clive

I commented a little while back on the high idle forum members have reported after cleaning the throttle body. At the time I thought it was probably air leaking past a worn butterfly.
I just cleaned the TB on my Max today and it was filthy. I had to use two cleaning rags soaked in carb cleaner because the first one got so mucky I threw it in the bin. That might give you an idea how bad it was.

When I got it clean I did notice a few things.
First, have you noticed there is a very small airway about the size of the head of a pin, at the bottom edge of the butterfly? This looks like it's going to get clogged up darn quickly and it's obviously there for the idle. So this is another factor.
My own idle went from 600 RPM to 900 RPM after cleaning and reassembling. I suspect that those who find a much bigger change are those with high mileage engines on which the butterfly has more wear.

tikiboom

iTrader: (7)

So do you have any recommendations or possible remedies? Or just clean it and drive around w/ a high idle until the muck adds up again and fills in the gap.
i WAS gonna do it but driving around with idle at 1000+ rpm (like some members here) doesn't really appeal to me

clive

Clean it, just reset the idle on the IAC, like you're supposed to. Mine was idling at 600 before cleaning; after cleaning it went to 900, not exactly excessive, and after running the car for a few miles I see it's idling at 800, which is what it's supposed to be, right?
Idle RPM will drop, slowly, while it gets dirty again, but if it bothers you just readjust the IAC. I haven't owned the car long enough to get an idea how long it takes for the TB to get really dirty. Anyway my odometer isn't working so that makes it pretty tough to tell how long!

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

Idle spec is 550-600 for 5spd and 600-650 for auto.

99grnmaxgxe

iTrader: (11)

After you clean it and the idle is high, how long do you wait until it gets back to 600rpm?

Juicey

I cleaned mine, put in a new starter and new battery and now it idles around 1500 when I first start the car! Maybe not that much but it's above 1000. However once I put it in drive it drops to about 600. How do you reset the IAC? What are the effects of having a high idle? Isn't it supposed to idle high in cold weather at first to warm the engine up?

clive

At first yes, when cold, the coolant sensor adjusts the ecu and it idles high.
I was referring to the idle when it's warmed up.
If the idle is too high it makes gearshifts more clunky...
For adjusting the idle, check the stickies, it must be in there!

99grnmaxgxe

iTrader: (11)

Yeah it's the first one on the How-To stickies.

xlr8r

Clive,
I have exactly the same problem. I have had my max for 6 years now and this is the first time I cleaned it. It wasn't too bad, one rag wasn't completely smegged up.

I too noticed the little hole on the butterfly valve and squirted carb cleaner down the hole. It backwashed with more dirt so I did it more until it ran clean.

I then too the IACV off and back flushed through there, again more dirt (kinda brown watery at this point.)

Now I'm idling around 1200 when warm. If I idle for >30secs in neutral it will eventually come down to 700 which is how I always remember it. I'm concerned that if I turn the idle down then it'll stall at this point.

I could live with the high idle but I'm noticing that on the congested freeway the transition from off-gas to on-gas (and vice versa) is really rough. The car seems to lurch if I try to do it chauffeur like.

Seems like this is an incomplete maintenance job. What are we all missing?

jasonaaronfox

My car never idles below 800, what the poo.

Often starts up at 1500 like some of you guys said.

And the engine was just rebuilt recently.

Runs like a bear though. I thought that was normal, but what do I know? I've owned a max less than a year.

bpk01

Look in the stickies for adjusting idle you can pull that bear down to where it is supposed to be.

freakazoid112

i have just cleaned my throttle body (this past weekend) and when i was done, i noticed my idle jumped up to about 1500 (cold) and 800-900 (warm). i also noticed the car seemed to 'sputter' when i would accelerate at low rpm's and when i shut it off, it would almost sound like a diesel. i was able to correct this issue by taking apart the TB (removing 4 bolts) and scraping the old gasket off and replacing with a new gasket ($2.50 @ autozone).

hope this helps. thanks