Looping when cold, in drive, foot on the brake, at idle

N

Neilster

Guest
I think this is the phrase. Occasionally, but getting more frequent. Doesn't happen when the car is up to temperature. But for the first few minutes after pulling away after start up, if I come to long stop light with the car in drive, my foot on the brake at idle, the motor rev's will start to rise and fall, slowly at first then with increasing frequency. If I don't press on the gas peddle a bit, I'm sure it would stall. Suggestions? Oh, 190K Km on a '98 LSC.
 

Frankie X

New member
Hey, Neil! Haven't heard from a fellow Canadian in a while!

Here's a few possibilities:

-Slight vacuum leak or unmetered air between the throttle body and MAF.
-Dirty, possibly low flowing injectors
-Dirty or sticking IAC
-Dirty or faulty MAF sensing tip

The fact that this only happens during a very short period after cold startup would seem to indicate an air/fuel mixture problem; while the PCM is in Open Loop, it does not read O2s (among other things) and makes no attempt to correct A/F mix.
Once the O2s come on-line and the PCM goes Closed Loop, it sees the A/F discrepancy, makes a fuel trim correction, and the rolling idle is gone.

Look for any cracked, damaged or disconnected lines or tubes. Remember, if it's an air leak, it won't be very big, because if it is, and the PCM has to make more than a 10% long-term fuel trim, it would set codes and trigger the MIL (check engine light).

Re'n're your MAF and spray the sensing tip liberally with Tune-up or Carb cleaner. Not just a couple of psst-pssts; hose it down with about half the can! Don't touch the tip, don't wipe it down. After re-installing it, let it dry completely before firing up the car.

If your injectors are restricted enough to cause Open Loop A/F problems, dumping some type of cleaner in the tank may not help. Go to a shop that can give you a proper high pressure injector flush, done through the Schraeder valve on your fuel rail. At 190,000 kms, you're long overdue anyway.

If your problem is the IAC, it should occur both hot and cold, but I've seen them do some strange things. If you haven't done it in a long while, re'n're and clean that with Tune-up or Carb Cleaner.

Let us all know what you find.
 

mlschultz

Boost King
I had the same exact problem, Neil. Replaced the IAC, and has not come back since. Even though Ford manual says to discard the IAC, I tried to clean it twice before over the past 50k miles, and the cleaning works for a while.

This last time, I finally put a new IAC on since I put a 90mm MAF and cone filter on, and the new MAF did not like the old IAC at all. Even after a cleaning, the pulse came back. I had a engine tuner dyno tune the car with the new 90mm MAF and IAC, and it works great now.

I agree with Frankie regarding all the other things mentioned, and believe your problem will go away if followed :)
 
N

Neilster

Guest
Thanks for the very useful tips. I was thinking about an injector cleaning as a first step because as pointed out, it's overdue and would be a good maintenance item. Then, take it from there. As always, the knowledge here is outstanding! Many thanks again for the tips.
 

Eli

New member
Also check your coils. If there is a crack along the coil, discard it. We just replaced 5 ($!) at one time.
 
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