New owner with a weird idle hunting problem.

[martinz]

I’m new to the forum and a new owner of a used 2003 Vibe (5SPD base). The car just broke the 100, 000km (62,000 mile) threshold and is past warranty. I have started finding out that it seems to have many of the same problems as a lot of the Vibes out there. The stock CD grinds when I am stopping, there are a lot of rattles, the engine is unusually loud, and I seem to be having some weird idling. I am going to solve most of these myself, because I really like the car otherwise. All the posts on this board have been very helpful. There have been threads on my specific idling symptoms, but no clear answer (I have done many searches of this and other forums). My car begins to idle around 1800 rmp to warm up. I know this is normal because my previous car was a Corolla. Maybe 20 seconds after the car goes into this warm up cycle, it starts to search for a new idle setting and cycles up and down in the rmps. From the 1800 to around 2500, pulsing about every 2 seconds. It sounds like I’m reving the engine. This does not stop until the car is fully warmed up, well after I pull away. The main problem is that it does so while I’m driving. The car wants to adjust the throttle by itself while the car is moving. It often revs the engine when I declutch to shift up in gears, instead of letting the rpms drop. This is beyond annoying. Is there a fix? Hopefully one that I can do myself. I am fairly mechanically adept. Thanks in advance.

[Mavrik]

my Vibe did that once and that was the last time it did it... so I never got it figured out. It warmed up, I started driving and it acted like it was low on fuel almost... reving up and down while I was in motion. But yeah, only did it once... With 100,000km on that car, (mine is also a 5spd base but an 04) do you know any of its previous history as far as service? Spark plugs replaced, injectors flushed? Or anything of that sort? Your powertrain warranty has expired at 100,000km which your aware of, but if you could get your hands on service records and see if the previous owner ever had that concern. If so, see what they did to fix it.

[martinz]

Thanks Mark. I do not have access to service records. I think that the car was a trade in and nothing was forwarded. I am going to do an engine andinjector flush when I am due for the next oil change. I am also going to change the transmission gear oil just to be safe. I'm glad that your problem cleard up. I hope mine does too. Thanks.

[Baltovibe]

There is a lengthy discussion on this problem at http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=15929 .

[martinz]

Sorry about that. I don't know how I could have missed that thread in all my searches. My bad. Thanks for the help.

[Baltovibe]

Quote, originally posted by martinz »Sorry about that.Martinz, please don't be sorry. I had the big advantage of remembering this topic discussed before, so I just kept searching until I found it. We are all here to help each other. My reply was not meant to be a rebuke, just helpful. And, most of all, welcome to GenVibe!

[montreal]

I can say that many heroic mechanics across the continent have tried a variety of approaches and not one has succeeded, although there is one claim from Sept-Isle, Quebec that throttle body cleaner applied to the IAC valve solved the problem for that owner.I believe that since this behaviour is learned by the computer during the 2 days that follow a computer reset, the root of the problem is in the way the engine software alters the parameters using its adaptation algorithim which is in conflict with the software that defines when there is an over rpm condition. Throttle body cleaner has nothing to do with this kind of situation.I have stopped looking for a technical solution and pressed and received from Toyota a documant that I feel will allow me to be compensated for any loss in resale value should Toyota not be able to solve this problem in the coming years.