Winter really kills a vehicle. Between the extreme cold, the salt and all the snow. Can really rust out a vehicle quick.

 

An update (so maybe my troubles help someone else down the road) :

- the u-bolt that I removed was a different clicking, and the mysterious uphill-losingpower-clicking never went away
- a local friend, who happens to be an out-of-work mechanic, took a drive with me in my truck and said right away "I don't think it's exhaust, it's gotta be ignition related"...I thought he was crazy, since everyone (including everyone in this forum also) thought it's exhaust related
- so his first troubleshooting was to change all 8 sparkplugs and wires (a few of the plugs looked bad when he took them out)
- but the clicking uphill still occurred
- then he borrowed a sensor unit from his old garage (this one was worth $2,500 he said), plugged it in and monitored each piston reading while i drove...he said everything looks great
- so then he said 'what kind of gas do you run?"...puzzled, i responded "um, regular"...he said "put in a high octane tank of gas, by about half tank left the sound should go away"..he tried to explain (to my dumb ears) that carbon deposits may trigger ignition firing before the spark plug (I still thought he was crazy)
- so I put the good gas in as he recommended, and by god, he was TOTALLY right...by about half tank left the clicking went away!
- so, if you're in this same boat as me, you can google about "pre-ignition" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_knocking) and learn about the problem
- in my case, my mechanic friend said we can either use a $20 spray, or a full ignition flush ($100)...he recommended a spray at first, so he's gonna do that for me tomorrow

I hope this helps someone else down the road. I know I've learned a lot...I'll never forget what a "pre-ignition" symptom is ever again.

-jeff

 

Here is a more-correct link to the definition of the "pre-ignition"problem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_...g#Pre-ignition

Have a good holiday everyone.

-jeff

 

Wow im surprised it was pre igniting. Not usually a problem on an every day driver. My uncles had a s/c'ed mustang and it used to do it until he put 102 oct in it...

Glad to see your problems resolved. Thanks for sharing.

 

to check for leaks, you can seafoam the motor, follow the instructions, and have someone at the back with a rag to block the exhaust a bit... because of the smoke you will beable to find a leak