wont hold idle...just dies

nobody182 · Post by **nobody182** » March 8th, 2005, 9:02 pm

hey guys and gals, got an mx-3 problem that i was hoping you all could help me out with.

i have a 93 rs with around 210,000 miles on it, so the problem could be related to just about anything

.

the car starts fine, and will idle fine for 5-10 mins, then it wont hold idle. when accelerating, it pulls like a champ...but if i push the clutch pedal in, or come to a stop, the rpms fall and continue to fall until the car dies at 0 rpms. if im in neutral, it will die. if im in gear it drives fine until i press the clutch, then the rpms just fall all the way to zero.

it doesnt actually die until the rpms bottom out, so if im coming to a stop, i just put it in neutral and hold the throttle at 800-1000 rpms. i also hear a clicking sound coming from my passenger side firewall area when it is about to die. but, like i said, even if i do hear the clicking, i can blip the throttle and the car is fine.

it reminds me of a vaccum leak, but would a vaccum leak allow it to idle fine for the first 10 minutes? also, there are times that if i ease the rpms down, and not just let them fall abruptly it will idle fine for a few minutes...then it will just quit holding the idle and die.

any ideas? distributor cap? vaccum leak?

thanks for any suggestions!

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » March 9th, 2005, 3:30 pm

Clicking on the passenger side eh? Well there are 3 (I think) different Solenoids on that side of the car.. maybe one of them is malfunctioning.. my immediate guess would be the VICS solenoid. You can check this with the online shop manual.. it has a test procedure for the VICS solenoid on page F1-110.

Tunes67

Joey's mx · Post by **Joey's mx** » March 9th, 2005, 3:49 pm

Actually its a 93 so that means its a sohc, which means it doesnt have the vics or any of the solenoids??

nos92mx3 · Post by **nos92mx3** » March 9th, 2005, 4:04 pm

is the click comming from inside the cabin? that could be your ecu turning on and off, possibly a bad battery or alt?

matt_fulghum · Post by **matt_fulghum** » March 9th, 2005, 5:01 pm

I've got a vacuum leak I'm working on in my BP..... it'll idle... just really, really rich. That's my problem atm. The clicking sound? If you hear it when you push in your clutch, that's just your neutral switch on the pedal assembly.

nobody182 · Post by **nobody182** » March 11th, 2005, 7:09 pm

i can definately hear the clicking from inside the cabin, and im pretty sure that its not my neutral switch because it is coming from the general area of the ECU, and it clicks 3 or 4 times in succesion before it completely shuts down.

i guess it could be the ECU clicking off, then on, then off again. my thought all along has been the ECU, but ive been hoping against that for fear of buying a new one.

it makes sense that my alternator cant hold a solid voltage at low rpms, so giving it more gas makes it spin faster, and in turn having it crank out more power. understandable?

or is it more likely to be a problem with my TPS, or fuel delivery? just going off the fact that it only dies when i let off the gas pedal. not sure if that would cause the ECU to turn itself off or not, but perhaps its time for a fuel filter change or toss out the pump.

sorry for the twenty questions, but i just started a new job and i dont want the thing to crap out on me at a bad time.

Som1Dies2Nite · Post by **Som1Dies2Nite** » March 12th, 2005, 8:56 pm

Check & see if you have trouble codes stored and go from there.