Okay, well.....when starting the car in the morning it fires right up but then the idle drops very low and the whole car shudders. This morning it actually died on me. I thought it was because of the vent being on cause if you turn that off the idle becomes higher, but then thats when it died.

Could someone give me an idea of what's wrong and how to fix it? Please use girly instructions and details as this will be the first time I will be working on my car without my Dad's help and knowledge.

Thank you.

Oh, and yes, we upped the idle and it didn't help.

 

Is your check engine light on? If not, try increasing the idle speed a little more.

 

Did you just adjust the idle screw and that was it or did you follow a procedure like the one in this post:
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=235452

If you haven't followed such a procedure to adjust the idle speed, you should, or else it will not be correctly adjusted.

 

I thought i heard something about starting the engine with the adl grounded would mess your ecm up.

 

Starting the engine with a jumper wire between the A and B terminals on the ALDL connector will not mess up your ECM. I have done it a couple times on the 87 Camaro I had and on the 89 Camaro I currently have (usually when doing this idle adjustment procedure). Leaving the jumper between the A and B terminals and then starting the car places the ECM in Field Service Diagnostics mode. The Service Engine Soon light will then flash at a different rate according to whether the ECM is in open or closed-loop mode. In open-loop, it will flash rapidly (2-3 times per second), in closed-loop mode it will flash slowly (1 time per second). One thing to note, however, is that the car may not start very easily in this mode. Especially if the IAC is disconnected (like it is in the idle adjustment) and the idle screw/adjustment is out of whack and needs to be adjusted. Like in the case of my 89, when I got it, the idle screw was so far off that the car would not start in Field Service Diag mode. I had to turn the screw quite a few times before the throttle plate was open far enough.

 

check your EGR valve if it is clogged or not working it will cause your engine to idle rough and stall. to check the EGR hook up a OBD2 scaner and see if you engine is running to lean.

 

uhm, actually if your egr is plugged the engine will not stall. Mine is blocked off and my car doesnt stall. HOWEVER IF the egr is stuck open during idle the car can stall.


btw i had a problem with my idle that was related to the iac adjustment. After i did it "CORRECTLY" the car was fine.