Question about vibration, and stock valve cover breather.

[badbird]

I could not find a direct answer on here, so I figured it is best to ask. To make a long story short, I let someone who was down a vehicle drive my car for a week, drove the car and it felt different to me under load. There is now a vibration in the gas pedal and the steering wheel that is faint, however it is very fast, almost enough vibration to feel like a tickle on your foot when accelerating and right when your decelerating after being in upper RPMs.

I have not had the time to check my balance shaft belt, I have been doing research and know this could possibly be the case. The car seems to run fine, it is a 1990 awd talon tsi, stock turbo, nearly stock everything. Could an exhaust leak cause such a thing? One more thing is I had a filter coming off my 90 degree valve cover breather, just basically hanging there, I removed to set up a catch can that someone had laying around and put the catch can on with a hose running over the stock throttle cable ran from the cruise control box, and the other line that runs parallel to the throttle cable. The throttle cable and other cable were clearly touching the cable, I can tell by the marks on the hose after looking.

My other question is, could this have done something to the throttle cable to make me feel vibrations? The vibration does not feel steering or suspension related, as it goes away when I have the clutch depressed and just coast, say down a hill or something. It rises with the load of the engine, and goes away when the load does too. Is the stock valve cover breather routed to the intake pipe? Sorry for the off the wall question list, I just need to try to figure out what this is.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Travis92talon]

On my 92 the valve cover breather hose does go to the intake pipe. I cant really answer your other question except to say if the throttle cable is rubbing/resting on the engine maybe it would send the vibration to the gas pedal.

 

[JaysGSX]

When I put my manifold on, I noticed that the previous owner broke off one of the studs that go to the turbo, and another one was all stripped out. I planned on putting my entire exhaust on the same day as the manifold (O2 housing, downpipe, catback), but did not have enough daylight or warm weather to do so after drilling out broken studs for nearly 4 hours.

In the process of this, the exhaust broke at the flange on the back of the cat creating an exhaust leak. This was most likely due to all the pressure I was putting on the turbo while drilling in combination with the rust covered flange. I have driven the car since, and this is causing both gas pedal and steering wheel vibrations on my car. It is much more noticeable in the gas pedal though. The only other thing that had changed was the manifold, and de-greasing the engine bay.

You had asked if an exhaust leak could cause that, and based on my experience it has so I thought I would chime in and let you know. The leak I have right now is quite large since there is only one bolt holding the exhaust pipe to the catalytic converter right now. Experiences may differ based on the size of the exhaust leak and the location of it.

 

[chrysler kid]

It could be anything. If you lent your car to a little old lady I would wager that she stalled the car a couple of times and possibly broke a motor mount

 

[badbird]

On my 92 the valve cover breather hose does go to the intake pipe. I cant really answer your other question except to say if the throttle cable is rubbing/resting on the engine maybe it would send the vibration to the gas pedal.

Could you possibly take a picture of the breather going to the intake? Just so I have a reference for what it looks like stock. Looks like I need to get a nipple on the aftermarket Dejon intake pipe for to get the breather hose ran there. Thanks for the reply man.

When I put my manifold on, I noticed that the previous owner broke off one of the studs that go to the turbo, and another one was all stripped out. I planned on putting my entire exhaust on the same day as the manifold (O2 housing, downpipe, catback), but did not have enough daylight or warm weather to do so after drilling out broken studs for nearly 4 hours.

In the process of this, the exhaust broke at the flange on the back of the cat creating an exhaust leak. This was most likely due to all the pressure I was putting on the turbo while drilling in combination with the rust covered flange. I have driven the car since, and this is causing both gas pedal and steering wheel vibrations on my car. It is much more noticeable in the gas pedal though. The only other thing that had changed was the manifold, and de-greasing the engine bay.

You had asked if an exhaust leak could cause that, and based on my experience it has so I thought I would chime in and let you know. The leak I have right now is quite large since there is only one bolt holding the exhaust pipe to the catalytic converter right now. Experiences may differ based on the size of the exhaust leak and the location of it.

I will definitely get under the car soon to check out the exhaust, mine too feels more noticeable to me in the gas pedal, only a slight bit in the steering wheel. I know the prior owner may have not tightened the manifold bolts all the way, when I went to inspect it once after buying the car, the two on the side closest to the upper coolant hose is were loose. I torqued them and have not checked to see if they got loose again yet. Thanks for sharing your experience.

It could be anything. If you lent your car to a little old lady I would wager that she stalled the car a couple of times and possibly broke a motor mount

I will have to look into the mounts too, I feel like that would make the vibration nearly unbearable. You are right though, I guess the person driving the car around could have stalled, there are quite a few steep stop lights on hills here. Thanks for you thoughts.

I wanted to place a video of the noise I caught on video this morning, but did not know if video was supported. The noise may be related to the vibration. It sounds to me like it is coming from under the hood, I can hear it more on the driver side, but then again I am in the driver seat. The car has more of an exhaust smell in the cabin then before by far, this tick is a little louder when the car is first driven after warmed up or while getting to normal operating temp. This particular noise was heard right after parking the car after a 10-15 mile drive for around 10-15 minutes and started up, this is leading me to believe the ticking is exhaust, it is louder when the exhaust is cooled down some, when driving it gets quieter when the metal is warmer?

What are your takes on it?

 

[JaysGSX]

The tick you are hearing could be from an exhaust leak. I'd check around where the downpipe meets the O2 housing, and at the cat. If it is leaking by the cat, exhaust gasses will come out from under the car at about the center of your doors, and will make their way into the cabin of the vehicle.

 

[Travis92talon]

The hose going from the valve cover port just goes to the intake pipe before the turbo. I have stock rubber intake pipe with a nipple for the hose to connect. I have and inline filter in that hose to help catch oil and keep it out of the intercooler pipe. Some people use a catch can for this purpose. If you don't have a port on your intake then you would have to add one like you said. My profile has a pic of the engine. You may be able to see the hose but their are other things covering it up.