I hate weird noises...

[Gumby Gone Wild]

So the other night I was doing a late night Wendy's run. Yum. But on the way there I noticed a weird noise. I figured it was a leaf stuck to the the pop charger restricting a little air flow. Then the other day it got worse. I wouldn't call it a knock, but that's the closest thing I can think of to explain it. Anyway, this morning on the way to school I noticed the service light came on. I was hoping one of you VQ genius' might be able to diagnose my issue. I've never really driven the car real hard. I think the highest I've taken the car is 6k RPM. Not a lot of miles on it, less than 13k, and no other mods minus mentioned pop charger. Umm, its a 2006.5, produced 10/06. I don't know if this is related, but shifting from first to second isn't always easy. I'd say 60% of the time there's a funky thud, and not so smooth shift, not to mention it takes a while to get it in gear. I figure its two entirely different issues, but don't know jack about cars soooo I decided it wouldn't hurt to mention.

Help?

P.S I made an appointment today to take it into the dealer, but was hoping one of you may be able to help. Just in case the dealersh1t tries to run me through hoops. Thanks in advance!

[evildky]

the leaf on the air filter won't hurt anything, and if the engine ever does "knock" you'll know because it's unmistakable and won't go away

otherwise I have no idea what could be causing your light to come on, and if possible you might want o put the stock air box back in before going to the dealer, some might use that as an excuse to not fix something

[Anthonysflying]

Take off your filter element and peek at your air flow sensor. the sensor may have been affected by particulates that got in during installation.

< change back to stock before any dealer visits

[xjmxstac]

Do you have good oil pressure?

[rmezz13]

Do you have good oil pressure?

yeah check your oil level, having an 06' and all.... The shifting issue sounds personally, and are you talking about a thud when you shift from a high rev, quickly? like power shifting when your slamming gears? it tends to kind of thud when you do that... other than that i don't know, i would have to drive or hear it my self.Good luck, let us know.

[Gumby Gone Wild]

So I took it to the dealer. They had it for almost a week. Called me up, told me they found a whole bunch of acorns! Apparently squirrels decide to store their shizz in my vehicle... I rofl'd until the dealer was all, $100 please and thank you.

The shifting is smooth, no more noise and it's running better than ever!

[dasoupdude]

The shifting is smooth, no more noise and it's running better than ever!

Until 3 weeks later...