Bad idle speed

Tiny
LEGITIMATE007
  • MECHANIC
  • 5,121 POSTS
Hi, joe, pretty much summed it up, the only things I can add is that the timing may be slightly off and that it is possible that the vacuum passage in the intake manifold for the egr valve is really clogged with carbon and needs serious cleaning. The iac should definitely be cleaned or replaced and the bore that it sits in. The throttle body altogether may need cleaning, and as simple as it sounds, be sure that the airfilter and breather(if equipped is replaced, cracks in the vacuum hoses is a big culprit, and the accordian hose coming from the airfilter box to the throtte body must be looked over, if it has a simple crack or hole or is not connected tightly, your gonna have these problems, these are all possibilites.
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Sunday, January 16th, 2011 AT 8:25 PM
Tiny
JOSEMLOPEZ
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Ok, I will keep you informed, I am really determined to fix this darn car even if I buy a new one for several reasons: you know you get attached to your old cars like they were pets :-), also I have gone thru a lot with this truck, moved to this town with it with nothing but thousands of dollars of debt, started a small commercial cleaning business, paid all my debts, even bought a house all with this truck it's the only car I had since 1997. Besides of this another reason I have is that I want to prove a theory I have: american cars, with a few exceptions, have always been great, the problem is this: for what I've seen over the years, people buy foreign cars and treat them like beautiful, delicate ladies, but when they buy american cars, they trash them, abuse them with the idea: because is american it have to take everything I throw at it. When I bought this truck, was 6 years old, was smoking like hell, I didn't want to change the engine right away, so a friend of mine that is mechanic and I opened the engine to do some patch work until I was ready to change it, I tell you this, I had to remove the oil with my hands, was not oil, it was mud, the previous owner never changed the oil. So, I will keep on looking for help even if I have to go to GMC factory and talk with the president of the company :-)
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Sunday, January 16th, 2011 AT 8:41 PM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
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I couldn't agree more. I just sold a 93 dakota with 225K on it. It still ran great, but they stopped making certain parts for it that I needed. Stupid cab mounts (rubber) were no longer available from Chrysler and aftermarket were only available for 2wd. Interesting, I saved that truck from the junk yard years ago. It needed a 2" weld on the frame. Sounds similar to you. I used it for everything. Hell, it plowed everyone's driveway on my street for years. I even used it to build my house. It has been gone since Dec. 22, and I miss it. The new truck isn't the same. When I say new, I mean 13 years old. Don't ever let anyone tell you american cars are junk. I answer around 1700 questions a month. Believe me, they are all junk when they need fixed. I answer as many for imports as I do domestic. The only difference, the domestic are usually much easier to repair. I guess, you can get a bad one no matter what you buy.
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Monday, January 17th, 2011 AT 1:34 AM
Tiny
JOSEMLOPEZ
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  • 16 POSTS
You are right. Let me ask you one more question, I received a message, I guess from your friend, among other things we already checked, and obvious ones like changing the air filter, he mentions something about the timing, I didn't know time adjusting can be done in this car, I wonder if this is something I can do myself, if so, maybe you can help me with that. Few months ago the pulley in the power steering pump broke, you can imagine what happened, big mess, the belt was shredding in pieces, still I kept driving a couple of blocks to a parking lot, I wonder if this could cause the timing to go out of adjustment.
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Monday, January 17th, 2011 AT 2:13 AM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
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The pump issue shouldn't have done anything to the timing. What you can check is ignition timing if you have a timing light. He was most likely thinking that perhaps the timing chain may be stretched (from miles), and could be causing the issue. If you can get your hands on a timing light, let me know. Basically, there is a wire that goes to the #1 spark plug wire, you have to disconnect a wire from the distributor, start the engine, and the light will flash everytime that cylender gets spark. On the harmonic balancer there is a timing mark. On the timing chain cover there is alignment marks which indicate how many degrees before or after top dead center the spark ignites the fuel. From there, you turn the loosten the distributor and turn it until it gets the light flashes exactly when the line on the harmonic balancer touches the timing degree you want it set to. It sounds hard writing it out, but if I was there, we could check it in about 5 minutes.
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Monday, January 17th, 2011 AT 2:20 AM
Tiny
JOSEMLOPEZ
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Ok, it really sounds a little bit complicated, but I am going to check how much it cost me the timing light, if it's reasonable price I'll buy it and I'll let you know to try to do it myself with your guidance, I guess it will be a lot cheaper than take it to the mechanics, besides I don't trust them to do the job right, months ago I let them change the upper control arm, they told me, the car is ready, I told them: no it's not, you didn't do the front end alignment, they noticed I am not a complet idiot, admited it, took the car back to the shop and did the proper alignment, oftentimes I suspect they don't do all the work they are charging me for. So, I will see if it's possible for me to do the timing myself with your help.
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Monday, January 17th, 2011 AT 2:42 AM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
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Before purchasing one, contact a local parts store and see if they will rent or lend one to you. Most nationally recognized parts store will do it. While there, ask that they show you how to connect it because I won't be there to see what is needed for that specific light. Let me know.
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Monday, January 17th, 2011 AT 2:47 AM
Tiny
JOSEMLOPEZ
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Ok, I'll do that, thank you.
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Monday, January 17th, 2011 AT 10:40 AM

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