Tranny vibration around 3k in 3-5th gear? Idle rpm prob?

It might be in 1st or 2nd too but I'm usually not in them long enough to notice.

When driving at about 2.5k-3.2k I start to feel (a bit) and hear a vibration coming from the front. It sounds like I just started driving over a rougher road only a bit quieter. It’s possible that this is an exhaust vibration but I don’t want to take many chances.

I went to Wayzata Subaru to have it checked out but if it wasn’t a transmission issue they were going to charge me $105 to have a tech take it for (at most) a 10 min drive. Personally I think this is pretty lame since my girlfriend had her IS300 checked out for transmission issues for free while only under her powertrain warrant.

I'm also having some significant dips in my idle rpm after the cars been running for a while and I've got my lights on. It will dip quite a bit when sitting still at idle and at times it feels like its about to die. I realize the fans kicking on and off can cause a bit of a dip but this seems pretty dramatic.

The alternator gives off a pretty high pitch whine but the other one I test drove did the same thing. Is this normal for these cars or is the alternator taking a piss?

 

I've always had those idle RPM dips and had the headlights dim a bit when sitting in one place (e.g. stoplight) for a while. Car has a better-than-stock battery too. I wonder if this has anything to do with the very crappy stock grounding wires.

The whine you are referring to drives me INSANE in the winter when the car is all closed up, I guess it never occurred to me that it would be the alternator.

 

It sounds like its coming from the alternator or right next to it. I noticed that high pitch sound out of another 02 that I test drove so I assumed it was normal. Do other 02-03 people have this same noise?

I'm thinking about stopping by the dealership again and picking up a IACV gasket and see if cleaning out the IACV might fix my idle bounce.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=781242

 

OK I re-read your original post, if the idle is indeed stumbling so badly that it feels like the car might stall, cleaning the IACV is in fact a very good idea. I had this earlier in the summer, accompanied by a CEL and misfire trouble codes for all 4 cylinders. Cleaning out the gunk with Seafoam and replacing the gasket sorted it right out.

 

yeah I have half a bottle of seafoam in my other car that I figured would work great for this. What did you do clean it out? Just let let it rest for a few mins and scrub?

 

Well I pulled that IACV and it did have quite a bit of carbon deposit in it. On the throttle body opening towards the front there was a decent ammount in there too. I took some qtips dipped in seafoam to clean it out a bit and then sealed it back up with a new gasket. I'm still having the problem though. Would this be something covered under warranty?

 

Did you reset the ECU after cleaning the IACV and sealing it all back up? I can't remember if I did or not...

 

What do I need to do to reset it? Just reseat the battery cables?

 

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=674031&highlight=alternator

I found this when looking on the NASIOC site. My alternator has an audible whine coming out of it. Mabey thats why i'm dipping slow low when I'm idleing, my interior fans die down and even interior lights dim too.

I did notice that my oil was pretty low the other day too.....yuk.