On my 95 (I don't know if all 4th gens have this) the cold idle speed is regulated by a plunger in the throttle body. When the coolant passing through the TB is cold, the plunger is fully extended and operates a cam that holds the throttle open. As the coolant warms, the plunger retracts and closes the TB, lowering the idle speed.

My problem is that my brake pads are near useless in the morning when they are very cold (Deezo knows about this too ). I have to push the brakes almost as hard as I can to stop at stop lights and hold still when the brakes are cold and the engine is running at it's 1200 RPM cold idle. This is very annoying. Also this fast idle makes it harder for me to shift from reverse to drive when pulling out of my parking space in the morning. It cant be good for me to be shifting with the engine revving. To give you an idea of how high my cold idle gets, I can have my foot completely off the gas and my car will take off and shift all the way up to 3rd gear and cruise at 25mph...

I am considering somehow removing or disabling the fast idle cam so I just get a normal idle speed, even when cold (or an idle speed controlled by the IAC alone). This won't affect warm-up time considerably because a) I never let it just idle to warm up, I drive right off and b) I live in Alabama where it never gets very cold anyway. My car is always fully warmed up by the time I get to my freeway entrance to go to work.

Anyone have any input, or things I may not have considered?

 

Ben are your brakes really that bad in the morning? I have the Metal Masters and I know what your talking about. But seriously, they stop the car and hold it.

The Max only takes about 3 or 4 minuts before the idle is down to a reasonable level, under 1K. I think you may get harder starts and possibly a stall when you put it in gear with the plunger disconnected.

Why don't you just try to adjust the linkage to bring it down a few RPMs? There are adjustments that can be made to the fast idle cam.

Tom

 

Ben, what do you want to correct?
The fats idle?
Or the brakes?

It would seem to me your brake pads are very hard. I had autozone lifetime pads that were similar to what you describe.

I put porterfields on and I do not have that problem anymore. I was going to suggest a softer brake pad, instead of messing with the TB and plunger or cam

Also a remote starter would allow you to start and warm your car up before your ready to leave.

 

I have the Peformance Friction Carbon Metallic pads. They just need to be warm before they work. I want to reduce my cold idle speed, the brakes are fine.

 

The fast idle cam assembly is adjustable. If you look at it, you'll see an adjustment screw. Adjust it such that the plunger goes away from the fast idle cam "arm". I'm fairly certain you can effectively disable the cold fast-idle by this method...the plunger will still work but it will not push on the fast idle cam. Try it and see if it works.

On another note, man your brakes suck Try Porterfields next time. Warm up very quickly (in fact, I never notice a problem when cold) and the grab like crazy.

 

This is correct...A few have disabled it when they did the TB coolant bypass. This keeps the car from running in start-up mode all the time, because it never gets hot.

 

I usually wait for about 30 seconds before I drive off and we're starting to see 50 degree temps here in MA. My idle does go down a bit but it's still kind of high in regards to using cold Performance Friction pads. I try to keep it slow until I heat up the brakes.

Ben, I think you've made up your mind on what to do but I guess I would do what Kevin suggested.

 

hmmmm my car doesn't like to go into D either...I got EBC Greens/Power Slots. If I let it warm up enough it is a bit less difficult...lemme know what yer up to, Ben.

 

You've got that backwards.

The coolant bypass mod, besides doing absolutely nothing for your cars performance, will keep the TB from warming up, thus keeping the plunger OUT, causing it to idle fast (cold circuit) all the time because it never warms up enough for the plunger to go back in.

Ben if your idle is to high, just adjust the stop on the fast idle cam.

 

That's what I'm going to do.

Incidently, my CEL just came on and gave me 0908 for the coolant temp sensor. This may have something to do with my abnormally high cold idle...

 

I know how it works, I just worded that weird and it doesn't make sense...I do that all the time, it makes sense to me and then no one else can understand it. We said the same thing, you just worded it better.

 

Well, I adjusted the fast idle cam. The IAC still holds the RPM at 1200 when in neutral, but when I put it in gear, it drops to 700 or so (before it would only drop to 1000 in gear). Also, I no longer get a loud whining noise from the trans when stopped in gear.

Success!

 

Wooo! I might give that a try...just a teensy bit...can you do a "walkthrough" for us? :}

 

Well, on the lower half of the fast idle cam, there is and adjustment screw with a locknut. Loosen the locknut (9mm) several turns and then use a phillips-head screwdriver to turn the adjustment screw. Turn it clockwise to lower the fast idle and anti-clockwise to raise the fast idle. Then tighten the locknut and away you go.

I turned mine in about 10 turns.

 

lol...maybe your car is possessed.


I don't have those problems on my '96. My idle was a bit too low actually, but I have corrected that. I have Raybestos Quiet Stop brake pads in the front and Metal Master pads in the rear. No problem now or even when I had the Metal Master pads in the front.

 

10? I'll give mine like 2 and see how it's affected. Kewl...I'll tryit out this weekend in between coughing and packing!

 

Well, the thread on the screw is very fine. 10 turns is about 1/4" of screw travel. You'll see what I mean when you go look at it.

 

will do!


when I'm not at work, or...I suppose I would even go do it now but it's pouring. Work is blah.