"Jacob" > wrote
>I spend most of my life chasing an untamed ornithoid.
>
> So your telling me that it could be my transmission that
> is causing
> this? My car has a manual transmission, if that makes a
> difference. I
> am also noticing the problem while my car is idling in
> neutral which
> leads me to believe that the transmission is not the
> culprit.
>
> My cooant resevoir is filled to the Max line.
>
> I did not yet change my spark plugs. Does anyone know if
> autozone will
> lend you a sparkplug socket? I have sparkplug sockets,
> but they arent
> log enough to reach these plugs. Is there a trick to this
> that I am
> not seeing?

All you need is a sufficiently long, 3/8-inch drive
extension and one of the long 16 mm sockets. The extension
is just a long rod with one end that fits into the ratchet
and the other, into the socket. Very common. Autozone should
sell these for a few dollars each. Or you can buy a whole
extension set. You'll use these again, if you continue with
your car repair work.

Take a measurement to see how much extension you need. I
think it's around ten inches.

Harbor Freight is a tool store whose prices may beat
Autozone. True Value and Sears also seem to beat or have
very similar prices for tools compared to Autozone.

> I suppose I will replace the wires, then the plugs, and
> then maybe go
> for the 02 sensor.

I would start with the plugs, especially if they're over a
couple years old. They will cost you about $15. Don't go
cheap. Buy the NGK brand but non-platinum.

For about the third time: Did you spray down the wires with
misting water, with the car idling, to see how it responds,
per Tegger's site?

> I am avoind the 02, not because of the cost of the
> sensor itself, but because the last one cost $250 to put
> in becuase I
> couldn't do it and they had to retap it.

Since it's fairly freshly re-tapped, it should be easy to
replace. You can borrow (for a fully refundable deposit) an
O2 sensor wrench from Autozone and try it, first, if you
like.

PB Blaster is a penetrating oil that greatly helps free
rusted parts, especially one's exposed to the heat and
chemicals of exhaust. You might spray a little of this into
the threaded region of the O2 sensor. Capillary action
causes it to be sucked into the threads. Four bucks a ban at
Wal-Mart.

> This is getting expensive. I
> wonder what would have happened if I just took in into a
> shop?
>
> I have heard that a bad catalytic converter could cause
> this. Is there
> any reason for me to consider this?

The plugs are vital to the car's operation. You haven't said
how old they are.

You need to fathom why cars are regularly tuned up ( = new
plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, air filter, fuel
filter, timing check). If the plugs have been neglected, you
bet this will cause running problems.