Wondering what this could be

[Chrisba]

my protege has been kinda messing up when i accelerate the needle on my boost gauge shakes up and my vacuum pressure is at 22 so im curious what it could be if anyone could help me out that would be greatly appreciated. my friend says he thinks its my valve springs i just want to get other opinions

[LaginWagon]

Need more info than this. What is "shakes up"? Does the car react as expected, or is it (mimicking) different as the boost gauge is? Mech' or elec' gauge?

You can't just jump to "it's your valve springs". You're buddy might as well say "it's youir Flux Capicitor." It's not that either, trust me.

[tbot]

punctuation would be good too! But agreed, more info is needed than given.

[chickenwafer]

LOL at "vacuum pressure". That's an oxymoron. But anyways, if you are pulling 22 inches of mercury in vacuum then your motor is in A++ shape.

[Chrisba]

ok well the check engine light came on and i checked it out and it says lean air to fuel ratio. and the needle when you step on the gas instead of going up smoothly it goes up and down really fast.

[LaginWagon]

Possibly a MAP and/or MAF sensor. Could also be 100 other things.

[chickenwafer]

Boost leak, or you're over-boosting and the PCM is going into limp mode (very, extremely common in MSP's), faulty sensor but you would probably get a CEL for that as well...

[7th Heaven]

The problem could be weak valve springs. Youll have normal vacuum and the needle will fluctuate excessibly at higher speeds. This can also be a Fuel injector problem which will make the needle slowly drift back and fourth. Also you have that cheap ass boost controller which could be adjusted to a setting your Stock PCM isnt familiar with and that could be giving your car whack readings. A bad sensor could be at play. Your Map sensor is very important and could be bad. There can be a hundred of things that could be goin on though.