thanks to the help from my prior thread, the paperclip trick worked like a charm.

idle air control system? where do i start?

 

easy work here.

Look at where the black hose runs to the engine from the airbox. if you look on the top side of the throttle body you'll see a black round sensor with 2 screws. Unplug it,and remove the sensor. You will see a lil pintle/piston thing. Grab you a can of brake cleaner and a toothbrush (not the ol ladys,ive done got bitched out for that one)

soak the pintle down and clean up all that nasty black carbon. it evaporates so you gotta work quick. scrub it down. make sure to clean where the sensor mounts,on the inside. stab it back together and drive it. see if the light goes away.99% they just get dirty. Althought as of now im the lucky 1% that needs to replace mine as its dead. yay.

 

is this sensor supposed to have reasonable play/spring back to it? cause i cleaned it, sorta. i presume soaking it overnight might be an ok idea? or too intense? either way, i had to push a reasonable amount of force, maybe 10 lbs of pressure for it to depress, and then it didn't want to push back, had to pull it out. the first red light, no engine light, but the second through 12th, well it's back to being on at every stop.

thanks a ton for the help! it was easy to access. i cleaned the egr valve upon replacing the spider injector when i got it. but i wonder if i should be replacing this part now.

what exactly is it called? the idle air flow sensor?

cheers

 

"idle air control"

mine was easy to depress. Id call yours bad. which sucks too,these sensors are like 60 bucks for these cpis. Honestly hit up a pick a part yard and get one,clean it and install it. see if its fixed. $5 compared to $60. Lots of beer money saved.

 

ya, easy to access, easy to check to see if it has play in it. i like your line of thinking. good man.

with this part being of issue, can it effect fuel economy?

later

 

meh. id say no. all it does is regulate idle. itll keep the idle at a minimum point to keep it from stalling when you turn,brake real hard,ac on,etc

 

Sure. I wonder why I've lost a few miles per hour. My air filter got misted with an oil hose leak, I tried to clean it up (k and n filter) but there's still some faint coloring.

Any thoughts on using thicker oil on an older, valve sticky engine? 427000km on the sucker