Ummm... Sparky backfired/misfired and stopped working at 120km/hr on the 401

[northguest47]

Crap news for me, here are the observations:

-doing about 120km/hr on the 401 a single backfire is heard from within the engine compartment area
-the motor being at say 4000rpm or so winded down on its own to zero in just over a second or so
-somehow the transmission was, or seemed to be in neutral, can't remember if the stick was still in 5th or not
-a bunch of new lights came on, the car was not happy, the power steering was working still or so it seemed
-tried to start the motor while coasting the starter seemed to not even respond
-coasted to safety on the shoulder, got an expensive tow home
-no codes have been read, the car was left as it was un-touched, just the battery removed and trickle charged

Cursing myself if its the timing belt because that would be my fault. If the motor failed well, that wouldn't surprise me given what it has been put through at 250,000+ kms.

Haven't even looked at it to figure out the answer yet, this is procrastination. Because the motor has to be re-built any way you cut it.

In the meantime, a 2007 Chevy Aveo LT with excellent body shape and only 79500 kilometers was found. This car has 1.6L 5sp, AC (extra pulley, longer belt), power doors, windows, mirrors, and sunroof, factory tints, fog lights, cruise control, lady driven, garage stored, original timing belt and water pump, completely stock. The air intake hose has some duct tape on it, overall the motor looks very similar to me but the air conditioning definitely adds a lot of stuff that is not in my older car.

Soooo I have now solved two problems. Back on the road with this sweet car, the bushings are all tight, the gear shifter is tight, the steering is tight, the suspension is hilariously tipsy. On the bright side now my setup has two motors (one working), two ecus, two of 'a lot of other things that might be useful'. I dream about learning how to re-build that first motor. Thing is are the motors interchangeable, one has AC, the other doesn't.

The cars are very similar so to me its weird to get into the newer one.. the seat doesn't have that broken spring, the left turn signal actually cancels on its own, the hatch latch isn't seized, there is super minimal stuff on the body in fact its ridiculous how un-rusted and un-dented this car is. The sun roof makes the ceiling lower and its was totally noticeable right off the bat, however it will probably not bother me in a few weeks, given the fact that I have a darn sun-roof! The drivers side window servo makes a duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh sound when moved up and down, don't know what that is. But really ... this car has soooooo much potential.

Pictures to come tomorrow: