3.0 runnin rough...
 

welp I changed my distributor cap and rotor and spark plug wires, and right when I started it up I noticed when giving it a tiny bit of gas it holds the 200 or so higher rpms for a second then drops back down.

after getting off the interstate today stopping at a light with the ac on the rpms stuck at 1400 for a few secs when I pressed the clutch in, then dropped lower and are sporadic now.

with the ac off it does the sporadic idle also.

could something with the wires or distrubitor be causing this or since the wires looked like the origonal ones could it be with the correct working stuff just caused ANOTHER problem?!

if anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate it, I checked to see if I knocked any vacuum hoses loose or anything like that... couldn't find anything wrong.


could it be the TPS acting up now?


I was on my way to get a new cat and muffler installed and they couldn't do that today either... blah bad day :bang:

just been out there with it runnin for a while and when the idle sticks at 1150 and goes up and down between that and 1200 if I rev it real quick a few times it'll drop down to 850... sign of a bad TPS???

gonna run by the mechanics tomorrow, but I'd like to get it straight myself if at all possible,.

Try cleaning the throttle body. Let us know and then we'll throw out more suggestions.

Good Luck

:bounce:

it's clean, sprayed some more stuff in it tonight earlier to make sure but it wasn't dirty.


I just got in from running it with the TPS unplugged. it idled at 1100 or so and didn't fluctuate much at all, hesitated a bit if I reved it but didn't stick.

plugged it back in while the engine was runnin and it stayed at that idle, so I reved it and it dropped down to 850. reved it again and it stuck at 1150 and went up and down from that to 1250. could the TPS only be working part time or something?

I would reset the TPS. I'd be willing to bet it's off.

Use this page: http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/TPS/index.shtml

Varying idle speed is listed as one of the symptoms of a misadjusted/bad TPS on that webpage.

I just checked mine and found out that it was off. It's a PITA to set. You will need another person to help you unless you have some small clips for you multi-meter. When you set it, make sure you set it using E2-IDL. You have a .010" gap between the open circuit and closed. That's where it got difficult. Once I did that, I checked the E2-VTA and it checked out fine.

I've had this ongoing hesitation only at certain times. The crappy dealership that replaced my TPS didn't set it right. Hopefully the hesitation will be gone now.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

:bounce:

I'm voting for a bad TPS, but also check to be sure you aren't getting any air leaking in between the air filter and the throttle body (cracked hose, bad connection). This can also cause the symptoms you describe, but usually much more severe.

thanks for the info... seems pretty complicated, and the fact that the page talks about the 4 cyl in the pics mostly doesn't help haha.

gota question, if I take it to a mechanic and he hooks up a computer to it.. will he be able to tell just by doing that if the TPS is misadjusted or bad?

well since I don't have a multi meter or many tools, I took it to the mechanic.. it's there now. 32.50 for a diagnostic, hopefully he'll catch the problem. I mentioned the TPS a few times to him also, so if the only way to tell if that's bad is by testing it with a multi meter, guess I should make sure he does that.

I'll be back with an update after he's done, thanks guys

alright well nothing showed up for him, so I gota multimeter and tested the ones that don't require the little gap between the tb stop screw cause I don't have those yet.
everything with those looked ok cept the first one which was supposed to be between 200 and 800 ohms, it was 860 something.

I'm guessing carquest would have the .50mm and .77mm gaps I need to test the idl? needa pick that up soon.

but because the VTA-E2 was 860 I'm guessing the idl ones could be outa adjustment?


what's really annoying is it doesn't just do it at idle, if I'm going down a hill letting the engine slow me down, it acts like I give it a bit of gas or press the clutch in periodically....

Also your dash pot will cause the throttle body to stick ocassionally when it is going bad but from the sounds of it I think it's your tps as well.

finally got a feeler gauge, and put it at the throttle stop screw, tested it and got nothing.

drove it out to it's parking place in the front yard and tested it again for the heck of it, without the feeler gauge got .03... moved the throttle and got nothing. started it back up, turned it off, and got around the same thing.

should I try to adjust it? i dunno I'm thinking with that bada reading the tps may be shot? I mean it should read 2.3k not .03.....

btw: the one that's supposed to read 200 to 800 was 803 this time instead of the 860 something it was before, and I haven't done anything with it since the last time I tested :help:

On my on of the plug wires melt up against the egr, just something to check

alright I adjusted it, and any way I turned it IDL-E2 with the .020" feeler gauge read either nothing or .02 or .03, couldn't get anything but that.

I was able to fix VTA - E2 to 770 and wide open throttle to 4.60k


but what's up with idl-e2?

Not to go against your trouble shooting already in progress but rather to add to the possible ideas..

I did a complete tune up on my 3.0 (plugs,wires,cap,rotor,cleaned the TBI, air filter, oil and filter) and it still idled and ran a little 'off' from what I expected. I ran two full tanks of Red Line fuel injector cleaner through it and that helped *a lot* but still not perfect. I replaced the fuel filter and pulled the EFI fuse and now it runs/idles like a champ.

I normally run 87 octane and it does ok but gets a mild ping under hard acceleration. I have been trying out 89 octane and it has made a noticeable difference as well - not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing just yet. I was under the impression that a 3.0 didn't require anything higher than 87 so I may still have deposits or other issues...

Just a second vote to re-check the condition of your plug wires, especially the one on the passenger side next to the EGR valve. I've burned through two wires at that location because they came out of the plug wire guides and got torched. The symptoms are very similar to what you're describing.

Ed

it's good to know, I'll make sure mine don't touch it.. but the problem started the very first time I started the truck after replacing the wires, cap, and rotor.

I'm pretty sure the TPS is done in because of the IDL-E2 not giving a reading most the time, no matter what position it's in. it really does idle rough and always has somewhat... I think just adding the new wires cap and rotor made it more pronounced

ok this is weird, I got a new TPS and just tested it without it on the TB and it reads the same as my old one... .02 isn't it supposed to read 2.3k?? maybe my old one isn't bad :chair:

new TPS is on, everything tested ok but when I put the .02" feeler in there and adjust idl-e2, I get 20.1 when I have the meter set on 200 (it has 200, 2k, 20k settings) at 20k it just reads .02 did they make a typo on that web site? it says "<2.3k"


also, I can move it a bit and get 19.2 and as high as 20.5 that's on the 200 setting.

I just put a TPS on my old rig, don't forget that the part # changed, so be sure that Toy gave you the updated one! Also, do you have any codes? "te" & "e1" jumped?

yup, got the one with the new part number.. not sure what te and e1 is?
but I took it to have it checked out, and the mechanic said there were no error codes.

do the numbers for my TPS sound right, am I doing it wrong?
it seems to run a bit better with this new one, and when I give it gas I can make the rpms slowly come up about 200 out of gear, then just a slight bit more gas after that makes them shoot up about 400 more. it's really weird.