Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Nasty vibration at idle + misfires

Thankfully, the ECT problem is nixed! Nuff said, the head gasket's fine too as there's no white smoke and the car doesn't overheat or anything (ac is cold,heat is hot)..

But misfires still persist (IAC valve cleaning I know :P) Uh.. where's the dang thing again?

AAND when I stop this car at an intersection it vibrates.. like real nasty lol, especially if I put the AC on. WOW! Vibrate! @#&!

Last complaint? One of the left wheels is making a noise akin to dragging a wire against a piece of metal - maybe it's the brakes because when I tap them the noise goes away and I hear a err.. brake noise (shhhhh instead). Thoughts? I can't say I truly trust the brake job as the last mechanic that "changed the brake pads" also "changed the spark plugs" which when I further investigated were the same crappy autolites that had been in the car since who knew when (yeah, I replaced em with autolites but they're shiny!)

lol.

Your misfire is far more likely to be ignition related than to be the IAC valve.

Plug wires any time recently?

Inspect your brakes. If you don't feel comfortable doing so yourself, find a different mechanic to do it.

Steve

Bout the metal dragging problem, I had the same sound/problem and it was my wheel bearing, a fairly common problem from what I understand AND a pain to remove and replace (need a serious bearing press). Does is drag louder when the problem wheel is on the OUTSIDE of a turn? Sometimes applying the brakes would lessen the bearing sound just by stabilizing the wheel a little... it could be the brakes or pads, but i would bet on the bearing.

Auto or Manual?

If you have a misfire, you will have a CEL code. Get it read at Autozone or Advance and post.