Welcome to DSMs, n00b

[Toad]

Sorry this is so long, but I feel like I left many details out. It could easily be twice as long.

 

I was never really into cars. I knew that I liked driving them, fast. I guess I started working on cars when I changed the CV shafts on my 97 accord.

 

One day my friend James, who owns a 91 3000gt vr4, was discussing dream cars with me one day. I told him I wanted a rear-wheel turbo. He told me my options were somewhat limited, that I should get a DSM because rx-7s are a pain to work on, and he and another friend knew DSMs really well. My options were a starquest or an eagle talon, or an eclipse or some other stuff. Obviously, I chose the Conquest because it had style. I love the lines on it. Oh, here's the only pic I have of it so far: http://dailybooth.com/t3hBattleToad/1077131

 

So after looking for them on and off for about 3 months, I found one in Massachusetts , 755 miles away for 3700. We drove to Boston on a time schedule (James and I) in my 97 accord. We needed to get to Boston with enough time to test drive, buy and get to a BMV for temp tags to drive it home. We got to town at about 4:00pm. I had to play hookie at work most of the night. I had to drive from Columbus to Cincinnati and back to get my social security card from my parents house to get the registration. Left work for Boston a little after 3am. The drive was long, hit a little NYC traffic, but made it there on time.

 

This part is a list of things not to do. First, the kid wouldn't let me test drive it. I should have walked right there. His excuse was that he didn't get test drive it when he bought it. He drove us around in it, knowing exactly how to drive it so it didn't give away the problems with it. Like a little kid in a candy shop, with enough money to buy the biggest jaw-breaker in the store, I handed him $3700 cash, more worried about getting to the BMV than the shape of the car.

 

Once it was all said and done, he pointed us in the direction of the nearest BMV. We got there at 4:50... This location had been closed for a month now. The kid may or may not have know. Wouldn't surprise me either way. But now the car was mine and nothing would stop me from getting it home. I took my front vanity plate off my accord and put it on the Quest for the drive home. After getting to know my baby a little, I found the turbo was smoking. We determined it was an external oil leak. No problem, we'll just buy 8qt of oil for the journey back.

 

The clutch was completely gone. Kid said he had the engine rebuilt, which I don't doubt - the block was green. Now it had an 8.5:1 compression ratio, without any supporting mods or ecu adjustment. Leaky turbo, minus a clutch, but it was still drivable, so I drove it.

 

We left Boston probably around 8 or 9pm. I'll tell you what, I railed on the Quest for the next 620 miles. I was doing 4th and 3rd gear pulls every few miles, but it was ok because I kept putting oil in it. It was a blast, as I'm sure you all know. Three (3) miles from the PA / WV border, I shifted from 4th to 5th and my revs stayed at zero. Great. So I pulled over, James in the accord in front of me saw this and went to the next exit to turn around.

 

I popped the hood, saw oil everywhere. Opened the oil cap and a bit of smoke came out. Maybe more than a bit, but I thought the car still might run, so I dumped the remaining oil I had into it. I tried starting, turned over really slow a couple times, then I stopped. After awhile, James showed up and determined the clutch fluid res was empty. Had some brake fluid in the honda, so we put it in, and finally got the car started.

 

Let me preface this by telling you there were rumble strips on the side of the road with me. With the car started, I beat it into first gear, thinking this whole time that my clutch had exploded. Once in first, I tried accelerating, thinking the horrible noise my car was making was due to the rumble strips. I got enough speed to shift to second, but that didn't work. The noise became quite obviously more than just rumble strips so I turned the car off.

 

When I opened my hood again, I saw something resting on the battery. As I went to pick it up, James was irritated that I was being ADHD when there were more pressing matters than a neat looking thing on my battery. I picked it up and immediately dropped it between my radiator and oil cooler. Thing was really hot. I grabbed my oil rag from the trunk and managed to free the hot lump of metal from the radiator. James looked like he saw a ghost when I showed it to him. It was my rod cap. It sheared the bolts right off, exploded out the side of my block, and landed on my battery, as if to say "Hello! Welcome to DSMs!"

 

So neither of us have AAA, and it would cost something like a million dollars to have it towed the remaining 120 miles. At this point James and I have had maybe 8 hours of sleep between us since the journey began, most of it coming a few hours before the car died.

 

So we leave the car on the side of the road, sort of tucked behind a guard rail, so the cops can't see my illegal plates on it, in the grass, safe from other motorists. At this point I'm pretty out of funds. I've bought something like 80 gallons of fuel, plus food and drink and everything else you need on a road trip.

 

Luckily, my uncle was gracious enough to let me borrow his beefy F-150 with triton v8 in it. We waited in Columbus for a few hours until a vehicle transport was available at the one UHaul location that actually had one. Did I mention it was move-in week for Ohio State students? Naturally, there was a shortage of vehicle transports. 30 minutes before the 7pm close, we got the trailer.

 

Well now, we sort of have another problem: how to get a dead car on a transport? We decided to go to Home Depot and buy some steel cable and use the trailer's strap wench to pull the car up. We decided to do a test-run on the accord in Home Depot's parking lot. As the employees were leaving for the night, we got some strange looks, haha.

 

Once the cables were at full tension, we feared for our lives and abandoned the idea, opting instead to have a wrecker meet us at the car. So 2am rolls around and we meet the tow truck man at my car. He pulls it onto the flatbed and drives to a safe area to load the car. He wants $75, so I give him 100, as he just saved our lives, most likely.

 

We get into Columbus at about 5 or 6am, needing to get the trailer and the truck back to their owners. I took a small nap on the tile floor of the new house we're storing the car at (no furniture yet). James tried to get the keys to the truck from me. Still asleep, I looked at him and said "I don't have a truck" and went back to sleep. Shortly thereafter, I woke up and backed the trailer up to the garage somehow. We push/drove the car into the garage, I returned the equipment and slept for 21 hours.

 

Moral of the story: Have no regrets. I went on an adventure and I don't regret a bit of it. Now I have the car of my dreams, though I had to work for it.

 

PS: Thanks to scottreallyknows for hooking me up with the new motor!

[stefan]

sounds like something me and my friends would of done lol

 

congrats she is a beauty

you'll have plenty of good times ridin around kickin little ricer a**

[BC_99]

Congrats on the quest. Nice looking car. Im glad Im not the only one with a story like that now....lol My 89 shp dumped oil all the way home, but did make it...wouldnt start the next day or anytime there after until I rebuilt the engine lol. good luck with it and enjoy.

 

BC_99

[apedog]

that really sounded like it was quite an adventure haha

[Toad]

that really sounded like it was quite an adventure haha

 

It certainly was. And I'm sure it will continue as long as I have the car. I'm getting the new motor on Tuesday, so I'm sure more chaos will ensue.

[TexasQuest]

Great story man. Now the car means alot more to you after going thru that.

[acidbath]

Should've got a DSM. j/p

[BrazilBoy]

Should've got a DSM. j/p

He did................. Destroyed Starion Motor

[Killtodie]

dude, I have a similar story.

 

drove 12 hours from chicago to DC to pick mine up with a friend in my 01 civic. get there at like 11pm. drive it back with no plates (btw, its fine to drive a car back with no plates as long as its insured. DO NOT put other plates on the car, its illegal and will get you arrested)

 

so first thing first, 10 miles out car goes dead, some ground cable came lose

 

2 hours later power steering died

 

1 hour later car wouldnt start again, starter came loose. this is 3am. paid $200 to get it towed and fixed to a local shop

 

4 hours later we are back on the road

we pull over a bunch of times, accordion hose rips we have nothing but electric tape to fix it with. we do.

 

75 miles from home car goes dead, wont rev beyong 2krpm.

accordion hose trashed beyond repair, 2nd injector dead

 

5 hours later I get free towing from AAA via a friend.

 

car also burned off most of the oil, front tires were showing threads and no handbrake/rear brakes.

 

 

see my sig for my repair progress. I also paid $1,200 for the car, you 3.7 seems way too high for the condition it was in

 

 

besides that, fix up whats wrong! fun car to work on

Edited September 29, 2009 by Killtodie

[BloodRedConquest]

when i bought mine the clutch went out as soon as a pulled out of the dealers lot and they said it was my fault and wouldn't do anything 4 me

[TexasQuest]

I busted a heater hose a soon as I left the shop I bought mine at.

[brndnriemer]

I just got mine and joined the site. I too get some odd things too like the oil pressure gauge drops after its warmed up ,and the front tire stayed on for a 2 hour drive without lugnuts.

[MoneyMakerTsi]

I bought my car driving down the road my car died (grounding problems). Then i got it towed and the guy who towed it HOOKED ONTO THE DAMN TIE ROD and bent it. After i got my car back from them my tire blew 200 feet down the road. 3 weeks later someone said the way my luck is with the car it was going to break soon, well later that day i lost 2nd gear. Its like these cars have to break so they get more attention. And as it is my girlfriend needs a lot of attention so i decided i had to choose. Well me and my car are very happy now.

[conquest707]

when i got my first one i was drivign it back in the middle of the night and EVERY light went off in the car, headlights dash lights, everything. the first time i ever heard of one was the day before and at the time i was the only one of my freinds remotely interested in cars so i had no idea what i was getting into. i was so pissed i stopped at the first gas station, put a for sale sign in the window and bounced... luckily no one called

[Guest]

Thats a good attitude there, stay positive. I on the other hand would have been looking to beat down the dude that sold it to me and probably would have taken a greyhound bus right back to his house!

 

Keep it positive and get it back on the road soon. Check this site for locals near you that may be able to help.

[Indiana]

Diamond-Star Motors (commonly abbreviated to DSM) was an automobile-manufacturing joint venture between the Chrysler Corporation and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC).^[1] The name came from the parent companies' respective logos: three diamonds (Mitsubishi) and a pentastar (Chrysler).^[2] Diamond-Star Motors was officially renamed Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America, Inc. (MMMA) in 1995, four years after Mitsubishi took sole control of the plant, and since 2002 its official title has been Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) Manufacturing Division.^[3]

 

Three of the vehicles produced by Diamond-Star Motors, the Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, and Plymouth Laser, are also commonly referred to as "DSMs".^[4]

 

 

 

 

There wasn't a vehicle made over there in Bloomington, Ill that wasn't a complete piece of crap.

[polarisman14]

I bought one a few years ago--an 88 auto. I was driving it back from west middlesex, OH to NH (12hr drive normally) and it happened to be unseasonably cold in PA and the remainder of the way home so it was snowing/raining/sleeting the WHOLE way back. Ended up making the trip out there, sleeping for 4 hours at the hotel, leaving, changing hands of the car, and coming home. First thing I did was hang my foot up on the aftermarket pedals (DONT GET THOSE!!! SO RETARDED!!!) and almost drive into oncoming traffic in the left hand turn lane. After that I figured out that the car had basically zero brakes (had full brake fluid but pedal pushed down to the floor before it did anything). I did what any self respecting man would do--drive the s*** out of the car and race as many people on the way home as possible. I was a bigtime ricer back in the day and luckily have since changed.

 

Made the trip home safely and arrived at 4am, not until after losing control of the car once back in NH (it was all ice there) and getting my first informal drifting lesson with the car. Made it through safe besides the poop in my pants. Then, I tried to get the car inspected and it failed for a list of stuff a mile long...most importantly tie rods, ball joints, struts, springs, tires, brakes. It was also leaking oil and transmission fluid like it was its job. Unfortunately I sold this car with 0 repairs for 1/3 of the cost of the acquisition less than a year later--but it was a HELL of a road trip and gave me a story I'll never forget.