Hey guys, fist time posting in this forum, wish i didnt have to...Anyway, let me start from the beginning. My car had some problems a while back with hesitation and stalling.I got that fixed by getting a new electrical harness for the computer, m.a.f. sesor and o2 sensor. the car ran great except......all of a sudden now if i hit the gas just a little harder than normal acceleratrion i get a clicking sound. Its loud enough to hear inside the car.i was told to use higher octane gas. ihave for about 2 mos. now and still the clicking.The clicking only starts when i hit the gas hard like i sated above when the car is warm. IN the morning when the car is cold its a champ. Another thing is like a thumping heard under the car and i can feel it in the pedal? i kno, my car is a piece of crap but who da thunk that a car with less then 60,000 miles would have so many problems? anyway any help would be greatly appreciated and any questions to help u help me, ask

-Adam

 

Did you advance you're timing any? Retard it some. When engines get warmed up (especially when they overheat), the dreaded spark knock will become prevalent (if too far advanced).

Thumping? When? When you hit the gas, or when you shift the gears (or both)? Or is it constant? If it's a loud thump every now and then, check you're torque arm.... it might have disconnected from the top of you're tranny, and is now hitting you're floor board.

Edit: Spelling Correction

 

the thumping, if it occors under accelearation could be the u-joint hitting the tranny tunnel bacause of a broke tranny mount, if it is I reccomrnd getting an energy suspention's one, they have an internal locking device in them to prevent it from happening again

 

as-per the clicking problem, did you do a spark plug change ? if so, did you gap the sparkplugs to .035? if not you may wish to take out the plugs and try it again.

Your thumping is not related Check the mounts and such like suggested above

 

Sounds like spark knock and tq arm mount to me.

Do as stated above.

 

just to clarify a few things since my first post was just me spilling out my problems. I did recently have a tune up(a very bad one) and i now that i think about it, the clicking did start soon after.
as for the tranny mounts, i just had them replaced not 2-3 mos ago. but (this may sound dumb), this could be y the car still jumps when i shift from park. The thumping only happens when i accelerate slowly and i feel it in the pedal. also, how hard is it to check the gap? i know what agapper is but is this somehting a kid that's not too good with engines can do? sorry for the constant annoyance but i love this car and i want to keep it to enjoy it. Thanks for any help,.
-Adam

 

if you only feel the thumping when you're on the brake... does it come FROM the brake, or the floor pan? If from the brake then you probably have a warped rotor. As per the gapping, if you get a gapper (Schucks gave me one for free lol) and put your spark plug to it you will see almost immediately how it works.

 

not when i hit the brakes, when i hit the gas slowly....

 

make sure none of your plug wires are touching manifolds or headers, or being burnt up. if you were running off of 7 cylinders you wouldnt really feel it when racing (though you'd lose power obviously), but at a slow pace acceleration you would feel it more.

 

Who did the tune up, and did they rotate the distributor any? It sounds like you're timing is a little too advanced.

Double check both you're oil level and pressure while you're at it... and have someone re-adjust you're rocker arms (clicking can come from their as well). However, if the clicking is effecting performance, it's more than likely you're timing.

The transmission mounts have nothing to do with the torque arm hitting the bottom of you're floor pan (if it is in fact that, that is). The torque arm bolt is directly opposite of the catylitic converter bracket bolts (on top of the tranny). Check and see if it's not connected, it takes two minutes.

Edit - What part of Jersey are you in?

 

By the way.... did they re-set the ECM after installation, and are you getting an SES (service engine soon) light?

I almost forgot you had TPI, as this happened to me awhile back. After changing to better plugs, I forgot to gap them properly.... and she was knocking like crazy (felt like limp home mode). Re-gap the plugs before you do anything else.

 

As for where i am in jersey, piscataway and yes my service engine light is on.It goes on right after the clicking starts. I do not know if they reset the ecm, how would i? And i will have the spark plugs checked....THanks for all the help guys, anymore suggestions, im open....


-Adam

 

If you frequent Raceway Park, send me a PM.... as my cousin has his own shop, and he could check it for you, if you'd like. My guess is that it's somewhere in you're ignition, or quite possibly the ESC (electronic spark control) module itself.

If you didn't diconnect the battery yet, disconnect it, and let it sit for about ten minutes. This will re-set the ECM, and erase any stored error codes that might have been accidentally triggered.