ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

The other day my altenator went out. Just stopped working. So, after fighting with Autozone, and returning a faulty alt., I got everything charging nicely. Here's the problem. I touched nothing other than the alt. I did run the car for alittle with the old non-working alt in it... I had to get home from where I was. But the battery never really drained low at all. Now, when Im in gear, and I come to a stop, my idle starts to drop like normal. About 5 seconds later, I hear a sort of "click" from out front, and my idle starts loping and searching. Not very far...from about the normal 600, to around 700-750. But its kind of erratic. Then it evens out, then it starts up again. It wasnt like this just the other day. My question is, could the alt being bad have caused a sensor to get knocked out of whack?? The computer has been reset because I didnt want to get fried. And I drove the car all day today, and it didnt go away. Other than at idle, the motor runs perfect. Revs nice, pulls nice, no studdering. Just at idle while in gear. Any suggestions? Let me know. Thanks...

Justin

Vader

GC,

That "click" may have been the AC compressor engaging. The compressor will operate in either AC, MAX, Bi-Level, or Defrost positions. The load from the AC compressor is enough to affect idle speed and quality.

While it isn't likely that a failing alternator caused damage to a sensor. However, it is remotely possible that a defective alternator could have had some AC voltage being produced as a result of a failing diode. This stray AC voltage could possibly cause erroneous data to be written to the BLM tables in the ECM ROM. You can make sure the ROM is completely erased by disconnecting the battery for at least ten minutes. Coincidentally, that's just long enough to clean the battery cables and battery terminals thoroughly.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Thanks Vader. I was thinking about just going over all my sensors...TPS, IAC and checking my min. air settings. And clean my batter cables When the idle problem occurs nothing is on as far as accesories like AC or the such. Just so you know in case you think of something else. Thanks again...

Justin

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

OK here is an update. First of all, let me just re-itterate that this problem came out of no where. I touched nothing under the hood for months. This happened after i changed altenators. Today, I reset my timing, double checked that. Double checked my TPS readings. And after all that, my idle speed was right on the nose at 600rpm in driver. Oh, and I also wiped down the throttle body butterflys and inside the TB with some carb spray...Just to make sure I didnt have build up or something. Got in her, and she was driving nice. Everything seemed ok. Then I came to a stop sign, rpms went down to 600 no problem. Maybe 15 seconds later, it started to flutter again. And there was alittle surging. Then it went away. Drives fine in all other RPMs... Im running out of ideas. In the past few months Ive replaced the MAF, IAC, TPS, ECM, EGR, and I did a full tune up. So Im not sure where to look now. ANy ideas??

Justin