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Idle problem

Joined
3 October 2001
Messages
461
Location
Danville, VA, USA
My car has had an idle speed problem a couple of times now and I wondered if anyone had suggestions?

When I am stopped (say a drive through - btw my driver's side window is slow to close now *sigh*) on two occasions the car surges (revs drop and then rise sharply) - putting in neutral seemed to help (auto), turning off a/c didn't seem to make much difference (as best I recall).

Help?
 
Its a tough call esp. with an auto but I had idle issues with falling revs in neutral and a slight surge,sometimes called "idle hunting" on my 96 manual.A common culprit for this is one of two o2 sensors in the exhaust system may be faulty.Think about this as you rule out other causes.They are not cheap to replace;150-200$, my 2cents.
 
There could be a couple of things causing your issue. The first thing I'd do is take the air tube off of the throtle body and spray itermitant spurts of carb/throtle body cleaner into the throtle body while the car idles. You'll have to do this in short one second spurts to prevent killing the motor. You can also grab the throtle plate arm and raise the rpm's to around say 3k, then let off of the throtle plate and shoot a stream in the throtle body for a second as the engine r's drop. This will help to pull the cleaner through the idle bypass and clean it out.
If this doesn't help, I'd reset the computer, (I'm sure it's in the FAQ's somewhere), and see if that helps.
Then if you still have an issue, you may need to reset your base idle. (look in the service manual on the main page under the fuel and emissions section). Or have your favorite tech do it for ya.
There is also the possiblity of the coolant level being low also. These are a few places to start. But if you haven't cleaned your throtle body in a while, you may need to do it just for kicks to keep the car happy. If you spray the cleaner in the throtle body when your raising the r's on the engine, the cleaner will not clean the idle bypass passage, so make sure and clean it while the r's are dropping.
Hope this helps,
Barn Man...
 
Originally posted by Barn Man:
There is also the possiblity of the coolant level being low also. These are a few places to start.
Hope this helps,
Barn Man...

Thanks...

Lud thought my coolant level was low from my pictures, but I think it was at minimum. I added some water to raise it some. (I probably need to get it flushed anyway.)

How do you normally measure it? As far as I can tell the coolant tank is opaque?
 
Easiest way to "see through" the stock coolant tank is to shine a flashlight through the top of the tank while the car is in the shade or garage. There is a full line mark on the tank.
I had a similar idling problem after removing the throttle body for cleaning (best method). Pulled the clock fuse from the front fuse box for 10 seconds; engine off. All is well now.
 
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