[Steve885]

You were so right about WORKS if just a oil change,or get your tire pressure checked fine, something major be prepared to wait a long LONG time time....LONG time, with no update call at all.....

 

[Epifool]

Discovering that the gaskets in my engine are reused and slathered with grey rtv... this is gonna be a mess to clean/fix. But it euns!!