Fluctuating idle? Embarrased @ redlights?

[hgallegos915]

I fixed mine.. all I did is swap back the kf ecu in it and it idles fine. The k8 was running a bit to rich..maybe you are running rich because of the cold weather and its normal? (i dont have a klze)

[millaj01]

Ever get embarrased @ a red light? Hit the defroster switch. It applies a load and stops the fluctuating temporarly. I have fluctuating idle problems every once and awhile and I use this as a temp fix. I have yet to tune my ZE, just breaking it in. 430 miles as of today

With my ZE swap, I've had consistent fluctuating idle issues that I haven't spent the proper time to eliminate (my MX isn't my daily driver). I've done the 'basic' TPS adjustment (using the 'fan' method), but that didn't get rid of my problem. My problem is that once warmed up, my idle will surge to 1500RPM, drop down to 1000, and cycle somewhat quickly. If I'm at a light with my foot on the brake, it'll idle sometimes at ~1000, but always ends up climbing to 1500 eventually...but doesn't surge. Foot off the brake (less electrical load?), surge city.

Using your trick, Barry, my car will idle steady at ~1000. No surging. It definitely does the trick as a work-around...thanks for posting it.

Of course, based on what everyone has posted, sounds like either a vacuum leak or bad TPS is probably my cause. Just need to find more time to research both angles.

[jschrauwen]

Hi Jay, long time no hear. You must have been living with this short coming for some time now. I've found that the fan method is only a quick fix and should only be used as a temporary measure. I just posted a fairly lengthy post within the last few days wrt doing a complete TPS start to finish. If the TPS or rather the TB you are using is from the same engine /IM that came with the engine you sourced I wouldn't at this point look to the TPS itself as the offender. There's a quick test in that test I mentioned where you could connect an annalog type of ohmeter to the TPS and hand-rotate the butterfly linkage of the TB to confirm if there's any flat or dead spots in the TPS. Since the TPS is one big reostat - more of less. Track down that post of mine and it will show that the TB does not necessarily have to be on the engine to be tested/adjusted for all of the checks. I've also posted a test on how to quickly zero in on vaccum leaks. Knowing the quality of your sourced ZE, I'd find it hard to believe that a vaccum hose is suspect. If your using the OEM accordian intake tubing, then I might focus in on that a little more. Hope this helps.
*John*