Today I changed my valve cover gaskets, and when I got everything back together the car now immediately stalls on starting. It'll run if you give it gas, but it's very rough at anything below about 1K. Anyone have ideas as to likely causes?

 

Did you disconnect the TPS?

 

Take it off and put it back on. Make sure you tighten in a pattern so you don't warp the cover.

 

^This. Double check wires going to your TB and be sure idle air control is hooked up. Look for pinched wires. Did you have to yank or pull on any connections in that area? If you did, disconnect them and check pins in the connectors to be sure they are fully inserted. If you have a multimeter, check voltages by inserting a sewing needle into the harness side of the connectors until it contacts the harness end pin for access to connector pins and be sure you have power ground and signal from TPS and IACV. Keep us posted.

 

If everything else checks out, did you replace the upper intake manifold gasket?

 

Okay, after adjusting the idle screw I got it to idle, and then noticed the brakes weren't being assisted. So there's a pretty large vacuum leak somewhere, I'll have to check all my hoses.

I haven't checked the connectors with a multimeter, but I did doublecheck all the TPS and IACV connectors, they were all inserted and they at least *look* okay.
Nope, it looked fine. Is there likely to be a problem with it when there are no visible cracks? I also kept the IACV gasket, not sure if that could be a problem. EGR and TB gaskets were replaced. Does anyone know the torque spec on the EGR bolts (not that you could fit a torque wrench down there)?

Thanks for the advice, everybody!

 

I thought my plenum gasket looked fine til I had the same problem as you. I sprayed a little brake cleaner when I found out that was the culprit. As for the other gaskets, well I reused those too. Don't know if that was a good idea. But my Max is running fine.

But it looks to me like maybe you found your problem.

 

Vacuum leak.

 

I had the same issue. The cause was a vacuum leak between the manifold and the upper part of the EGR guide tube, the bolts weren't tight enough.

 

This was exactly my problem too, but I've got it fixed now and everything is working again. Except I have an evap code now, but that's another matter.