i was telling someone today, the quality of the Topspeed headers was very good... solid pieces with really good welds

i have had a tic tic tic sound at idle for months and months, which sounded like it was coming from right below me when i open my door... i had been told that that was a normal noise with headers and high flows. maybe not? have a listen below... it's tough to tell what the noise is, but that was taken about 3 months ago, with the camera sitting on the curb directly next to the driver's side door...

http://www.sig35coupe.com/exhaust/un...y-pipe%201.AVI
http://www.sig35coupe.com/exhaust/un...y-pipe%202.AVI

 

It sounds to me like a vacuum leak on the intake some where, replace the gaskets and retorque the bolts. MAF really not it - u would not be able to drive it hard. I agree that a header leak would sound like a "tic tic tic"


no need for a tune after the 12 hr reset the car will adjust to the new parts.

try spraying carb cleaner around the intake seams. i used to do it for old small block chevys to find manifold leaks.. if the idle picks up then u have found a leak

 

+1 on spraying the seams with carb cleaner.

You won't be able to fix the problem untill you do some trouble shooting to locate the problem area.

Put your car up on ramps or jack stands and listen for possible exhaust leaks with the stethoscope.

At least isolate it to either intake or exhaust.

 

i listened to both those files; definately does NOT sound like a header leak. but of course video can distort sound alot, so take it with a grain of salt.

if it were me i'd remove the popcharger, put on the stock intake stuff, make certain to check all the bolts and see if the idle is fixed. I'd wager it's related to the popcharger if I had to take bets.

 

I just cleaned a 350Z guys oily MAF yesterday.

He was using a over oiled Pop Charger and it created a barely noticable film of oil on the maf. This in turn was causing his engine to run very lean.

 

i know the lincoln ls and g are diff cars but I went through this very issue on my LS and the MAF turned out to be the culprit. I was using a K&N dropin filter and it oiled up the filament started rough idling under power it was ok and when it was cool out hardly a problem.

The carb cleaner is def a good way to test for vac leaks though just do not go nuts with the stuff.

 

ok so exactly 116.2 miles after my ECU reset, CEL is back on. now that the check engine light is on, the idle problem seems to have subsided... does that make any sense?

any thought on what exactly that sound IS in those videos? i've had it for a long long time so i never paid much attention to it.

gonna try to get the car at least up on jack stands to try to see where exactly the problem is coming from. thanks for all the suggestions so far... hopefully i can get this problem licked soon.

 

have you had the code checked? if so please post it.

 

just alittle update... all of a sudden after a short drive last night the car is making a racket from underneath.... definitely loose metal-on-metal contact. idle seems more normal but if you give it a quick blip of the throttle when it drops back down it goes all the way to 500rpm and almost dies before it comes back to 650ish. guess something IS loose at the headers and/or cats. soon as i get under there to check i'll let you guys know

 

sounds like an issue with the cats? maybe they're cracked?