Bouncy Idle, puzzling and annoying
Posted: October 22nd, 2010, 3:31 am
I fixed one problem with my transmission, by making changes to my idle. Here's the new problem that seems to have come out of it...
I was running my idle at 1,300 for easier driving during busy traffic, so I wouldn't need ANY throttle to avoid bogging.
I recently dropped it back down to 700-900ish, thinking it had to do with the whining problem I was having. It's never consistent, but always in that range. Everything off, no hvac/radio/lights/anything, fully warmed up it still varies between 7-900 rpms, it has always been about 200 variable RPM, since I've owned the car.
I originally thought the ticking was sticky lifters, so I ran an engine flush through with cheap oil, heated to operating temp and let it idle for a while, and then drained. A ton of crap came out, I did another change with Castrol 5w30 Full synthetic(I always used 10w30 before to great effect), and a Napa Gold ZR1 filter. It ran stronger than ever, but the "ticking" got a great deal louder(VERY likely due to the thinner oil). I'm now inclined to believe it's the friction gear spring, as illustrated in Ryan's thread here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=75440" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The thing is, it ticks when cold... barely. When warm, it's as loud as that video shows. I get dirty looks everywhere I go, and I honestly don't have a schedule that is consistent enough to set aside time and check it out.
The whirring hasn't been a problem since I dropped the idle. However, the jumping is present about 75% of the time, where it was about 5% before... Initially, it only happened with my heater on recirculate, 2/4 for fan speed, and temp in the high end. That was the only circumstance where I had a bouncy idle... Now it's randomly occurring(so far as I can tell), and I've tested it carefully by driving with every variable I can think of.
Honestly, it sounds like there's a vacuum leak... but it will jump for 2 hours 1 day, and then be perfectly normal for a week, and then do it again. I haven't been able to diagnose the problem, and it's occurring more often now(Cold weather maybe?)
I've looked around, and I haven't found anything that seems to match the problem, hopefully there's some either blatantly obvious or terribly obscure fix that I haven't thought of.
Thanks!
I was running my idle at 1,300 for easier driving during busy traffic, so I wouldn't need ANY throttle to avoid bogging.
I recently dropped it back down to 700-900ish, thinking it had to do with the whining problem I was having. It's never consistent, but always in that range. Everything off, no hvac/radio/lights/anything, fully warmed up it still varies between 7-900 rpms, it has always been about 200 variable RPM, since I've owned the car.
I originally thought the ticking was sticky lifters, so I ran an engine flush through with cheap oil, heated to operating temp and let it idle for a while, and then drained. A ton of crap came out, I did another change with Castrol 5w30 Full synthetic(I always used 10w30 before to great effect), and a Napa Gold ZR1 filter. It ran stronger than ever, but the "ticking" got a great deal louder(VERY likely due to the thinner oil). I'm now inclined to believe it's the friction gear spring, as illustrated in Ryan's thread here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=75440" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The thing is, it ticks when cold... barely. When warm, it's as loud as that video shows. I get dirty looks everywhere I go, and I honestly don't have a schedule that is consistent enough to set aside time and check it out.
The whirring hasn't been a problem since I dropped the idle. However, the jumping is present about 75% of the time, where it was about 5% before... Initially, it only happened with my heater on recirculate, 2/4 for fan speed, and temp in the high end. That was the only circumstance where I had a bouncy idle... Now it's randomly occurring(so far as I can tell), and I've tested it carefully by driving with every variable I can think of.
Honestly, it sounds like there's a vacuum leak... but it will jump for 2 hours 1 day, and then be perfectly normal for a week, and then do it again. I haven't been able to diagnose the problem, and it's occurring more often now(Cold weather maybe?)
I've looked around, and I haven't found anything that seems to match the problem, hopefully there's some either blatantly obvious or terribly obscure fix that I haven't thought of.
Thanks!