Ive had this very strange idle issue since Ive owned the car. I purchased her broken, skipped teeth on the Tbelt, so ive never had her running before I got her.

This is the problem: The car seems to missfire/ runs like it has a lopey cam at idle. Also it doesnt feel like it pulls like it should through the rpm range.

Since the rebuild I have just put on 1,000mi. I just replaced my oil and sparkplugs again before I went to the chicago meet this sat.


What ive done:

I just did a compression test today. 170 165 170 170 (with 150,000mi on stock bottom end!!!)

New plugs/wires I just replaced the plugs again, after 2 days they are blackened, like its running rich

I have test/ and swapped ISC motors with a known working one - no change.

I have tested the coil pack, and coil pack transistor - all ok.

I did the emissions removal from Taboo so I have no vac lines, so very slim chance its a vac leak

Did a boost leak test, and shes solid

base timing is -5

idle has been set and reset.

Now today we were messing with her, and there seems to be a clicking noise coming from pcv valve area - changed pcv valve (for the hell of it) and nothing, could it be injector?

I have done injector cleaner when I got the car first running, and I bought the full cleaner.

The car was sitting for about 2 years...


I might have left out something ive tried, as its late and im tired.

Is there something simple im overlooking?
Any suggestions/advice would be much appreciated.

Oh BTW the car is totaly stock, only thing done is the emissions removed, which we also did on my buddys 92 awd and we followed the same instructions and his runs great.

Thanks in advance!!

do you have a logger that you can get ahold of. dsmlink would be best, but you may not be able to swap an ecu and stuff just to log. :-) there may be some underlying issue that you dont know about but the ecu would tell you if you had the right stuff. good to see ya at the meet too. :thumbsup

Yea I do have a logger... just not the cable. Im going to have to bug Luke to pull off his logger cable to use!

Oh also I forgot to say I put a brand new fuel filter after I rebuilt the head.

We racked our brains last night trying out everything we could think of to no avail...
Searching and running through every tese we could think of.
Any ideas guys? Brett and I are both gettin tired of trying and failing lol

Which plugs are getting black? all or one/few? Have you tested the fuel pressure to make sure the reg is not failing?


Terry

all 4 plugs are blackened. No we have not tested the fuel pressure yet, I dont have a fuel pressure gauge yet.

Sounds like the problem I was having in the thread "Ok, this got me a little nervous". I put in a new ISC and it didn't work, but I disconnected the battery to reset the ECU. Still didn't quite run right but a little better after. Then after a few drive-arounds, it started to idle fine.

So, my advice, reset the ECU, take like three long drives, see if it's any better, and reset the idle again.

Originally posted by qc dsm tsi
all 4 plugs are blackened. No we have not tested the fuel pressure yet, I dont have a fuel pressure gauge yet.

The plugs werent really black, the tip of the porcelain is white, theyre just black way down inside the porcelain.

I'm prolly way off but I guess I'll throw in my 2 cents since you've tried everything else... thermostat maybe??

thermostat is also brand new... all of the maintence shit has been replaced

sorry to drag this back from the dead, but has anyone had this problem?

Originally posted by qc dsm tsi
sorry to drag this back from the dead, but has anyone had this problem?

Yeah, me, like I said already. How much have you driven it around?

I didnt drive it around much with the ISC motor, Since I just used one off Lukes car.

The reason I dont think its that, is because it also runs like ass at WOT, or anything over 1/4 throttle

I may try that again, when I can borrow his ISC motor again.

You're probably a hair off on the timing belt. I just built my engine this past week and have been fighting to get the timing marks all lined up perfectly. I'm close, but its still a hair off, and my car acts just like yours. Though, I havent driven it yet. It idles like its got cams and runs rich, a little high too. Has a steady miss.