Idling problem, when my car is in drive and I’m at a stop light the RPM goes to 500 and the steering wheel starts shaking , but if I’m in neutral it’s ok. Any ideas on what it could be?

 

I'm in bad mood right now, so you're going to get a nasty response. Do you have any idea how many different things that could be?

What would help is the year of the car, how many miles on it and recent maintenace done to it. Then it would be much easier to pinpoint possible problems. There's also been like 10 threads in the past week about this problem too. Research is a good thing.

 

I have the same problem. The only difference with my problem is that it once in a while goes to like 350 RPM and slowly climbs back to 475 or 500.

I took it to the dealer and they could not duplicate the problem. Then I discovered that while in Drive if you turn on and turn off the A/C several times, once in a while you could reproduce it.

They did some tests and told me that the IAC Valve was showing some bad readings and so they replaced it under good will. But my car still does that.

Some people in this forum told me to clean the throttlebody but I have no idea how to do it and I am too scared to do it anyways so I did not look for the steps to clean the TB. I think they must be on the maximadriver.com site.

If you find a solution to this, please post here or email me.


For iwannabmw:
I have a 1999 SE with 37005 miles. I have started to notice this after my 30K service which was actually done at 27.5 K.

 

I changed the oil, oil filter, fuel filter, cleaned the TB. It's a 95 w/ 170K miles on it. Oh and i put a franken car mid pipe.

 

Okay, that definitely helps. Were the plugs last changed at 120K, that would be another area to look at if they have 50K on them? What does the car idle at when it's warmed up and in Park or Neutral. If that idle is too low, it will cause issues when you drop into gear.

Another thing I would look at is cleaning the IACV itself.

 

At 37K, your TB shouldn't really be that dirty, but you never know. Was the fuel filter replaced at the 30K service? That could easily cause those symptoms.

 

did you try resetting the ECU? don't know if it will help or not, but when I installed the midpipe I bought from you I have having similial idle problems. I reset the ecu and all seemed to go away. might be a longshot, but worth a try.

Kevin

 

When the car is running the idle is ok, it's only when it's in drive and Im stoped. I tighten the TB cable adj the TB. Do you have a pic of where the IACV? I did a search but can't seem to find a pic

Another thing I would look at is cleaning the IACV itself. [/B][/QUOTE]

 

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I don't have an pics, but it is the large metal piece attached to the side of the throttle body with the multi-colored electrical connections going to it.

What specifically does your car idle at when in park? 700 rpm, 800 rpm????

Have you tried to read any codes off the ECU, even if there is no SES light?

 

The ECU screw was screwed all the way to the wrong side! I'm a dummy.