Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting stupid me. need lots of motor help. (long)

This weekend I changed my fuel filter, and washed my K&N air filter. When I was done it was time for a test drive. After a long curvy run I was about to go home but I saw a road I had never been on that was basically a 5 mile straight away. I took off down the empty road and ran trough the gears. I turned around and came to a stop so I could try to launch it (never really have). Well here is where the shi* hits the fan. On my 3-4 shift...yes...I slam it into second. I will never forgive my self for this! The tac shoots up for about 1 second. But RPMs drop down normal and it seems to be kinda ok. No oil leaking when I look in the rear view. But the clutch seemed really light when I first was driving (now seems normal or close to what it was). I had to drive home about 5 miles. On the way home it died one time, when I put the clutch into down shift.

I havenâ??t driven the car again. Something is not right; at idle the car has a small vibration, very small. But I donâ??t see oil in the water reservoir. All spark plugs have no mechanical damage. I have the upper intake manifold off so I could get to the back cylinder bank. The lower manifold will be off today after I rent to tool to release the fuel lines. Then I will try to look into the cylinders if I can. My guess is I either bent a valve, spun a bearing, or maybe a bad throw out bearing. Would a 5 mile drive home blow a motor with a spun bearing? Can I get to them under the car if I a take off the oil pan? It looks like I will have to sell my SHO to keep this car running. Thanks for reading this, I really need advice.

if it was a spun bearing i would think you would hear it. does it knock to be hell? because of the change in clutch feel, i would lean toward a cluthc/trans problem myself, but thats JMO.

I would agree. Then again, I'm a guesser, so who knows.

i would guess the tranny too, but at idle when in nuetral i can feel a vibration. for example i started it up yesterday, and opened the hood. the hood stand was quivering about 3mm side to side at most.

THAT^^^^ sounds like a motor/tranny mount problem as well...sorry for more bad news i would say most liekly, you did 1 of three tings:

1. your cluthc is out of adjustment, not sure if this is possible but...yeah.

2. you blew the throw out bearing (though this usually makes a chattering noise until it manages to engage the gear)

3. its normal wear and tear and you never noticed before now.

I did that to my moms Escort... luckily nothing happened (RPM jumped up to around 5,000 before i realized and put the clutch in) stupid me...

I would imagine that would be bad for the connecting rods and pistons...

no it doesnt hurt the pistons or connecting rods if you are talking about the clutch. the throw bearing wont affect those at all. im so good at diagnosing thins if i am in the car and/or can drive it. but over the net is much harder as i cant even hear the car...

im having a problem finding out where a plug goes. description is here:
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=trouble&Number=644838&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&fpart=1
thanks

ok got the plug figuerd out. im ganna drive it to my mechanic friend tommarrow i guess.