i'm baffled

[EXIST tm]

a little confused possibly it's just late at night, i was driving my car about an hour ago and it stalled out, i was just like what the hell is going on, well i found out quick that it only stalls when i'm using the brakes to complete stop or pressing the brake pedal 75 percent of the way in.

the car idles fine when you start it up, but there is a slight miss heard in the exhaust note, and some ticking/mild knocking sound comning from the head, nothing to loud or severe sounding to where it's turn the car off because it's going to blow, it's just a constant noise (not sure if it's normal)

any guesses or ideas to what might be going wrong?

[D Money]

maybe a vacuum leak. that could explain the hiss

[EXIST tm]

okay so i checked and i don't have a vacuum leak, i looked all over and felt around, and couldn't find anything, car still dies though, but now it will only die if you're using the brakes when you're moving, i let the car idle and warm up then i smashed on the brakes to try and kill it, but nothing. Took it for a drive around the block and when i try to come to a stop it stalls.

[hysteria]

make sure that there is no way air can get into your manifold without passing through the mafs. recheck for vacuum leaks. make sure the mafs connection is good. try adjusting your idle screw a little. see what the car does when you have the A/C compressor on, because when the A/C is on an air passage allows more idle air in to the manifold, so if it doesn't die with that on you may just have a problem with your idling.

here's the exact problem i used to have:erratic warm up idle, and then once the car warmed up to normal operating temp it would stall when i pushed in the clutch and let off the gas abruptly, but if i had the AC on it wouldn't die... i discovered that my AICV was screwed so i eliminated it and backed the idle screw out to make the idle a steady 800 rpm, and i have had no problems since then.

[goshoryukenx]

I had a similar problem. Get a vacuum check done, you can't always notice it with your hand. If the car is running.. the radiator fan will blow air and not let you feel around too well for leaks. Get it checked, I'm sure it's a vacuum leak or iacv prob. Take of the iacv and get it cleaned.

[EXIST tm]

hysteria i would try what you say, but i ripped out the a/c compressor and all that ac fun stuff last summer, who needs a/c

[C-Kwik]

Try finding a relatively open stretch of road. Boost up in first and let off while pushing the clutch in. Don't push the brake. See if the engine will idle. if not, it's not the brakes, but a boost leak. If you are running an open atmo BOV, recirculate it. Check all your hose connections. Make sure the hose clamps are tight. Use a wrench, not a screwdriver, to tighten them or they will not clamp down hard enough. A loose or leaky hose connection will have symptoms like an open BOV.

[hysteria]

lol well i live in texas,so i guess I need ac... umm try what c kwik says, and also try adjusting the idle screw to allow more air into the manifold at idle... this could give a good indication of what is going on. i am betting on a vacuum leak of some sort or a boost leak before the manifold, where air would be able to get into the manifold without passing through the mafs. did you run your valve cover vent back into your air filter intake side or did you just put a little seperate filter on the end of the valve cover opening? if you did run it back to the intake side then check to make sure the connection is good and there are no leaks. check all connections and pipes for leaks, and the vacuum line thing... well there are a bunch of vacuum lines that are hard to get to on the stock configuration. i redid my vacuum lines and simplified them since i removed the egr... reworked everything so it is easy to diagnose a vacuum leak. check all the vacuum things on the rear of the valve cover.... it's really hard or impossible to get to some stock vacuum lines without having the manifold off, which is also part of the reason i reworked all of my lines.

[EXIST tm]

i'm not boosted yet, and it wasn't a leak, but whatever it was went away again, and all i did was pulled off my dist. cap and rotor and then put it back on, and the bug was gone, no parts were changed either. I'm even more confused now, but whatever.

[hysteria]

yeah if your car is not firing correctly all kinds of things can be wrong.

here's a general tip to keep in mind when considering the way your car is running: for an engine to run it needs 3 things - air, fuel and spark. if any of them is missing or half assed the car will run poorly, or not run at all. there are easy ways to check for each also, so generally it's easy to narrow it down to hat the problem is.

any more problems, or if any problems return just ask. good luck.