[crazed_driver]

I´v read a bunch of posts about peoples cars seizing, and not running right, and just plain bad stuff, but my scort has had the worst of everything but total and complete death, it´s even been pronounced dead, but with a LOT of work, it keeps bouncing back. hmm... where to begin,

after buying it april 1st of this year, it ran great, two weeks later while booney riding on some of western pennsylvania´s most notorious roads, i learn what an inertia switch is. remember, a scort will register a large pot hole as a frontal collision.

then one day i notice it doen´t like to start, and it just doesn´t seem to power the starter, then on april 26th, my 18th birthday, it dies. just won´t start, won´t run, won´t even turn the feul pump over. eventualy we tow it back home with a rusty old ford and a 30 foot chain, pop the hood at home and see one wire, the defroster wire, was burnt. replace the wire, vroom, the thing runs. this is sunday, 2 days later.

of course, the car runs, so it has to go for a ride. i head into town, do a few laps, turn on my lights, no lights. turn them off, then on, now i have lights. go up one hill, down another, pull into sheetz and smoke rolls out from under the hood. shut the car off, take the keys out and pop the hood, only to hear the starter try to turn over the engine, and the headlights blink. look under the hood only to see a wiring harness going behind the battery in flames. another tedious trip home, this time under it´s own power. the next day, after 6 hours of rewiring, hit the key and she roars back to life.

almost a month goes by, no problem, then, as a make a lap, ride behind pizza hut, i hit some water, hydroplane sideways, and hit the curb, putting a nice gash in my alluminum rims, shredding a tire, bending a lower control arm, anctualy both the drivers and passenger side, and also twiated the sway bar. $200 later, thanks to a junk yard, and she´s back on the road again, a little mis aligned, hood not in the normal angle, but she still runs.

now i have someone wanting to trade an ´86 rx-7 for my ´89 scort gt. tempting...

 

[PTMD]

I don´t know....I would think about stickin with the scort cause those rx7´s can be tempermental and scorts have two reps that keep proving true to me time and time again.1)parts are cheap.2)almost any one can work on ´em successfully.Of course I´m biased, as my 89 has been in the family since mile one and, now has 240,000 on the stock motor with out any thing more than general maintenance.Now the body all that´s orig. is the roof and drivers quarter.In 91 my sister unsuccessfully tried to go under a semi & got caught by the back tires .Had the car been any older it wouldn´t be here today.

 

[Kenny]

nope, that´s not all that bad.

by some freak occurrence, the key on the crankshaft on my car gets loose. the shop figures out what it is, ghetto rigs it and says it´ll last for a year. 2 years ago. 3 months ago, my car starts to make a vibration, but i don´t think too much of it, might just be the AC. so a month ago, there´s a coolant leak. take it to the shop, get all new hoses, the bill=$600. pick it up, right away notice the acceleration is not up to par, has gone shitty. take it back a few days later, they screw with the timing, say it was off, and say i will need a new timing belt. so i get it back, it seems a little better, but it´s still not great. they couldn´t find the vibration. replace the wires and plugs...$70. car still runs shitty. take it to my friend´s shop this time, they put a new timing belt on. $230. they set all the timing. guess what, they find the vibration. it´s the crank pulley. they tighten it, say it´ll be ok. take the car home, runs fine for a day, then gets shitty again. take it back to my friend, oops the belt skipped a cog when they tightened the pulley. their bad. reset it all, then i´m leaving, guess what...the vibration starts again. sonuvabitch! they put a washer on it and tighten it, say it won´t get worse, but can´t tighten it anymore or it will break. so i take it home, the vibration noise still present, but damn does the car run good. i mean, it hasn´t run better in the 2 years i´ve driven it. so all week, it was good till about 2 days ago. the vibration is loud as hell, and damnit, the timing is slipping again.

it´s time for a new crankshaft. in other words, i may as well get a new engine. $2000.

needless to say, i´m looking for a new car. damn, i really love the scort, it´s too bad. maybe i´ll get another one when i graduate or sumthin, pimp it out when i have more money. so sad "sigh".

anyone have an engine they want to sell? it can´t have a lot of miles.

 

[Infini_IV]

I like RX-7s. I own 3.

_________________

one more thing, anyone with an ´89 scort, pull your front wheels off, pull the plastic from the wheel well on the side by the passenger compartment, and grind where the five pieces of steel meet, otherwise if something happens and your car happens to have the suspension screw up, possibly because of a curb or section of concrete missing, your tire won´t be instantly shredded. and yes, this is from experience.

[ Edited by Infini_IV On Date 06-14-2002 ]

 

[crazed_driver]

maybe my car hasn´t seen the worst. good. one more thing busted, two nights ago, sitting at the local car wash, go to move the car, and forgot where a section of concrete is missing. looks like i need another new bracket to hold the sway bar.

i think i´m gonna keep my escort, maybe see if i can get it to all wheel drive, do the turbo mod, drop it a few inches, then maybe, MAYBE, i can beat that stupid del sol. my best is 2 car lengths from his back bumper.

 

[Kenny]

yep, most definitely, i´m gonna have to find a new car. damnit, i had such faith in the scort. i think i´m taking it back to the shop thursday, but i don´t think i´m gonna have them fix it if it needs a new crankshaft.

 

[New2me91GT]

Did you ever find out what you had to shut the car off/on to get the lights back? I had an 89 escort that did that! I now have a 91 GT thanks to my wonderful husband.
(enjoyed reading your story)

 

[PTMD]

Often the slide switch behind the key mechanisim gets loose,and looses contact this sounds like it may be your problem.Dissasembly is a pain but once you get there a cleaning and perhaps a little tweak on the contacts should fix it.