Everybody,

Old Bessy was getting really sick. She couldn't get air and was stalling on really bad days. I regret to admit that I was close to putting her out to pasture, as I imagined the repairs needed would cost a damn fortune.

Some back story:

I was on these forums last fall trying desperately to get to the bottom of a cycling idle (from near stalling to 1700 RPM and then back, again and again, and again). People offered some awesome advice, but nothing panned out. I replaced the throttle body gaskets, decarbonized everything, searched for vacuum leaks, replaced the firetrap, cleaned the injectors and replaced injector seals, replaced the intake bellow, air filter--did pretty much everything idle related. And nothing worked!

I've been broke for a while but had a little money come my way recently, so I finally broke down and called my mechanic. They had a pretty good idea what it was and said they'd give it the full rundown. $125 just to look at it, but I felt confident they would find it.

And they did. Faulty O2 sensor! Jesus, what are the odds?! It had been replaced fairly recently, but this one went bad (it probably was gunked up when I was spraying all sorts of liquids on the tubing to check for leaks). I learned my lesson on that one. The shop tuned the idle and did a general check-up on the car, replaced the O2 sensor of course, found a rusty relay and a melted ignition wire, and got to the bottom of the farting noise my exhaust makes. Exhaust manifold flange needs replacing.

Bessy now purrs like a kitten, locked in at 750 RPM. I've never been happier.

The best part is that they charged me only for labor and the O2 sensor ($180). My mechanic is such a nice guy; he went over the other issues with me in person (after the shop was closed, I should add) and advised that I do some of the work myself to save some cash. I'm bringing Bessy back in next month for the wiring work and the exhaust flange. I like these guys a lot, and if any of you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, go to Model Garage in Berkeley. Many of you probably already know of them. Top notch shop.

Write me if you are having idle issues; I've been through many of the steps to isolate problems, and good luck!

Matt