dearnheart3

I'm having lots of trouble keeping my car working right. I bought this car about a month ago and for about 3 weeks now I've been having trouble with it. It is Vortech supercharged, and the guy I bought it from told me it needed to be tuned but I haven't had the chance yet. It is running a little rich. I drove it home 150 miles and did not have any problems with it until about a week later.

I was driving one day and everything had been fine, and all of a sudden the car didn't want to idle anymore. It stalled on me pulling into a parking lot and was extremely hot. I couldn't not get the car started. I let it sit there until it cooled down until later and after I started it, it ran fine until I got home about 25 minutes down the road, and it did the same thing again. The only way it would start is if I held the gas pedal down and kept it idling by tapping the throttle. Not too long after all of this happened, it began ticking, which sounds as if it's coming from the valve train. The clutch had also started slipping, but I adjusted it to where it hasn't done it at all in 2 weeks.

I have since done many things to try to fix these problems. I have cleaned the throttle body, the MAF sensor, the air filter, and the Intake Air Temperature Sensor. I have replaced the IAC valve, the EGR valve, the Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor, and the Throttle Position Sensor. I checked for vacuum leaks with propane and could not find any. My vacuum gauge shows around 20 at idle so I am pretty positive it's not a vacuum leak like lots of people think.

Here is exactly what the car does now. When I first start the car in the morning, it will idle very high at about 2,000 rpms. I drive it about 15 minutes to work, and anytime the car is in neutral or the clutch is engaged, it will have a high idle anywhere from 1,400- 2,200 rpms. But as the car warms up, it is completely different. After driving for 15-30 minutes, like i said the car wants to die. The rpms drop rapidly and it will die within 3-5 seconds. The only way to keep the car running it to tap the throttle to keep the rpms up. Sometimes when I slow down I just put the car in neutral and use my left foot to brake and right foot to keep it revved up. When I pull to a stop after doing this, the car will sometimes not hold an idle, but sometimes the car will try to die but won't, and will idle fine.

I have no idea what else to do besides getting it tuned, but I don't want to get it tuned if it is a mechanical issue and not a tune issue. The car is getting terrible gas mileage and does not drive the same as when I got it. I know that the coolant resivoir is leaking, so I just keep it filled up with water.

I would greatly appreciate any help or suggestions on what I should do next. I am really needing to get the car running correctly as it is my daily driver. Thanks in advance!!