rough idle???

[nskforlife]

hey guys (and a20a1), i have a question about why my car is idling a little bit more rough than before. i just replaced my starter, my car still wouldnt start on 1st try, so i cleaned my carb with carb cleaner and replaced the air filter, it starts right up which is better than before, but my idle is a little bit more rought when sitting at idla and when revving down from 3k to 2k rpms, any ideas??? i'm not really worried about it that much, i just want to make sure that there isn't something wrong with it with christmas coming up and everything ya know, any help would be appreciated greatly!

[nskforlife]

ok, so my car is dead after tonight running on what i think is a bad battery, it idles extremely low, and when i try to floor it, my car has no spark. i'm hoping it's just the battery. if not, i'll part my car out n sell it to the highest bidder, thx

[A20A1]

check the ground wires to the thermostat housing, clean the battery connections or replace the wires if they are bad.

check the wires to the starter for corrosion.

[nskforlife]

ok, so i'm officially retarded, i took my starter back and i haD them test it. the starter was fine, they checked my battery, it was at 8volts. which leads me to believe that the alternator is at fault, i'm going to go pick up my battery in like 30 minutes, then i'm driving my car up to autozone to get my alternator tested,

has anyone have any tips on replacing it since it's in a hard to reach spot???

[MessyHonda]

ok, so i'm officially retarded, i took my starter back and i haD them test it. the starter was fine, they checked my battery, it was at 8volts. which leads me to believe that the alternator is at fault, i'm going to go pick up my battery in like 30 minutes, then i'm driving my car up to autozone to get my alternator tested,
has anyone have any tips on replacing it since it's in a hard to reach spot???

its a long debate...some people say they find it easy to take off the axel...

[mkymonkey]

i know there's a how to on the site....at least i remember there being one

[A20A1]

pass it under the intake manifold right to left, though I think the heater core might get in the way, I forget.
you can unplug the wires to the black box on the passengerside of the car that runs through the fender that way you don't have to disconnect more then 3 or so vacuum lines. then unbolt the black box and move it out of the way if the vacuum lines are in the way at all. other then that I dunno what will be in the way.

I removed everything I could from the motor permanetly so it was easy to pull the alt from the driverside.

[nskforlife]

ok, so i got my alternator tested, it's looking like the alternator wiring is bad. i'm contemplating on selling my car, or getting an completely new wiring harness and remove A/c and rerun the powersteering lines to run off a reservior. i know this is a lot to do, so i'm taking it up to a shop and see what they'd cost. man this sucks.. .

[nskforlife]

k, so i got my alternator and belt replaced, the problem with the idle is still there. i'm gonna check my spark plugs for consistency and check my rotor and distributor cap,
the guy at the auto shop i go to also told me to check my egr valve and possibly clean it, how would i go about that. i know where it is, but i dont know what it does or how i would clean it, any suggestions????

[Tailfin]

EGR stands for exhaust gas recirculation, and it does just that. Under certain engine conditions (ideally slight throttle), it recirculates some exhaust gas back into the intake manifold. This serves a few purposes... One is to cool the air in there... Yes, we all know exhaust gas is pretty toasty, but it's a chemical cooling - since exhaust gas is mostly inert (can't burn it), it cools simply because it won't burn. It just overall makes the air/fuel mixture harder to ignite, thereby thwarting pre-ignition and such. This makes it possible to get away with more spark advance, which gives ya better mileage/efficiency. The other purpose of it is for emissions... NOx compounds that didn't burn up get recirculated so they have better chance of being broken up by the explosion in the combustion chamber.

As for cleaning it, I'm not positive on these cars, but the main thing you want to do is press on the diaphram and make sure it moves freely...no crunchy sounds or scraping/binding. Also, make sure it's not clogged with carbon deposits. You could probably get away with putting some carb cleaner or what-have-you in there, but some EGR valves don't like that, and it's possible to damage the diaphram seal. Again, on these cars, I'm not sure. You could also just apply direct vacuum to the valve with the conduit that goes from the valve back to the intake removed. If it's working, you'll hear a noticable difference when the vacuum is applied because you'll be hearing noise directly from the exhaust system (un-muffled).

[russiankid]

When i did my water pump i forgot to hook up a vacuum line under the air cleaner on the left side of the engine if standing in front of the car. It is suppose to control the idle if i'm correct. The idle was rough until it was connected to where it should go.