GeologistFelix
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Vashon, WA
Ok, so, I've spent the last several days trying to troubleshoot my misbehaving engine.
Long story short, it's idling at the happy 750-800ish range until the engine warms up, at which point it idles at more like 400-600.
As well, regardless of temperature, it seems to have trouble starting. The starter chugs away just fine, but it take the engine a good 2-3 seconds of cranking before it fires. Then, once it's going, the idle sinks down to around 200 in the next couple of seconds, and either dies, or works its way back up to 750 after a few seconds. If it dies, and I try starting it again, it fires almost immediately, and revs itself up to 1500 for a few seconds, and then eases down to 750 (until it gets warm, and starts to fall).
I've done a lot of reading, and tried several things to diagnose/fix this, so here's the list of things I've actually done. None of these made a noticeable difference of any kind.
- Replaced the plugs/wires/cap/rotor/air filter about 500 miles ago (it actually runs noticeably better since doing this, but it still idles funny).
- Cleaned the throttle body out with carb cleaner (which I now know is Very Bad, and might think was the source of my problems, if it hadn't been doing this since before cleaning the TB out)
- Tried running it with the latch relay removed.
- Tightened some loose bolts along the top of the intake manifold (it was actually idling high when warm, before I did this)
- Put a few loose vacuum hoses and electrical plugs back in place, which I found while monkeying around under the hood.
- Disconnected the IAC once it was idling at 750 (it fell down to 500 anyway, once it warmed up).
- Each time I screwed with one of these things, I reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery, then driving around like a madman to go through the whole range of throttle settings, followed by killing the engine and restarting.
So, because it seems related to the temperature, I'm hesitant to just replace the TPS or CPS, and since it's not giving me any CELs through any of this, it doesn't seem like my sensors are to blame.
One thing I did think of, though, is my nasty old battery cables. Often, while running, my dash volt meter only shows around 12.5 volts (but goes up to 13.5 sometimes, without any clear connection to weather or anything). I cleaned the hell out of my battery contacts, and it didn't change.
Any ideas?
Long story short, it's idling at the happy 750-800ish range until the engine warms up, at which point it idles at more like 400-600.
As well, regardless of temperature, it seems to have trouble starting. The starter chugs away just fine, but it take the engine a good 2-3 seconds of cranking before it fires. Then, once it's going, the idle sinks down to around 200 in the next couple of seconds, and either dies, or works its way back up to 750 after a few seconds. If it dies, and I try starting it again, it fires almost immediately, and revs itself up to 1500 for a few seconds, and then eases down to 750 (until it gets warm, and starts to fall).
I've done a lot of reading, and tried several things to diagnose/fix this, so here's the list of things I've actually done. None of these made a noticeable difference of any kind.
- Replaced the plugs/wires/cap/rotor/air filter about 500 miles ago (it actually runs noticeably better since doing this, but it still idles funny).
- Cleaned the throttle body out with carb cleaner (which I now know is Very Bad, and might think was the source of my problems, if it hadn't been doing this since before cleaning the TB out)
- Tried running it with the latch relay removed.
- Tightened some loose bolts along the top of the intake manifold (it was actually idling high when warm, before I did this)
- Put a few loose vacuum hoses and electrical plugs back in place, which I found while monkeying around under the hood.
- Disconnected the IAC once it was idling at 750 (it fell down to 500 anyway, once it warmed up).
- Each time I screwed with one of these things, I reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery, then driving around like a madman to go through the whole range of throttle settings, followed by killing the engine and restarting.
So, because it seems related to the temperature, I'm hesitant to just replace the TPS or CPS, and since it's not giving me any CELs through any of this, it doesn't seem like my sensors are to blame.
One thing I did think of, though, is my nasty old battery cables. Often, while running, my dash volt meter only shows around 12.5 volts (but goes up to 13.5 sometimes, without any clear connection to weather or anything). I cleaned the hell out of my battery contacts, and it didn't change.
Any ideas?