High idle in park.

Discuss any maintenance you've done to your Vibe & Matrix and ask how to perform maintenance on your vehicle
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thejas
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:44 pm

High idle in park.

Post by thejas »

The other week, I went to work, put my 2003 vibe base (115,000 miles) in park, and the engine idle shot up to 1,500 rpms and would not come back down! I had no idea what was going on. So I took it to my local meineke and they told me a few things. 1. My computer had not completed 4 of it's loops tests, though he only told me evap, oxygen sensor, and catalyst. He said without them completing, he wasn't able to determine fully what it could be that is causing the issue. He offered to try an entire engine cleaning service which i had him perform. It did need done as the engine is far smoother than it had been previously however my issue remains. when i'm driving around, it seems that the engine rpms are higher than they should be at low speeds and high speeds alike.

The other thing he recommended trying was iacv but he couldn't guarantee that would fix the issue either and for 623 bucks, I opted to come here first to get some opinions of what to do. It is currently 87 degrees outside so this is not a cold start issue. when the car starts up, it goes to about 1100rpms and, once warm, drops down to about 1000 rpms while still in park (as far as i know, this is still slightly high). Once i drive around and come back and the engine is nice and warmed up (regardless of amount of time driving), I put it in park and it just shoots up to 1500 and stays there. When my ac and stuff are on it drops (while still in park) to about 1100 or 1200 rpms. my gas mileage is really bad as well.

Meineke guy also told me that he didn't detect any vaccuum leaks. I also did a listening check for them and didn't hear any under the hood.

The guy at meineke also asked if i had just replaced the battery and reset the computer since the loops weren't tripped yet. I told him the battery was last year and the alternator is original. I only drive this car back and forth to work about 25 miles total a day through mostly back roads (though some of them hit 50 mph speed limits). I had filled this card up to full and in one of those trips since this incident, i was down 1/4 of a tank of gas! So basically 4 gallons in 25 miles (give or take)!

What I've done so far. Checked air filter, great. Cleaned maf, didn't even need it. Oem spark plugs replaced about 20k miles ago with new oems. cleaned pcv valve, barely dirty. Repalced intake manifold gasket long ago with the updated one from toyota that solved my check engine light issues in cold starts (very common issue).

It's also worth noting that I take good care of the car, coolant, transmission, brake fluid, rotations, belts and oil changes all done when they are supposed to be or sooner. There is/has been no check engine light since this issue started last week.

So now I have some questions:
1. Should I have them do an iacv at meineke or should I attempt it?
2. Is there a link with pics to doing the iacv?
3. Is the iacv the most likely issue or could it be my ecu needs an update?
4. Have any of you experienced this exactly issue?

Please help point me in the right direction. I really don't have the cash to just throw money at it and guess what the issue is. Thanks in advance to anyone who responds.
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kumquat
Posts: 379
Joined: Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:01 am

Re: High idle in park.

Post by kumquat »

You should take it to a mechanic who knows what he's doing instead of a guy at the muffler shop who wants to throw parts at it.
jolt
Posts: 956
Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2014 2:07 am
Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota

Re: High idle in park.

Post by jolt »

Try spraying some throttle body/carb cleaner around the intake system. Start at the air cleaner and work your way to the cylinder head. Spray around joints and see if the engine rpm's increases. If the rpm's go up, you have a vacuum leak. If there is a vacuum leak causing your high idle speed, it would be from the throttle body to the cylinder head area. You are not going to hear it....spray it. Also spray all the hose on the EVAP system to the gas tank. Spray the power brake booster hose and check the booster for vacuum leaks. Any small vacuum leak will make the rpm's go up at idle.

Have you cleaned the throttle body? Be sure to clean the air passages around the sides of the throttle plate. Make sure the electrical connection on the throttle body is good. Here is a link: http://corolla9.com/index.php?/topic/18 ... rol-valve/

Does the engine get up to temperature? If the engine does not get to normal operating temperature or if the computer does not see that the motor is up to temperature, the engine will idle at high rpm's and it will use a lot more fuel. The computer thinks the engine is cold and it keeps the choke on to say ... as it runs in closed loop mode until the computer reads that the engine is up to temperature.

Take it to a good shop/Toyota dealership where they can pull the codes.
thejas
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:44 pm

Re: High idle in park.

Post by thejas »

jolt wrote:Try spraying some throttle body/carb cleaner around the intake system. Start at the air cleaner and work your way to the cylinder head. Spray around joints and see if the engine rpm's increases. If the rpm's go up, you have a vacuum leak. If there is a vacuum leak causing your high idle speed, it would be from the throttle body to the cylinder head area. You are not going to hear it....spray it. Also spray all the hose on the EVAP system to the gas tank. Spray the power brake booster hose and check the booster for vacuum leaks. Any small vacuum leak will make the rpm's go up at idle.

Have you cleaned the throttle body? Be sure to clean the air passages around the sides of the throttle plate. Make sure the electrical connection on the throttle body is good. Here is a link: http://corolla9.com/index.php?/topic/18 ... rol-valve/

Does the engine get up to temperature? If the engine does not get to normal operating temperature or if the computer does not see that the motor is up to temperature, the engine will idle at high rpm's and it will use a lot more fuel. The computer thinks the engine is cold and it keeps the choke on to say ... as it runs in closed loop mode until the computer reads that the engine is up to temperature.

Take it to a good shop/Toyota dealership where they can pull the codes.
Thank you for this advice. I'll start spraying the items you mentioned. The car gets to normal operating temperature without issue and maintains it. The entire throttle body was clean by meineke with a proper cleaning method so I know that's clean. As I said, just from that alone, the car runs much better and smoother, just idles the same, unfortunately. I double checked the electrical connection on the throttle body, iacv and tps just to be sure. Could a bad tps also be the culprit? Unfortunately, I won't be able to do any of this until next Friday since I'm working all week. I'm hoping it's just a simple vacuum leak. I'm not completely sure of where the evap system is. Could you link me to a pic possibly so I'm sure? I know there was a lime green adjustment knob towards the right rear of the firewall (looking at car from front) that said evap something....might that be the area? Thanks so much for the advice.
circuitsmith
Posts: 242
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2011 11:26 pm

Re: High idle in park.

Post by circuitsmith »

I would try cleaning the IACV with carb cleaner.
2006 Matrix 5-sp
lannvouivre
Posts: 1601
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 1:00 pm
Location: Texas yay

Re: High idle in park.

Post by lannvouivre »

You can do the IACV cleaning yourself no problem. Don't be afraid to try it.
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jolt
Posts: 956
Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2014 2:07 am
Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota

Re: High idle in park.

Post by jolt »

thejas wrote:Thank you for this advice. I'll start spraying the items you mentioned. The car gets to normal operating temperature without issue and maintains it. The entire throttle body was clean by meineke with a proper cleaning method so I know that's clean. As I said, just from that alone, the car runs much better and smoother, just idles the same, unfortunately. I double checked the electrical connection on the throttle body, iacv and tps just to be sure. Could a bad tps also be the culprit? Unfortunately, I won't be able to do any of this until next Friday since I'm working all week. I'm hoping it's just a simple vacuum leak. I'm not completely sure of where the evap system is. Could you link me to a pic possibly so I'm sure? I know there was a lime green adjustment knob towards the right rear of the firewall (looking at car from front) that said evap something....might that be the area? Thanks so much for the advice.
I will just say this, you never really know unless you did it yourself. Was the throttle body/IACV cleaned by you? You know that Meineke told you they cleaned it but what did they do? Was it taken off the car and taken apart to be cleaned? If he could not read the computer codes, do you think he could do the cleaning proper? Anyways, here is the evap system from a newer Vibe. The general layout is the same for most cars.
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thejas
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:44 pm

Re: High idle in park.

Post by thejas »

Thanks to everyone for the reply! It's is much appreciate! I checked vacuum leaks. None. Won't have a chance clean tb or iacv till Friday at earlies. Should I buy some gaskets ahead of time? Also, anyone have the torque ratings for tb and iacv? Also, I have a preliminary appointment pending for next week at a reputable dealership for Chevy just in case. When iacv fail is it usually gunk in there or the sensor itself that goes bad?
thejas
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:44 pm

Re: High idle in park.

Post by thejas »

Thanks everyone. A reputable dealer is saying it's maf sensor. They claim when they unplug it while idling, the issue goes away. I'll let you know in 2 days when I get it back if that was it or not.

**Update** 9/6/2015 It was indeed the maf. No problems now! Also runs better in general at high speeds again. I finally have that high-end torque I appreciate with this car so much! The way this dealer figured out it was the maf was to just unplug it(especially since no codes were thrown). Apparently, if you just unplug it, the specific problem I was experiencing was going away. I thought that was interesting to note. I do, however, wish I had just taken it home and put the maf in myself. It's so easy to do. Oh well, thanks again everyone for the help.
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