Im brand new to the max world and I know this has been talked about before, but noone has explained ALL the problems ive been having. i just got my '91 Se 5 spd max about 3 days ago, and so far i love it, except it makes this ticking noise. when the engine is cold the car is very fast with little to no hesitation, but when it warms up the ticking becomes more evident and the car bucks and also has a bad idle (can hear random putts out of the muffler). The car only makes the loud ticking when the accelerator is pressed more than 1/4 of the way down or more and the car is under load (moving). any responses will help thanks!

 

hmm, I would guess that your ticking might be broken manifold studs or possibly lifters sticking.

The other symptoms you have could possibly be your fuel injectors or you MAF sensor. There are other possiblilites that could cause this, like the o2 sensor or the temp sensor.

These are just guesses. Without hearing the sound in person, it's hard to tell.

 

Hey, let me know if you find anything out about this. Mine is "ticking" too but I would call it pinging. It runs perfect when cold but then it warms up and the car pings every 4 seconds and the knock sensor goes off and it hesitates when I accelerate. Mine also idles kind of funny, puttputtputtputt and is kind of annoying. I did notice when I changed my knock sensor that the car idled much higher and I had to adjust it. Possible explanations I have come up with so far is an EGR problem or a fuel injector problem. Let me know if you find anything out and I will keep in touch with you. My email is joshwillia@hotmail.com

 

a putt putt idle is normally a misfire, so start disconnecting cylinders and see which one isn't working.

 

I just bought a multimeter from autozone and checked the front three injectors and one was at like 35 ohms and should be 12. The other two were 12. I changed it and the car runs much better. I think the KS computer code was an old one and no engine light has ever come on. Try using a multimeter to check the resistance on your injectors. I had no idea what I was doing but went out and bought one and read the instructions in the book and off I went. Not too hard.

 

BTW, my car still has an uneven idle and I don't know what it is. Have done many things to it with no avail. I need to change all of my vacuum line now that it is warmer and sand down the grounds on the car. Does anyone know if that colored vacuum line is as good as the stuff at the parts store?

 

colored or not just check the psi rating on the hose.