Idk what the hell is going on with my car but it must be that time of the month. Even after I treat her to a wash and wax yesterday, shes still pulling some **** on me.

I noticed about a month ago that once the car was warmed, i'd hear a knocking noise in the engine bay, and i could feel the knock through the engine cover on top of the motor. Chalked it up to my exhaust being loose and ignored it.

Yesterday it was making the noise something fierce so I took it down to autozone to have it scanned. Scanned out nothing so the autozone guy came out and we looked over the engine bay and he heard the knocking. He thought it sounded like plastic hitting something. So i undid the engine cover and after taking off the 4 outside screws, I did the middle. The second it was free, it started to hiss and blow air out and the idle and everything dipped and jumped and the car nearly died before I screwed it back in quick.

Turned the car off, removed it, then tried to start it again without the screw, same thing. Screw in, start the car, everythings fine (even though I think the car idles too low) Dinked with the engine cover and eventually I got the rattle noise to go away (and haven't heard it since yesterday either) but that screw concerned me. So i called my dealer (back in Minneapolis, 3.5 hours away) and he got back to me this morning, said that that did not seem to be normal as they drive around without engine covers all the time while testing things that have been fixed and that it was purely decorational. His idea that something was over drill or something when the other dealer did work on my car last summer. Make cracked the upper plenum or intake manifold?? I have 0 idea. The entire top of the motor is plastic unlike my 05 which had a completely cast motor, no plastic.

Tonight, we were running to Autozone to see my roommate (Songle6MT) and as I was pulling out of my alley, it was kind of icy and the car slipped and slipped then killed on me from the revs not being high enough (curse you tricky clutch!). So i restarted and the Slip and VDC Off lights were on. I was like, oh ****. So i restarted it and the lights were still on. Said **** and drove it the 3 blocks to Autozone. The car would not go above like 2k and would getVERY herky jerky and the revs would bounce. I think it was in limp mode. Got it down there, lights still on, and scanned the car. No codes found. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, then restarted. No lights. Take it for a drive, and all is well. Wtf??? Did i just trip it while I was on the ice or what??

I wont be home until March 9th for spring break and was planning on just dropping the car off on the way to the airport. I'll be in Cali so i'll have cell coverage to talk to my service manager, but i am getting slightly concerned here and am looking to you guys for some peace of mind since its a solid 3.5 weeks until I'll be back in Minneapolis. Just wondering if ANYONE has ever seen anything like either of these issues? The car is stock and is under full power train warranty until 2014 so im not terribly concerned. I was thinking the revs dipped might be a dirty TB since it has 45k and hasn't been cleaned.

ANY insight would be appreciated.

Thanks!