I have a 1989 2.5 Daytona...I just bought it a couple of weeks ago. I reved the engine a little last night...and suddenly, the power went WAY down, and lots of shaking.

I have to floor it to get going again at a red light.

And now this morning, I noted that it started knocking, a fair amount of blue smoke out the front and back and a little oil drippage.

I watched the gauges like a hawk making sure the oil and temp needles didn't get out of the ordinary. The Temperature gauge moves slightly as drive so I figure it's fairly normal, but as we were looking at the car today, we had the engine idling for a good 10 minutes and the fan didn't even start.....is that normal or should the fan be going. We wired the fan to the battery for a sec and the fan motor DOES work....maybe the temperature sensor? So maybe this is all due to overheating?

3 days ago, I had NO problems....I can get the engine replaced for 650 should I just go with that?

Thanks so much for any help.
-Luc

 

Check your codes. If the engine light comes on then the computer may or probably threw a code. To check the codes turn the key to the on position but not start. The sequence is on -off - on - off - on. Then watch the engine light (power limited light).

Count the flashes. There will be two 'digits' per code so if you count five flashes followed by five more then this is code 55. This means 'end of file' or last possible code. It means nothing wrong. Any other combination of two digits prior to the 55 will indicate a code.

In your case check for oil in the coolant and coolant in the oil.

Since you're getting blue smoke this indicates oil burning.

Also the loud knocking and oil dripping indicates to me that there may be something broken in the bottom end which may have broken through something.

Give the entire engine a good inspection.

 

My '89 2.5 non-turbo was doing the same thing. I was inspecting the throttle and noticed that the throttle temperature sensor casing was separated. Then I ran the fault codes on the dashboard and up came code 2-3 "throttle body temperature sensor circuit fault". After replacing that, the vehicle worked fine.

The symptoms you describe could also be coming from another engine sensor. Check the fault codes like Turbo says. If you have a Haynes book, the Fault codes are on page 232.

 

Because he mentioned a knocking sound with blue smoke I don't think it's a sensor. However the code may be a sensor. I had a code which turned out NOT to be the sensor it indicated but rather a ground connection. Go figure.

 

Yeah the noise and smoke is a bit of a worry.The power drop and pinging could still be really bad ignition timing (if the computer's getting messed up input)or fuel injection problems. But I agree with you Turbo. I'd be doing a compression check, with my fingers crossed.

 

Issues you describe may not be related to compression but that is a great start. Did you pull the codes?

 

Maybe the Turbo died? I'd take off the hose that goes from the Throttle Body to the compressor inlet and see if you can spin the compressor wheel ok and make sure there isn't a whole lot of oil in there (some is normal). Also see if it has enough side-play that you can get the blades to hit the side of the compresser housing.

 

Sounds almost like a broken ring landing or something. Oil getting past the rings and burning, and the knocking could be the piston slapping around now that the ring landing has broken. If its a loud, deep knock, DO NOT DRIVE IT, unless you want to make things worse. Knocking could also be rod knock.

 

Not to sound like a broken record, but PULL THE STUPID CODES!!! It won't tell you exactly what's wrong, but I bet you will be able to track the issue down. I'd stake my 20 plus years as a mechanic on it...

 

Ooops....I forgot to set the "send email when responces are given" check mark

You're all awesome for chiming in...thanks so much

I didn't know how to pull codes until now...I still have to pick up the book....I ordered it from Zone...should be arriving soon.

I had a compression test done and Cyl#2 was bad....150lbs in...150lbs came out the back.

It turned out to be that the cam slapped the rocker out.....nothing broke, slipped it back in. All seems well but I'm still wondering if there's a more root problem that I should be addressing.....I'd hate to think that I was unknowingly overheating the thing....I replaced the coolant sensor and I noticed the guage to be more realistic. I also changed out the spark plugs. The valve cover gasket seems to be nothing more than some glue around the edges and I'm thinking that that's not exactly up to par with the real deal...maybe oil got on the rocker and maybe made it easy to knock out?