QuestionI recently bought a 1990 Toyota Corolla from a private owner. Initially everything was great, great pick up, no noises, nothing. The previous owner gave me a receipt for the following repairs done approx. 3 months ago: "Labor to diagnose failed smog (car later passed). Found cylinder misfire. Advised customer. Labor to replace distributor cap, rotor wires, and spark plugs. Also checked fuel control. All okay at this time". A couple of weeks after buying the car I started hearing a 'ticking' or 'soft knocking' sound. The car continued to run great. About a week ago, the car started to vibrate to a medium degree while idling in gear, and to a small degree while idling in neutral or park. But the vibration seems to be getting continuously harder. The car still drives very well, starts right up whether cold or not, has great pick up on the freeway, and gets great gas mileage. What could be causing the sound and vibration?
AnswerCrystal,
Thank you for the detailed explanation !
Most people write me without any symptoms, details,
or specifics and expect me to wave a magic wand. Its
one thing to diagnose a problem with my test equipment
physically at a vehicle, quite a different spectrum
in one dimensional mode.
It sounds like the idle is to low. Put the car in park
and slowly increase the rpm's and hold the pedal steady there.
Does it smooth out?
If it does have a good technican check the vacuum lines and
hook a scanner up to it.
Let me know,
Tim
