High Idle Problem Figured Out!!!

well just about... didnt mean to get anyones hopes up.. but if your like me and have an intermittant mistery high idle around 1700RPM well i think i have it narrowed down to the A/C condensor..

i dont think its the condensor itself, but whenever my A/C is on, or my front window vents, i SOMETIMES, get a high idle, its still intermittant so its not a normail RPM jump to compensate for the increased load on the engine... because most of the time its idles normally 700ish with the A/C condensor running.. but i still have the intermittant jump that only occours if the A/C condensor is on.

When my idle jumps up, i couldnt get it to go down without turning off the car but if i turn my dial to face or floor vents, then the idle goes down!!!

so i guess my question is, is there some sort of sensor malfunctioning and reving the car up too high from time to time, and overcompensating for the increased load ?? if so which one is it?

and if i cant figure out hor to actually fix it, is there a way to make my front window defrost vents to run without turning the A/C condensor ?? cuz you really dont need it as long as your not running recirc air

thanks for any suggestions and i hope this helps the many other people who are trying to fix their high idle.. to test if you have the same problem as me, turn your knob to floor or face vent, turning the blower to the off position is not enough i dont think.. and your idle should settle down after a few seconds.. then keep it on that w/o the A/C on and drive around for a few days., if the high idle dosnt come back you've probably got my problem

- shaner

2001 SL 5spd 1.9L ohc

ya so this is really poo, everytime i turn on the window vents it messed up my idle, and i guess it dosnt always go down by turning the window vent off... but i need to do somthing, because the condensor get so loud and is so crap


pleeeeze someone help me, i need vents or im all fogged up!!

could it be a problem with the condensor?

if your battery is low your car will advance and raise idle to keep voltage at proper level. you are turning on two high amp devices and even after you turn them off you have already drained battery. so idle will return when coputer reads voltage at proper level. i like this feature cause of beatz, shity for performance. pulse for injectors is widen as well to make up for the drop in voltage 2.

ok your idle air control valve could be faulty. also i have removed my a/c completely and just use the heater to defrost my car. i never have issues at all. have you replaced the iac before or cleaned the throttle body?

k im dumb, that trunout not to be the problem but i did get it, it was the wires going into my TPS, wiggleing them makes my idle go down everytime, i sprayed them with electrical contact cleaner and it made it work alot better, idles high 1 time every other day or so, not 6 - 8 times a day like it used to, im sure it would be completly fixed if i got a new sensor and wire harnas but its a 60 dollar assembly, F that! ill try and fix it my self until i just break it more, then ill go buy one if i have too, but first, ill keep trying to get it to contact better

k im dumb, that trunout not to be the problem but i did get it, it was the wires going into my TPS, wiggleing them makes my idle go down everytime, i sprayed them with electrical contact cleaner and it made it work alot better, idles high 1 time every other day or so, not 6 - 8 times a day like it used to, im sure it would be completly fixed if i got a new sensor and wire harnas but its a 60 dollar assembly, F that! ill try and fix it my self until i just break it more, then ill go buy one if i have too, but first, ill keep trying to get it to contact better
Did you really fiquire it out or was it fine for a while and then the high idle started again? I have owned my car for 3 years and this just started in November. So far my mechanic did a fuel injection service. The car was fine for a few days and then the high idle started again. He then changed the upstream o/2 sensor. Again it was fine for a few days and it started again. I then brought it to the dealer they replaced ari filter and PCV valve, new air filter, new spark plug wires, new coolant tem sensor, throttlebody service and gues what the next day and few hundred dollars later it is still has the high idle problem!! I can't afford to do the process of elimation to find this problem. Can anyone help???

i fixed my tps wires by tapeing them and giving them a few sprays with electrical contact cleaner and it hasnt high idled in weeks, it used to do it like 7 or 8 times a day

when i was still playing with the tps wires, everytime it high idled i got out and wiggled the wires, and it ALWAYS made the idle go down, try that!

the ECTS (elec coolant temp sensor) can cause this also by giving errant temp readings, the pcm uses the temp to set fuel mixture


if its failing/corroded voltage readings can jump around and give you this type of problem..high revving (then it will settle down)...also you may be getting bad gas mileage and rich exhaust...for some reason green/decaying ECTS's don't set a code on SES probably because they don't actually "fail, i.e. ground out" they just corrode and give ERRANT readings...

replace them and see, they cost less than 10$ at advanceautoparts
the autozone here in my area sold the plastic/cheapie type
advance had the brass one

go for brass

or order online from saturn or goto the dealer

don'tuse the plastic variety they are real junk