panman142

Ok so I got the car about 4 months ago and have been chasing problems and dumping money into it for repairs. I honestly feel like out of 4 months the cars ran good for a week or two. Its got about 110,000 on the clock and everythings pretty much stock except for CAI, cat back exhaust, 160 thermo. Repairs that have been done is an entire new clutch system (clutch, slave, tob, etc), tie rods, pass wheel bearing, new alternator. I think thats it. I just replaced the torque arm and trans mount with poly bushings. The problems im having is
1.) Something in my accesories is squeaking and i cannot figure what the heck it is
2.) The intake leaks oil on the back, ive read its common but im wondering what it affects performance wise
3.) I feel like a vibration when im accelerating hard, almost just a really loud hum, and i feel like its losing power and making a lot of noise but not really going fast (ricer like... haha)
4.) When im at low speeds in first and second i hear a grinding like coming from the trans, the clutch is a brand new RAM musclecar series or whatever its called. This worries me kinda a lot.

Any help would be much appreciated. I have relatively good mechanic skills and want to try to fix things myself as much as i can to cut down on the cost of things (because i dont have a lot of money). I want to keep the car too because i just threw new rims and tires on it, the bodys in great shape, and the A/C is ICE COLD haha.

I was thinking i would start by replacing the opti, water pump, plugs and wires and also fixing the oil leak. Any advice on those would be great.
Thanks for reading

slingshot928

I feel your pain, bought my car with 82k and now it has 101k on it in 5 years and I have put alot of money/time into it...it is a full bolton car with a small cam. These cars are fun though!

The slippage could be the clutch not engaging all of the way or not adjusted properly, my friends 02 ws6 did that until the clutch was bled properly.
Remove the belt and spin each accessory individually to see what squeaks. It isn't that hard. I guess you have it narrowed down between the ps pump and ac compressor since the alternator is new.
You might want to check the driveshaft if it is orignal and get it balanced for the vibration/ the poly mount will have added noise in the interior (less isolation compared to the 1LE rubber mount) If you have the poly mount, check the metal piece that comes with the mount (if you have the energy performance mount) some people run without the metal piece between transmission and cross member, some don't. I have mine without it.
The oil leak doesn't affect performance, just the amount of oil in your pan..

I have no idea on why you would replace the opti unless it is misfiring, throwing codes, etc. Also the water pump, if it is not leaking, don't fix it. I have a meziere that has alot of mileage on it, and needs to be rebuilt due to a noisy bearing issue. The meziere is electric and is not run by the crank so it frees up horsepower and you can put a freeze plug in the back of the waterpump housing so it doesn't leak on the opti.
If it has not had a tune up, plugs and wires probably will make the car run better.

If it has a 160 degree thermo, it is probably tuned so the fans kick on faster, it is definitely better when running it hard. Good luck with the car, I would rather have the m6 versus a4, but with a stall converter it runs like hell.

I am sure other people will chime in, the advice here is great compared to other forums.

panman142

Thanks so much, Ill get on the driveshaft first thing tomorrow, the water pump has a little residue coming from the weep hole so i figure its on its way out. I was thinking the driveshaft woulda been caused from the poly mount too. And i dont think the car was tuned because the fans kick on at the factory settings, scared the hell outta me cause i thought they wouldnt kick on. As far as tuning software, what would you recommend? I hear LT1 edit is pretty good. I just want to get the thing running right so i can start modding it a little.. haha. Thanks for the fast reply and yeah i love these forums.