June 15, 200718 yr It's a 3AT transmission. Drove my car from LA to Arizona, 300 miles or so, and checked the ATF, and it was empty. So was the gear oil. Filled both up. Drove back from Arizona to LA, another 300 miles or so, and checked the ATF again, and again it was empty. Gear oil wasnt, though. Now after... say 600 miles since I moved back here, I checked the ATF, and its all gone again. Gear oil is fine. I'm not leaking ATF. It only marks its territory, but not with ATF. My exhaust was GONE, all of the piping from the cat back... was rusted on the TOP of the pipe, towards the car, not the ground. I spent $230 today to replace the cat, the piping, and the muffler, and MAN does it ride better at cruising speed, and MAN is it quiet! Now the darned car likes to upshift at like 4k-4.5k RPM, and idles like a DOG in any running gear, Neutral is fine. Misses all of the time, but misses a LOT more in gear. Oh yeah, it HATES to shift up when cold. Am I OK to think my vacuum modulator is causing all of this idling and missing mayhem??
June 15, 200718 yr Author I figured out, and indeed, the modulator is leakin ATF into the intake. Gonna replace it tomorrow, i HOPE it fixes my idle issue!
June 15, 200718 yr Usually the car smokes pretty good when this occurs. But I guess with the condition of your exhaust it wasnt noticeable?
June 15, 200718 yr Author I replaced the modulator. Checked plugs, and theyre BLACK. WTF? Was it the ATF causing the plugs to do that?
June 15, 200718 yr Author Transmission shifts like BUTTER. Got some ATF on the cat, so it smokes but not for long, hopefully. The 3AT aint so bad after all.... But, I recommend Napa modulators, now it shifts at 2500-3000 RPM and is SMOOTH! Still idles like crap. So.. I looked at one head's spark plugs (passenger side), and the ceramic part that holds the insulator, was bubbling it looks like and yeah, totally BLACK. Other head (drivers side) was actually more semi-decen, looked brownish kinda, with no bubbling insulator. I just replaced all four with new NGKs and it still misfires, puh puh puh out of the exhaust... But only ONE head fouling the plugs? Whats up with that?
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