Todd, you said: > . . . it's probably not normal for the car to feel like > it's going to shake apart if you go over 40. My girlfriend compared > the overall feeling to being in one of those vibrating massage > chairs, although they can't hold a candle to my DeLorean. The > vibration was *very* strong (my headlight beams were wiggling like > crazy), its frequency increased with our speed, and it sounded > remarkably like a helicopter. Immediately check your lugnuts, especially on the rear wheels. One of them may be loose! This is common if the last person to put the wheels on the car was not accostomed to aluminum wheels, which require extra care. I assume the drive home you describe was from getting your brakes fixed . . . improperly tightened lugnuts may have worked their way loose during the first few miles of the drive! After tightening the lugnuts properly, jack the car up and try to wiggle the wheels. Driving on one or more loose lugnuts might have destroyed a wheel bearing, allowing the wheel to flop around on the axle. If this has happened, replace it before you cause an accident! Whatever the problem, the type of repetetive stress you describe might also contribute to premature failure of you trailing arm bolts, which might cause another accident a few months later. Stop driving the car until you diagnose and solve your "helicopter" problem. > Aside from this, the car made it about 10 miles from home without > major incident. It was after I turned around and started heading > back home that the engine decided to die four times: My bet: this is neither an engine nor a transmission problem. As others have said, you have a problem inside your fuel tank. To make sure, fill up the tank and drive around (after solving the dangerous helicopter problem). Everything will probably be fine as long as the tank is completely full. This will give you a diagnosis and relieve your stress about costly transmission or engine problems. There could be a pinhole leak in your fuel inlet line, causing your car to run fine as long as the leak is submerged but sputter any time the leak is not submerged. Or maybe the inlet baffle assembly at the bottom of your tank is loose, allowing it to wander around in the tank. Whenever it wanders above the current fuel level your engine will sputter. Both of these are very common and relatively easy to repair. You can access the fuel tank through the panel below the spare tire. Search the backissues for tips on removing the fuel pump, an operation which requires safety precautions but few tools. Best case scenario: tightening a lugnut and replacing a little rubber hose might put you in business. Good luck. - Mike Substelny VIN 01280, 8 years