i think my engine is going

[Proud Galant Driver]

well. i got the g back on the road a month or so ago and it was running great. but now sometimes the belt makes a little squeking noise but then stops. it only does it once is awhile like after i start the car. also, last night i was sitting letting it warm up and the car was vibrating real bad. like the whole area behind the dash was shaking and i revved to 2k to see if it helped and it got alot worse. if you stand outside the car you hear a clicking sound but it almost sounds like its coming from the belt area but i haven't popped the hood to listen. also, when i push the gas it feels funny. its kinda tought to push. not like back pressure but like it just doesn't really wanna go down that much. it just doesn't feel natural pushing on the has. i also noticed the car seems to be lagging in rpm transferring to teh wheels if you know what i mean. just doesn't feel like its getting its full power that i had a week or so ago. my check engine light is also on. my dad can't scan it because he doesn't have the right hook up and it cost me about $70 here in town to have it done. and autozone scans cars for free but they don't have my year.

i think my engine is going but maybe its something else. what you all think?
92 sohc auto btw.

thanks

[J apmetal]

I had/have similar problems with my own car too;

The occasional 'squeak' from a belt is NOT the cambelt, it's the altenator/accessory belt starting to loosen. If it's only squeaking sometimes at the moment, there's no rush to replace it but it will start squealing more and more until it gets real bad & will start to affect the car's performance. If this belt is going, that may also account for the dashboard vibration as the car may not idle steadily. I had to change my Altenator belt a couple of days ago and it actually made a big difference to the overall feel of the car's performance.

The ticking/tapping sound is most likely the hydraulic valve lifters in the cylinder head getting gunged up/air trapped in them. These engines are renowned for the noise, although it doesnt tend to do any harm so long as your oil level is correct. You can strip the rocker cover off, remove the lifters and clean the gunge out or fit new lifters altho this will only stop the noise for so long before it starts again.

As for the lack of power, ther could be alot of reasons for this, but the loosening altenator belt may account for some of this, or possibly something else simple like a hole in your exhaust somewhere. I just today replaced my front pipe [between manifold & CAT - £400 from Mitsubishi !! :shock: ] and the increase in 'pull' from the engine from before is very noticeable. It could even be even simpler than that - when was the last time you replaced [or cleaned if you have an induction kit] your air filter element or did an oil change ?

As for the accel. pedal, I cant think of any engine-related reason why it would be stiff, so it may either be a joint in the pedal itself stiffening up [put some spray-lube or similar on it to loosen it off !] or possibly your accelerator cable may be sticking in it's sheath and need replacing.

Of course, there COULD be a major fault causing some or all your problems, but this stuff is fairly easy to check yourself before you get too panicky about the state of your engine !

[91GALANTDRIVER]

my car is also making that squealing noise but it's just the belts, so i'm sure that your problem too. I'm not having the other problems but i bet you'll find out it's got something to do with the belts. Open the hood wile it does it and see if there is anything loose. there is also some a spray u can buy to put on the belts to make the nosie go away. I'm not sure what it is called. If that does work get the belts changed anyway because that stuff will only extend the life of them for a little bit. I hope this helps.

[Proud Galant Driver]

thanks for the help.

it only did that stuff that one night and now its working again. however i still have a little loss of power but i can hear an exhaust leak.

also, i just did an oil change that day it started. i put 5w30 in instead of 10w30, could that have made a big difference?

oh yeah, my check engine light is still on so im gonna have to get it scanned.

[92mpi]

Try checking the pulleys/bearings of your a/c system for the loss of power. happened to me before, like there was a drag in the power. it turned out that the pulleys and bearings of my a/c system is almost stuck up. the engine had a very hard time accelerating. after changing them, everything went back to normal.

with the check engine light, i just replaced my ecu and it's gone. but i kept the old one for back up just in case.