Thread: Idle went whacko....please point me in the correct direction.

Well, I went out and started the car. Still doing the erratic idle bullshit. Turned it off. Bah!

Popped the hood.

Temporary-fixed the bad vacuum hose by cutting off the dead end and simply sticking it back on. It had enough slack, and it will work until I get to a parts store.


Found this connector in that same general area. It goes to nothing I can find. Is this part of the cruise-control system that I had removed?



Unplugged the MAF connector. Blew it out, checked it with a flashlight, every thing on both sides looked clean and shiny. No corrosion. Mike's splice fix is still tightly wrapped. Plugged it back in firmly.


Unplugged and plugged back in other similar engine-bay connectors, one that went to the O2 bung on the header, etc..etc.. All of them appeared to be clean and shiny in both sides.

Re-checked the boots on the spark plugs, firm and tight.

Fired the car back up. Idle is rock-steady at 900 RPM. Took it for a spin, drove it briskly, red-lined though the first three gears. Stopped a few times, every couple of miles. Red-lined it again upon take-off. Stopped again. Rock steady idle at 900 RPM's every time.

Perhaps some dust or grit had worked its way into that MAF connector?

Whatever it was, it apparently got "fixed" while I was poking around in there.

Gracias gentlemen!

That connector looks like the one for the brake MC.

Find where the maf sensor is grounded. That looks stock, and the stock harness is not well grounded for the MAF. Most people crimp in an extension to the ground wire and run it to the two ground wires on the intake manifold. That's where you want it to be.

I definitely don't think the charcoal canister has a mouse fart to do with it. That's for evaporative emissions.

Two things I always try first before taking anything apart. Disconnect the battery and fully reset the ECU

that small plug is definitely the brake master cylinder...I can see it's missing in that one picture.

On another note Shawn, you may want to pop your plugs out and have a look. There's no telling how long it has been sucking air before it finally got bad enough to die on you, and your plugs may be white.

I would highly suggest re-grounding that MAF! I had your same problem for the longest time.

Where does it plug in? I'll go look in the morning and possible plug-in location.


I'll look up the grounding procedure in our How-To's.

I know when Mike did that, he checked the function of the MAF as A-OK.


Advice noted.


Brake MC plug. I know that white thing in the pics is the MC. Not sure where to plug in, but I'll look.

What does the plug do, since it has been unplugged, and everything else seems to be working just fine? No lights on my dash, brakes like boat-anchors. Fack I have no idea how shit works. LOL.

Pretty sure I can remove and reinstall the spark plugs. IIRC, it was easy when I watched. Probably a How-To somewhere in our library.


Got it. Gonna look up the How-To. I know it is pretty duh-easy. Which means with a bit of luck I can probably accomplish it in double the time of most folks.

I'll go figure out the brake MC plug tomorrow. Check the plugs. Read the How To on the MAF-ground and see if I can manage that one as well. Dammit.

This mechanical-fixing shit is like the Druidic Chinese-Latin Alphabet to me.

See the empty hole ( on the reservoir)
http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr354/ShawnB1/Vacuum%20Line/Vacuumline001_zpsf547d6cf.jpg



It looks like this goes in it....
http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr354/ShawnB1/cruise%20control%20connector/connectortocruisecontrol003_zpse003ef2d.jpg

Oh you'll get sir! Its super easy.

Looks like you're on the road to recovery faster than I thought. The engineer in me would undo the vacuum line (leave it hanging) and see if the idle problem returns. That way I'd have a better idea of what fixed the issue.
No need to buy new hose for that. The job you've done cutting it is plenty good enough. (Unless you're super worried about the age and brittleness of that hose.)

It is the level sensor for the brake fluid. If the brake fluid gets low (due to leak, or extreme pad wear) then the brake light in the cabin will turn on telling you it is time to swap your pads, or possibly add some fluid. I'd assume that when it is unplugged, the light should light up, but apparently not. Go figure.

I believe you'll find where it plugs in based on unijab's description above.