Alright everyone put your thinking caps on.

When I start from a stop, I stutter until about 45mph. It comes and goes, but seems to get worse when the car is running for awhile (about 25 miles). It feels like the exhaust is plugged up, like the car is trying to get up to speed.

This morning, once it started stuttering, it didn't stop, and I couldn't get over 50mph. I haven't driven it since.

A couple of days ago, I starting getting a loud ticking sound from the right side of the engine. I think its the Harmonic Balancer. The car starts so the crank sensor is still working.

I took the cat off and put a straight pipe in, no different.

This is my second balancer. The last time I don't remember the car acting any different just made a rod knock type noise. This is more of a very loud noticable tick.

I'd now like to open the floor for suggestions.

Yeah I was thinking that too.

Man, I don't wanna spend $50 on something just to check!

I may have an old one laying around.

I am getting an occasional backfire as well.

Nope, this has gotta be the 7th or so.

In fact the one on the car may still be under warranty. I'm jonesing to get home (still at work) to check out the receipt. I may be able to swap it out.

I hope its that easy.

The backfire is a good clue. I say ignition too. Have you thought about a type2 upgrade?

Definitely sounds like it'* missing. If you have an AutoZone, or anything to that nature near you, they should be able to test it for you for free. I'd also suggest OEM replacements, as any aftermarket ones have been nothing but trouble (aside from higher end units like MSD) from what I've read. The few bucks you save will be lost and then some with the number of times they'll need to be replaced.

Yes I have thought of it, It just comes down to time. I only seem to get time to do car crap nowawdays when its broke. So of course I go for the easy fix.

I'm gonna try to junkyard it this Sat, maybe I'll get lucky.

Off topic at little, I tried to print the proceedure for the type 2 mod. It cuts off the last 1/8 of the page on the right. I tried to to do page setup, but I didn't see any radio button to fix it.


Rare - I had a '83 6000 STE, Man I loved that car! Funny but that car is what lead me to buy the Bonney in '90.

Thought I designed my page (http://6007.us/coils.htm ) to print in letter mode. If having difficulty, you might try portait mode (file/print/basics or layout, look for checkbox).

That said, an arcing plug wire or cap to ground will often make a ticking sound. I would suggest pulling the plug wires and looking for frayed spots or carbon tracks. In that case when the arcing wire is pulled from the coilpack, the ticking will stop (or move to the coilpack). ARC may also be visible in a dark agarage.

Sometimes we get so wrapped around the high-tech electronics that we forget the old-timey problems.