In a determined effort to start learning how to do some stuff for my car myself, with the help of a friend yesterday we:
1. changed the oil
2. put in a new air filter
3. cleaned the spark plugs
4. tightened the throttle... thing

It drove fine the rest of the day after workingon it, but today after driving it once & parking, next time starting it up it wouldnt start. Nothing, not trying to turn over at all - just nothing.


On the third try it started.
Since then it's been idling so low I keep stalling it if I dont rev the engine when I'm stopped. But it's not constantly like that, just sometimes.

Not sure what we might have done to cause this - anybody have this experience?

 

Perhaps you tightened the throttle cable just a bit too much? The ECU uses the throttle position to do all sorts of things, one of which is to maintain idle. If you've pulled on the cable too tight and cracked the throttle plate open just a wee bit, the ECU may be trying to overcompensate by lowering the idle. With too much air getting past the throttle plate, it may be impossible for the ECU to stabilize the idle. There should be about 1/4" of up and down slack in the exposed part of the cable at the throttle body. Check this.
If you are not too tight, then I would propose that the ECU is having a bit of a brain fart. Has your climate (ambient temp, air pressure, humidity) changed of late? This can cause the ECU to get a bit confused and it may take it a few days of "near death" experiences to figure it out. If you are "helping" it by revving it when the idle goes low, then it will have a very hard time learning. It must see the low idle (and stall) a few times in order to learn how to compensate.

I suggest the following:
-check the throttle cable to ensure it's not too tight.
-Just for the heck of it, do the "MAP whack" and ECU reset by pulling the "BACK UP" fuse for 1/2 a minute. You can find these in the FAQ's at the top of Techical.

 

Don't even bother cleaning plugs.

Most of the effort is just getting them out, everything but iridium plugs are cheap enough to just replace them with properly gapped new ones.

Regards,

BD

 

this was happening to me too use mopar and clear out ur throttle body after i used it first crank no idle low when it shakes

 

Yeah - they're iridium plugs - it was fun to clean them anyway even if they didnt need it

I loosened up the throttle linkage a bit & it's just fine now. I like this working on my car thing!

Thanks for your help.

 

This would have never occurred to me in one MILLION years.
Too many years of SIMPLE non electronic engine tuning under my belt..
Great call Xviper

 

^Once in a while, I just luck out. He may still get the "climate change blues" one day.

 

Iridium spark plugs are VERY delicate. You might have chipped the electrode during cleaning? I didn't even know you could clean an Iridium plug!

Any CEL's???

 

Iridium plugs should not require cleaning, however, the negative electrode can be cleaned with sandpaper carefully to get the carbon deposits off. Also the base ring can be cleaned off but this is only for esthetics. For sure, the center positive electrode should not be touched. That's what is very delicate.

 

They can be cleaned just fine with a sandblaster and fine powder abrasive. However, if your car is running right (not too rich) they should never need cleaning.