Old problems: My TO bearing is bad and so I've got the cricket. My thermostat or ECT is bad, preventing the car from getting up to operating temperature properly when cold outside. I sometimes have a surging idle during cold temps. I appear to have a small oil leak between the pan and the block, causing me to go through about 3qts between changes.

New problems: About 2 weeks ago the car started shaking badly at idle. If RPMs are below ~900, the whole car shakes so hard that the entire dash makes noise, among other things. Could this be caused by bad motor mounts? Also, ever since the header was installed and the car was dyno'd, I hear a metal clunking noise when I initially release the clutch in first gear or reverse. The clunk can be felt in the pedals as well as through the floorboard. This one has me kinda worried.

I need some help badly because I can't afford to replace the motor or tranny.

 

The clunk is probably the header hitting the subframe when the engine torques forward.

Are you using a flexpipe?

The shaking could be a few different things, one to think about would be that if the header is in fact hitting the subframe up front (or anywhere else) that it would be directly conducting vibrations to the frame.

 

I already considered that and will be addressing it tomorrow. I'm taking the car to a REAL muffler shop to check for leaks and notch the crossmember a little more.

And yes, I have a flex pipe installed after the flange. Probably not the best location, but after being in their shop for over 6 hours, I was ready to leave.

Could a clogged EGR cause firing issues that would result in shaking?

 

yeah I could see an egr being stuck open causing a rough idle, not too big a job to clean up either.

 

OK, the shaking and clunking are now fixed. Both were caused by the header hitting the crossmember, it seems.

I have a question though. Does anyone have an accurate tach on their car? Reason I ask is because according to my VAFC, I'm idling at 700 RPMs, +/- 10 RPMs. IIRC, It should idle slightly higher, like 750-800.

 

the vafc will be pretty accurate

use your idle adjustment screw to raise it up a bit