GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hey everyone - I have been a long time viewer of the site and finally decided to join. As you all know there is tons of great info here - it's a great site!I have a 2004 base model manual. The idle when cold is around 2200 rpms (normal). Last winter, as well as this year on cold mornings, the idle will get up to 2200 rpms and then jump down to about 1500 and then rise back up to 2200. The rpms go from low to high about once every 2-3 seconds. When the engine is at 2200 and gets "kicked" down to 1500, there is sort of a dull clunking noise. This fluctuation occurs for anywhere from 2-5 minutes depending on the outside temperature. There has never been any sort of check engine light. It is quite annoying to be sitting at a stop light and have the engine cycling like this. Of course while driving and under load, this doesn't happen. Does anyone have any ideas about what this could be. From what I have read it doesn't appear to be normal. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Welcome to GenVibe! Do you have the stock or aftermarket intake?

It's all stock - I am mod-less

I know there have been a few others with the same problem, but not sure if anyone has solved it yet. I did a search for "idle" using the SEARCH feature at the upper right corner of the site and it brought up other threads with the same issue. I would read through those and see if they can offer any insight.Have you checked your spark plugs since this started happening?Have you cleaned your MAF Sensor at all yet?Have you changed you air filter lately?

My 04 manual did that once... and that was it. I had started it up cold, drove off and when I came to a light and stopped it began to do that. Scared me for a second as it almost acted like it was out of fuel. Which it wasn't but I filled up with gas anyway. I don't know to this day what the cause of that was.

Wow...3 years since my last post - that is pitiful. Anyway, I have a few updates. Way back when I created this thread, my vibe was 4 years old and had this idle fluctuation issue. Well, I continued to live through this nuance every Minnesota winter. Finally, this winter I had another issue pop up that caused me to inadvertently fix the problem!Here is a video of my condition:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev8ZUbN5f8sOn very cold days (10 degrees or less) after the car had been sitting for a few hours and was cold, I would drive it for about 5 minutes on the highway on my way home from work, exit and come to a stop. The car would then idle around 500 RPM and act like it was going to stall out. I would also usually get a P0133 code pop up (I'm a Scan Guage II user). The car was always partially warmed up when this phenomenon would occur (water temp 145-160). It consistently happened every day driving home from work. I did some searching online and saw there was a TSB issued for the intake manifold leaks known to happen with '03-08 1ZZ-FE engines and cause 02 malfunctions. It sure sounded like this was my problem (wish I would have found this before I replaced two expensive post engine O2 sensors).Here is the forum.http://www.9thgencorolla.com/f...28909TSB http://ww2.justanswer.com/uplo...1.pdfSo, this past weekend I replaced the intake manifold gasket. After 100,000 miles, the old one was very brittle and hard, and I could see what looked like two pinched spots in the gasket probably from the original installation. As it turns out, the car runs great in cold weather now. No more stalling out and P0133 codes, and the idle jumping is also gone after 8 years!

Welcome back to the nuthouse, and thanks for returning with an update! I'm sure this will help someone else out, and that is what's so great about this site.Side comment: What in the name of Jeebus happens in the last 3 seconds of that video? Is that you turning on the heat, full-blast?

Yes, that is my fan on high when cold. It still does it to this day. I imagine by now if I took it apart, the brushes and rotor would have a large groove and almost be worn to nothing - similar to the picture I have seen somewhere on here.

stoutvibe, thank you so much for creating this post! Ive had this high idle problem and finally bought a new gasket. Used my friends heated garage and tackled it today. Got it done in less than 1hr, as it turns out, its a really simple fix I couldnt have figured this problem out without your thread!!!! so thank u!!!!YoheiI took picture of the procedure. think ill post some here it may help another genvibe member.

https://picasaweb.google.com/y...tlinkhere is the link to the pics. Procedure to replace the intake manifold.disconnect batteryremove plastic shield for valve coverremove intake hose from filter box to throttle bodyremove lower throttle body bracketdetach 2 plugs from throttle body, i think 1 is ISC, the other TPSremove couple hoses, i think they are EGR? and vaccum? not sure remove upper throttle body bracketremove the 3 other bolt/nuts on TB and move the TB away from the intake manifoldthere are now only 2 bolts and 2 nuts left on the intake manifold, remove...that is ALL. the intake manifold wiggles away and u can replace the gasket. you DONT need to take coolant hoses off the TB so you dont need to drain the antifreeze. as you can see from the pics, u can see where it was leaking... I cleaned everything off, put the new gasket in place and bolted it back up. it FIXED my cold idle problem, also in general the car idles much smoother. I have solid motor mounts so I can feel the difference easily. thank you again stoutvibe! yohei

Thanks guys for those excellent write-ups...I have a similar problem on my car, don't have engine codes but I do have a very small leak and this just might fix it.

I didnt have any engine codes either, its just the idle was really jumpy in the cold cold temp of Chicago. So i figured it was leaking and it sure was... what a great resource.. this genvibe.com is amazing before find the thread, i thought i needed a tune up, ISC, etc etc.. but i take care of my car pretty good, did tune up recently before the winter. so this was the only thing!I saw some oil/dirt built up by the intake manifold so I knew it was leaking somewhere. I did a valve cover gasket too, but fixed the leak behind the cover..

EDIT: Thanks for the posts stoutvibe and yyamad1.