the prob started about a month ago and in that time ive had all my belts changed including the timing belt, water pump, valve cover gasket, and valves adjusted, and the fluxuating idle still continues, attempting to fix the problem, i had the charcoal canister replaced(it was damaged, had the idle control valve replaced, distrubter housing replaced, and the prob continues. the idle is very rough when cold and fluxates from 1000 to 200 when idling when its warm, and in neutral. i noticed the car is starting to sputter lately also.
Did you check the spark plug gaskets (well gaskets) while you replaced the Valve cover gasket? Did you check your spark plugs for Oil in them~~~this would be an indication of bad/worn out well gasket which could be your problem. Good luck hope this helped.
the charcoal canister, is just that the charcoal canister. it’s there to control the amount of fuel vaporization in the fuel system. it takes excess vapors, turns them back into liquid, and reintroduces it into the system. it’s to control emissions.
TysTeg: check your O2 sensor. when it’s going out it has all of those symptoms. i highly highly doubt that it’s the well grommets. anyways, though check your 02 sensor and try to get a diagnostic test done on it with a scan tool.
I took my car back to the shop yesterday and when they brang it back to me they said that the timing belt was hella loose and the valves werent tight like they should have been, it idles better now but the problem isn’t gone.
It might be your CTS. If you want a quick way to check, unplug it and see if the problem goes away. You will set a code doing this and the ECU will run in limp mode (a simple reset will fix this after the test). If you notice that these symptoms have gone away, get a new CTS.
A bad CTS will cause problems either when cold or when warm but not likely between those states. If the thermosistor is telling the ECU that the engine is already warm when indeed it isn’t, the pulse width is narrowed at the injectors and the engine may be starved for fuel. If the opposite happens, an already warmed up engine may be flooded or running excessively rich due to the fact that the false reading of the CTS is signaling the ECU to increase the pulse width, air, etc.
To make a long story longer, check that damn coolant temp. switch…
HTH
Andrew.
btw… it’s 100x easier to get to if you remove the distributor. The total time for the job is maybe 10-20min.
a quick q also about 2 dr. vs 4 dr bumper fittment…
Team bad idle?? That’s hillarious!! I am a lifetime member myself…
About the cts… As far as I know, it’s always under the dist. but I could be wrong. Can anyone verify? Does anyone know if a 4 dr. 92/3 rear bumper will fit a 2 dr?? I have no idea…
Is the CTS really the sensor that makes the cooling fan go on and tells the ECU the temp of the engine? If it’s that one, it’s near the oil filter for the 90-91(I remember a member replacing a sensor near his oil filter to cure the cooling fan not going ON, he also said I cured some hesitation)…
I’ll be replacing my O2 sensor with a 4 wire sensor next week and if this don’t help anything, the CTS is the next one!
