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Post by DrewNukesEm on Apr 25, 2010 0:06:37 GMT -5
What's up everyone, so today I got around to doing some more little things to the Justy including putting a tach in.. I was able to adjust the warm idle down around 1000 rpms.. However the tach also made me able to see how much of a fluctuation is going on.. Basically it fluctuates from 1100 down to about 800, wants to die, but catches itself and brings it back up to 1100 or 1000 then it does the same thing over again. When I turn lights, heater and fog lights on it gets worse and idle fluctuates even more..
I have done lots of searching around to see what may be causing it, but can't find anyone that had a similar problems and found what may be causing this. Ferox asked if I replaced my o2 sensor, which I haven't. Could this be the cause? I have also checked the connections to the distributor and from what I could tell everything looked good there.. The PCV is less than a year old and all the hoses to it were clear. All vacuum lines are clear and hooked up correctly. I cleared the codes thinking the idle air control valve may have needed to relearn the idle. I'm thinking it may be the idle air control valve itself, which is bolted to the bottom of the airbox and has 2 vacuum lines running to it. Anyone know how to check to see if it is bad? Does anyone have any extras laying around or have a parts car they may be able to grab one out of? My check engine light is not on, and other than idle everything seems to run good. Any other ideas/things to check? I can take pictures and maybe a video as well if it would help. Feedback greatly appreciated! Thank you. Drew
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2010 12:00:38 GMT -5
Hey Drew,
Typically the symptoms you are experiencing are caused by a vacuum leak or a dirty or failing sensor that has some control over Air/Fuel mixture. Since you have checked for vacuum leaks, it is probably some kind of sensor issue. I haven't worked on Gen IIs yet, but some cars are very sensitive to O2 sensor feedback. I know Legacys are, and I know Eporter's Justy wouldn't pass Oregon emissions until he replaced the O2 sensor. It is a fairly easy replacement, it is often overlooked, and will only give you a better running car and better mileage.
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Post by DrewNukesEm on Apr 25, 2010 15:34:54 GMT -5
Hey Drew, Typically the symptoms you are experiencing are caused by a vacuum leak or a dirty or failing sensor that has some control over Air/Fuel mixture. Since you have checked for vacuum leaks, it is probably some kind of sensor issue. I haven't worked on Gen IIs yet, but some cars are very sensitive to O2 sensor feedback. I know Legacys are, and I know Eporter's Justy wouldn't pass Oregon emissions until he replaced the O2 sensor. It is a fairly easy replacement, it is often overlooked, and will only give you a better running car and better mileage. Awesome, thank you very much for the quick response Ferox! The O2 sensor is pretty much one of the few parts I didn't replace.. So I think I will be doing that next considering they aren't too expensive and as you said should only increase gas mileage and make the car run better. Should I use a universal or direct fit? Looks like rock auto has universal fits for $14-$16, or a direct fit for $25, is it worth it to spend the extra $10 for the direct fit? I will order a new O2 sensor and if that doesn't work I'll move onto the next expensive part.. The dreaded idle air control valve.. (Which my wallet hopes it isn't!). Was also wondering if my problem could possibly be the throttle position sensor? I have a spare that I may throw in to see if it helps anything.. My only question is wouldn't any of these things set my check engine light off so I could check the codes? It hasn't ever came on as long as I've owned my car except one time when I didn't have the intake tubes hooked up to the airbox and started the car up.. But when I hooked everything back up it went off and hasn't ever been on since.. I would just think an electrical problem would trigger the check engine light..? Would it still give me problem codes if i plugged the black connections together under the dash if there isn't a check engine light on in the first place? Or in order to check the codes, does the check engine light have to be on first? Thank you. Drew
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Post by DrewNukesEm on Apr 25, 2010 18:21:18 GMT -5
Alrighty, so today's daily tinkering with the Justy I installed a different TPS sensor I had for backup to see if it would change anything, and warmed up the car.. It didn't fix anything, so I just cleaned up my old one and put it back in. After I did so, the idle seemed to smooth out some and stay at 1000 rpms.. So I took it on for a spin around the block and back and the idle stayed smooth.. I turned on the headlights, fog lights, and heater to see if the idle would change at all under electric load as it has been, and the idle stayed smooth (the good news..). However now, (the bad news..) the check engine light came on (right when I cranked the heater on high). When I plugged the black connectors in it gave me a code 33, which looks like it's a "Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) or circuit". I tried to clear the code, but it won't clear.. I'm not positive what this is, but I don't have my speedometer cable hooked up yet (waiting on one in the mail).. Could this be the cause of that code? Just simply need the speedo cable? If not, does anyone know what it does mean? Also, not sure if anyone else has ever heard of this but when I plugged the black and green connectors in, the idle air control valve under the airbox and the electrical part that is towards the front of the airbox (between the overflow bottle and the airbox) clicks out loud, almost sounds like a blinker.. Is this normal? If not, what could this mean? Thank you. Drew
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Post by DrewNukesEm on Apr 25, 2010 22:50:48 GMT -5
When I plugged the black connectors in it gave me a code 33, which looks like it's a "Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) or circuit". I tried to clear the code, but it won't clear.. I'm not positive what this is, but I don't have my speedometer cable hooked up yet (waiting on one in the mail).. Could this be the cause of that code? Just simply need the speedo cable? I did some research and I think I found the answer to my own question.. The VSS consists of a magnetic rotor which is rotated by the speedometer cable and a reed switch. Rotation of the magnet rotor pulses the reed switch OFF/ON to produce a digital signal. The signal is used as a vehicle speed coefficient in ECU calculation. The VSS is inside the meter assembly. The speedometer should be replaced if the VSS is found to be defective. This is probably the part that tells the shift light when to come on? Well since I haven't hooked up my speedometer cable yet, I'm pretty sure that is causing my code 33.. I should be getting my speedo cable in the mail tomorrow.. I will update after I install..
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Post by DrewNukesEm on Apr 26, 2010 23:06:04 GMT -5
So I got my speedo cable today along with a few other goodies (thanks to justyranger!), and after installing it, it fixed the code 33. Looks like my Justy is finally good to go! Gonna drive it to work tomorrow and start saving gas again. Still gonna keep an eye on the idle though..
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Post by 88gl on Feb 14, 2013 14:40:12 GMT -5
Keep us posted. I too have a fluctuating idle on my '88 and a code 33 when I'm not moving.
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