Ok, so, I got my camaro running, fixed the mild overheating problem, and made a 200 mile trip to see a friend... aaaand it drove great the whole way. However, whenever I'm at a stop sign or driving slow, if I'm in neutral, it stalls after slowly dropping RPMs for about 15-20 seconds. When I'm going down the highway, I can drop into neutral and coast with no problem... it only stalls when i'm going slow or stopped. It sat for a few months over the winter, but I've driven it quite a bit since then, and fixed/replaced several minor problems, each of which made it run a little better... again, I don't notice any problems when I'm driving or coasting at speed, only when I'm idling at very low speed or stopped. :P I'm sure somebody else has had the same problem and explained it on here, but I looked for several hours straight and didn't see anything... sorry if this is a recurring thread.

 

This is from the technical articles section and may help
https://www.thirdgen.org/tpimod2

 

Ok, this is where I would adjust min. airflow, yes?
It hasn't been adjusted, the cap is still over it... so I'm fairly certain that's not messed up... is that a bad assumption to make? It idled fine before, and I didn't change anything that should have made the idle needing adjustments... I'm trying to get away from modifying things that aren't broken to fix problems, as that's what the PO did... I've spent almost a year now fixing systems he deleted and other things he screwed up to make it run without the deleted systems. :P I checked for vacuum leaks, didn't find any... as it was dying when I was checking for leaks, it sputtered and came back to life 3 or 4 times before dying, so the ECM seems to be recognizing a problem and trying to fix it, but it's not throwing any codes.

 

You can always try unscrewing the IAC and make sure it's not all gunked up in there and clean off the end and where it seats against the throttle body. Needs to be clean to properly control the idle and it won't hurt a bit to do it. And yes, the adjusting screw is right under that skinny metal cap.

 

Not sure if this is related or not, but I have to replace my valve cover gaskets because they're leaking steam... This idle problem only happens after the engine warms up, which is when the mild steaming happens as well... i didn't think that'd be part of it, but i'm no mechanic.

 

leaking steam? You mean your getting a ton of blowby?

 

Not sure what it may be called, but after the engine warms up when I pop the hood there's a little bit of steam that leaks out from under the valve cover... when I say little, i mean little. It's not shooting out, just sort of wafting out... I was gonna wait til I fixed the idle to mess with that because I was gonna clean up my engine and sandblast/paint the valve covers, but it's not like the idle thing is a big problem, so I may just plan on replacing the valve cover gaskets and cleaning up first.

 

Oh, and I will pull my IAC valve and clean it, henryd3. Won't have time til after work tomorrow night. Thanks for the input so far, guys... I mean it. :P Wouldn't have been able to get this car running if it weren't for TGO.

 

Ok, I cleaned my IAC valve, put it back in, and my car started on the first crank without me giving any gas... which is about 15-20 seconds faster than normal. HOWEVER, it's still not idling, and it doesn't take as long now to die when I let off the gas in neutral, even when I'm driving... I'm assuming this means either the IAC is bad or the wiring is bad. Is there any way to check the IAC besides pulling it, leaving it connected, jumping ALDL and turning the key to "ON"? I did that, and sure enough the spring and nose came right out, but how do I know if it'll retract like it's supposed to?

EDIT: in the IAC and TPS adjustment page, he says to jump the ALDL, disconnect the IAC, then start the car... leaving the ALDL jumped? I was under the impression you don't want to start the car with the ALDL jumped... or am I off my rocker?

 

Take the jumper out before starting the car. Good catch. Just do the whole thing and see how it runs after. You did stick the pintle back in so it only stuck out less than 11/8" right?

 

Ok, I pulled the connector to see where the idle was set at w/out the IAC, and it idled just fine... AT 3000 RPMs. So, it looks like I should be doing some adjusting after all, lol. I guess what I'm wondering is, will dropping that down to normal make it run right with the IAC? I would think that adjusting that down would make the IAC behave even worse... Yes, I did put the pintle back in so it stuck out that much. Tomorrow if I have a chance after work I guess I'll check the IAC wiring... Like I said before, nobody's messed with the idle on this car before at all, so I'm reluctant to... i mean, is it possible it's slipped that much that it idles that high without the IAC? Or does that point to another problem? I can't help but wonder if messing with that would actually create *another* problem once I fix whatever the original problem is. :P

 

IAC wiring sounds like it's working fine. It could have been way off before and the IAC had to work way to hard to control the idle. Just relax and do the whole thing, then see what you've got going on. There's not really anything you can hurt by doing it. Give the computer a chance to run it right
And make sure you make adjustments with the car fully warmed up

 

Ok, so before work today I tried to do the whole setting-my-idle thing, and i realized my IAC connector wasn't... erm... connecting right to my IAC. I had to hold it in to get the motor to run. (Upon turning it over, i realized the clip that holds it in was busted. :/ ) So, I've ordered a new connector. However, after I unplugged the IAC and tried to set the idle, it still acted like the computer was controlling it... i.e. it didn't idle constantly high like it did last night, just sputtered and died... I'm gonna replace the connector before i putz anymore with it, i guess.

 

UPDATE: I got my car to do the thing where it idles at 3000 with the IAC unplugged... and I adjusted the screw so my two intake ports were totally shut. And it's still idling at 3000. So, I'm gonna go with my IAC needs replacing... is there anything else this could be? It seems to me what's happening is my IAC isn't opening/shutting how it ought to, because I think my pintle was still open (and after pulling it out, it looked like it wasn't pushing in far enough) and letting a bunch of air in. WHEN I'm setting my idle air min. intake, the IAC should be shut, so the *only* possible intake for air should be through the two ports below the injectors, yes? So I'm gonna shell out the 40 for a new IAC and try that. (after trying to lube this one a little like i didn't before when I cleaned it) If I'm wrong, and air *should* be coming in somewhere else, pleasepleaseplease let me know ASAP. :P Like I said, the two ports were closed completely and it was still idling around 3000, so I'm guessing the IAC didn't shut like it should have.

 

Yeah, the IAC is supposed to be all the way shut when you do this. If you take it apart like before you need to make sure and clean the threads and lightly oil the shaft so it works smoothly, but unless you have a huge vacuum leak it sound like it may not be closing. You left it plugged in with the key on so it could close all the way before unplugging, right? It sounds like it does move though because the pintle is ejected when you do that with it removed doesn't it? So, clean it, oil it, put back in, plug it in, key on for 30 seconds, now unplug it, then turn key off and restart and try setting the idle as described

 

I tried again, still no dice, but yesterday morning when I did this, it must've shut the whole way, which is why it wouldn't idle high... so, just for kicks, I put it back in and adjusted the min. air screw so the ports *would* be open, and it idled just fine... now, this was with the IAC plugged in and all, so it wasn't done right according to procedure, but I adjusted the screw so it'd idle as low as possible without stalling, and it idles just fine now. So I don't think I'll be buying any new parts at all... guess the screw did just slip. Thanks for the help... sorry for the lame thread, lol.

 

Cool, not to worry. I had to make tons of dumb mistakes on the way to figuring out the right way to do lots of stuff. Happy cruising!