What the hell is it with these cars and idleing issues?

[Musashi3000GT]

I just changed the slave cylinder on my car, no problems, all done. now I turn on the car and it idles just fine. I put it in gear and all is good. As soon as i drop it back into neutral the car dies! what da heck? I checked everything to make sure I didnt leave anything disconnected, everything looks fine, the battery is fine, the intake is fine, I never touched any motors, what the hell? it turns on fine, it shifts in and out fine but as soon as the rev drops it dosent hold it like its suppposed to, the car just shuts off!

[Godley01]

Originally Posted by Musashi3000GT

I just changed the slave cylinder on my car, no problems, all done. now I turn on the car and it idles just fine. I put it in gear and all is good. As soon as i drop it back into neutral the car dies! what da heck? I checked everything to make sure I didnt leave anything disconnected, everything looks fine, the battery is fine, the intake is fine, I never touched any motors, what the hell? it turns on fine, it shifts in and out fine but as soon as the rev drops it dosent hold it like its suppposed to, the car just shuts off!

I know exactly whats going on because it just happened to me in my 1992 tt stealth, the ECU in the car is going bad. the symptoms that you have just mentioned about your car shutting off when you put it back into neutral is exactly what happened to me, i have done alot of research on the matter and from what i have read it is quite a common problem, so i had to replace the ecu, and it sucks because they are expensive

[Musashi3000GT]

how expensive? Im taking it to the dealer later today.

[Godley01]

the dealer is gonna ask any ware from 600 to 900 i think when i spoke with a couple of different dealers i think mitsubishi was cheeper then going through dodge, but it may have been the other way around sorry im not 100% sure

[Thourun]

I just got this same problem today, when I start up it's fine then when I push the clutch in all the way it starts to idle very low like at 100 rpm lol then it just dies if I don't give it gas. It feels like a problem with the throttle body or the MAS, so i'm going to clean out the throttle body (I went to autozone today and got some STP MAS/throttle body cleaner spray. I hope it's not the ECU like you said. Does anyone know of a link to pictures of what the inside of a throttle body looks like?

Edit: I especially need to know how to clean the Idle Control Valve for obvious reasons. I have tried to find a guide using google but it's all general and usually talks about domestic cars and how they are built and are without pictures which are essential for me to know what things look like.

TYIA

[NitroguN]

Wow now that you guys mention it .... i think i'm having the same problem. I was in my driveway today and had the car on 1st with the clutch ALLLL the way in. I let the car go idle, then it shut off. Not the first time it happened either. Hope it's not the ECU like you guys say. My bro just thought it needed a simple tune up.

[Thourun]

Yea I doubt its the ECU (bet it was jsut a dealer trying to take somone for $900, you know dealers), I seriously think it's a clgged/ broken Idle Control Valve or throttle body, I'll let you know If I am able to fix it tomorrow if My dad gives me a chance at work (I think he will just as long as i'm out of bed and doing something productive lol), and hey its WAY better then filing old project files which is what I mostly do there. I just finished fixing up things that were broken in the interior (volume knob = super glue, sun roof switch = duct tape and 1/2 a hack saw blade as a splint to hold the back of the button, and dome light = bigger screws because the old ones were too small for the stripped holes).

[sLADe781]

Does you guys' car die as soon as you push down on the clutch or only when you shift it into gear? How do you drive it if it dies so quickly?

[StealthModifier]

Wouldnt it be cheaper to get an ECU out of a car if u can find it in a junkyard? or is it better just to have a brand new one?

[Musashi3000GT]

The dealer didnt try the "its your ECU" crap on me, instead they said "your throttle body is not set to factory spec" whatever the crap that means! but it cost me $360.00 and she is running just fine noe. from what I can tell: they deffenetly removed the throttle body (new gasket) and cleanned it (even though it was preaty new) and they cleaned the TPS and Idle speed sensor (the two motors connected to the throttle body) other than that I cant see what else they messed with. and if you guys are gonna clean your own sensors remember to buy a tube of lithium grease. the motors need a dab in order to spin without friction. youll see where they grease it when you take it apart.

[RipDinecola]

I had to replace the idle controller and it cost 558 dollars

[Thourun]

I bought some STP fule injector cleaner and used that and it's way better, it still dies down a little when I squish in the clutch but not nearly enough to make it die. I'm still gonna try and clean out my MAS and throttle body just so I know how in the future and to gain a little response I bet.

[Thourun]

I cleaned out the intake tube thingy and the throttle body with the help of my brother who eventually fit in my car (he is huge! like 350 lbs huge and only 14 years old!! ) and was able to hold the throttle open while I cleaned out the back side of the disc and the inside of it all and I cleaned a tube that looked to be connected to the idle controll valve (totally guessing). I tried to start is up but it wouldent go till Iit gave gass while turning the key, no smoke even! I guess I did a good job, It fealt sooooo much smoother even in hard driving, of course the idle was much better and it has more pep to it. The butt dyno method tells me that I restored a few long lost ponies stuck in the throttle body . Its a good easy tune up mod that I reccomend, it cost me $2 for the spray and took only like 7 minutes.

[NitroguN]

Cool! lol sign me up. I hope my remedy is as easy as yours. Hey can you provide me with some instructions? Where the throttle body is, ect. My bro will also be helping me, or heck i can just do it with the mechanic . Even if that's not the problem, like you said, i'd STILL like to have it cleaned out / maintained.

[Thourun]

you know the intake hose? it goes right into the throttle body, if you get a good spray solvent (strong shit!) you just take off the intake hose (there will be a little 1/2 inch or so hose attached right at the end, I assume it is there to bypas the throttle so that when it's closed all the way the engine can still breath a little to idle so spray some doen there too). You don't have to take off the throttle body to clean it just spray alot all over the walls and the disc, then have somone push the gas all the way down so you can clean the back of the disc and get the walls on the other side. Then just put the intake hose back on and try to start it. As far as I know it's fine for your engine, it jsut cant realy run well while its working it's way through, infact it cleans the valves while it's in there. The stuff I used was STP "throttle body and air intake cleaner" its like WD-40 in that it comes with a red straw to help spray lol. I have heard tell about shorting out an ECU by getting it somewhere your not suposed to but it didn;t happen to me so maybe look into it or risk it like me.