MarcR94v6

Do I need to go to the dealer for a new bearing? My neighbor and I are still working on the car when we can and after he took it apart and put it back together for the 3rd or 4th time, It ran really crappy. Lots of vibrating and bad engine noise, almost at sputtering level. After a little while of driving, what I thought was one of my pulleys always squeaks, but he told me that it is most likely my bearing, because it is shaking. I also have a splitting rubber intake manifold T-connecter, which I already know needs to be found at the dealer.

Here's some more information/possible causes:
- 139,000 miles on the car
- 10 MM socket dropped somewhere in a crevis of the engine, yet to be found.
- Mysterious oil leak yet to be fixed after just about every gasket which has oil in it has been replaced and re-sealed. Leaks sometimes, doesn't leak other times.
- Needs new water pump
- Runs hot, even after a new stock 195 thermo was put in. I tried to put a 180 in there, but he said no, it will make my car run too rich.
- Is being worked on by a non-mechanic and myself, an amature.
- Oil pressure, compression
- It's either missing an exhaust bolt or has a replacement on right now that may not be the best suited.
- Oil pressure, compression, spark plugs all in the right place, everything in the correct firing position - that's all good.

It is my daily driver and I need it to go to work every morning, so it can only be taken apart for more than a day on weekends.

So...what do you think? Even the smallest bit of help is very much appreciated, as always.

Thanks.

-Marc

Z28Nut

Sounds to me like you should find someone a little more knowledgable than you non-mechanic neighbor. What did he take apart and put together 3-4 times? The engine sputters and shakes at idle? Cruizing rpms? Need a lot more info than provided to even be able to point you in the right direction.

T-fittings can be found at local auto parts stores, just take in the bad one and match it up. It is likely causing a vacuum leak and that would make the engine idle poorly.

That's about all I can help with. Good luck.

MarcR94v6

Thanks for the quick reply, Z. There was so much I felt like I needed to say, I knew I left some things out.

Engine vibrates @ idle, sputters at low speeds, like in a parking lot. It's not too bad at cruising. One thing I forgot to mention, was that it makes a strange grinding/rattling sound at 4,000 RPM's.

In the middle of this post, my neighbor came over and checked out the exhaust bolt and investigated the rattle/grinding. It was a loose heat sheild over the exhaust ports. Thar's been fixed. But he says it sounds like I have a small exhaust leak that will get worse. What's funny is that he never messed with the exhaust bolts. So, is it possible that the bolt blew off?

He also says that the oil leak is fixed, but it is just leaking a tad beat and is still smoking because there was a lot of oil still there and it's just burning off what's left. But I know that there will still be squeaking from the belt/pulley area when it gets hot.

I went to both Napa and Kragen for the T-Fittings, which I brought to them and they said they didn't have anything like that and told me to go to the dealer. I haven't tried AutoZone or CarQuest yet though.

What we did:

We replaced gaskets for the upper manifold, valve cover gaskets (to do so, we had to mess with the rocker arms to slip the gasket on), and other gaskets, replaced a few bolts. We had some troouble with the book telling us bullcrap which led us to distrust it a little, esepecially when dealing with compression. Of course, to do all this, a lot of other things had to be taken apart, which is why it was needed to be taken apart and put back together again when it wouldn't start or something was wrong.

shoebox

You "messed with the rocker arms" to get the valve cover gaskets on? What are you guys doing? Sounds like the blind leading the blind. If you screwed up your valve settings, you will have to redo it.
Also a 180° thermostat is stock. Even running a 160° won't hurt.

MarcR94v6

No, the rocker arms were adjusted to what they should be. They're ok.
I'll get a lower stat tomorrow after work.