A couple of questions...

[pogi325i]

My car has been a pleasure driving. I do all the routine maintenance (oil, sparks, etc.) and haven't had any major problems. For a car with 200k miles , I think i'm overlooking a lot of factors. What do you guys think I should do? Here are a couple of problems i've had in the past 3 years...

1. Car ran outta oil about 3 years ago. Heard loud ticking sounds at startup and when I checked the stick, it was completely dry. Funny thing is, the "check oil" light didn't come up. I've been using synthetic ever since. However, at initial startup, ticking sounds can still be heard for a few seconds but would eventually go away. Is this normal?

2. In dire need of new tranny. Scares the living @#$% outta me when 1st gear pops out. Constant rear clunking noise also becoming a nuisance. Suggestions?

3. Recent smog check revealed an abnormal amount of hydrocarbons. Bad cylinder?

4. No error codes!!! Tried the trick but to no avail. Computer problems?

5. Bought a dinan chip model D900-2550 E; 623D; Card E.O.# D-176-8. My car's ECU # is 0 261 200 413. Brought to dealer to install and said wrong one. Wasted $$$. Recommendations?

6. Ok I'll STFU now . Thanks again. Hope to post pics soon.

 

[jcblaschke]

1. Drying the enigne up could cause a few things to tick, the most relevant on my mind is maybe something in the valvetrain got burned up when it was ran without oil and now it clicks sometimes when there is no oil at startup.

2. The first and second gear popping out is caused by cheap 1st and 2nd gear syncros/rings, the rear clunking noise is probably worn u-joints, rather than transmission, so tranny may be ok for a while.

3. This could be cause by the time the engine was dry, either running down a lobe on the cam, or maybe even pitting either a piston ring, or pitting the cylinder, casusing some blow-by and a little extra oil to be burned.

4. From the problems explained there wouldn't nessicarliy be error codes for those, except maybe #3, with an O2 sensor error code.

5. Send the chip back.

Good luck, i hope some of the advice is right.