this all started when i was driving home and i started to feel the car suddenly lose power. the car eventually started toslow down to about a walking speed and started misfiring. the car would then turn off a couple times when i tried to drive home while the car barely went 5-15mph. i made it home and left the car for a while. turned it on and then it drove normally. i took it to a mechanic to make sure it doesn't happen again so i didn't get stuck on the road again going very slow. they did a tune up and changed all the spark plugs and 1 ignition coil. the mechanic said the car was ready but still misfiring. i was confused though because when i drove it there is was ok but i understood that the problem may have came back when i gave it to them. as i drove the car leaving the mechanic the car was still misfiring as they said and drove slightly faster but it still had loss of power and was shaking but then started smoking a lot from the engine bay with this horrible burnt smell. i was ready to give up feeling hopeless and depressed just paying $900 and my car being basically undrivable but my dad (I'm 18 and live with parents) said to take it back to them as it was there responsibility to fix the problem they caused. so i did and they tightened everything up they left undone i guess. they then said they would do a compression test but they didn't tell me they'd charge me but i only paid $80 for it since they didn't have to do much labor as they already were working on the car. my parents sued them for negligence and them not being clear on prices...etc. we went to court and they didn't show so were going again sometime in July. apparently they also fired a bunch of people. the mechanic was called Midas. the whole thing was kind of sketchy. Anyways, the results of the compression test were 165,175,175 for the passenger side and 140,120,150 for the driver side. the mechanic said it might need a engine rebuild because of valves. then the car stayed at home parked until i really needed to drive to school for something. the car drove like 15-20mph but I made it before it could go slower and turn off. then i drove it back home with it eventually slowing down to the point it turned off and wouldn't turn on. the electricity worked but engine wouldn't turn on. got it towed and took it to a more trusted mechanic my dad knows. I don't know what my dad told the mechanic to do but he thought the mechanic was fixing the car completely and not just getting the car to turn on again. i paid $600 to get engine turning on again so now I've spent a total of $1500 trying to fix this including when i took it to first mechanic. they got it to turn on but it still drove very slow and misfired and then turned off and now electricity was also not working this time. i got it jump started and drove it back to the mechanic so that they could fix the problem completely hopefully. the mechanic said to get an ignition coil boot kit, 6 new spark plugs, and new battery. i am currently broke right now so I'm waiting till my next paycheck to get the items the mechanic said to get. I've had the car for like 8 months.

Things that happened to the car before was apparently the last owner put in a new engine from jdmflorida. the only proof they gave was a screenshot of the website saying they added it to their cart. i think they told us which shop did the engine replacement but i don't remember. the car had a coolant leak and overheated 2-3 times before getting fixed. one of the solenoids in the transmission valve body went bad and got replaced at the Midas mechanic before we sued. there was also an oil leak that got fixed that wasn't serious. the rear passenger side wheel spacers broke while driving and a wheel fell off and the car kind of went into this dip in the grass like a shallow ditch. it got pulled out and towed and the wheel got put back on. i will note that after this incident the car would get weird small vibrations that came and went every few 15 seconds when idling and accelerating from a stop but would stop after like 1.5k rpms. its was kind of hard to hear though because my car is straight piped. one day i was also driving around a lot doing food delivery and when i turned the car the engine oil light came on and car was struggling to idle . i figured it was probably low on oil and filled it and it soon returned to normal. ive also driven aggressively multiple times in manual mode and have redlined a couple times but the big problems started while driving normally. should I just buy a new engine at this point ?

 

the second paragraph is about stuff that happened before the first paragraph btw.

 

Unless you're willing to put a new engine into the car just sell it, with those compression numbers you're putting a bandaid on a gunshot wound and essentially just WASTING MONEY on repairs to fix things when you obviously have a completely smoked motor.

Since all your low compression numbers are on one bank you probably blew the head gasket, probably when it overheated.

You're just hemorrhaging money on this thing and essentially can't even afford to fix it since you're waiting for the next paycheck to do so. My advice, sell it as is, take a loss if you need to, the money you were going to throw away fixing the G you can instead buy yourself another vehicle like a reliable Honda or Toyota until you're financially in a better position and able to afford repairs on a luxury sports car. Luxury = expensive, sports car = expensive.

If you were doing the work yourself I MIGHT suggest otherwise but these mechanic shop rates are financially killing you.

 

also the car wasn't overheating when the problems happened. I don't really trust the compression test numbers. the first mechanic got the test kit from AutoZone and the kit they used had some bad reviews. also if they couldn't even put my car back together properly how can I trust they did the test properly ? i think its the catalytic converter or a camshaft sensor. the 2003 model that i had a recall for stalling because of the sensors getting damaged from heat which is something my car also does. . it might also be the catalytic converter being blocked because my car would pop a lot like it was tuned sometimes and would sound like gunshots even with the original catalytic converter. this could explain the quiet knock tapping i would hear from around the back of the engine that i could only hear while inside the car. my car would backfire everyday and would tap the gas quickly to get it to pop. i think that might be the culprit because iv seen others with the same exact issues with a clogged cat.

 

You could always just remove them and go for a test drive with just the headers hooked up. You can also use a small inspection mirror and look down the ends of the cats with them removed to see if the honeycomb material has melted spots.

 

good news is i have gutted the cats and they have partially solved the problem. the car runs way better and can go to redline. bad news is the car idles too low and still lacks acceleration. the car even stalls once in a while especially after driving and stopping at a stop sign. i probably do need a new engine. i have a tried an idle relearn and car still idles too low. i suspect i have a leak in the engine somewhere.