Always tighten your hose clamps (on your car)
by: FACE PLANT FOR LIFE - Sept 12, 2014 13:31:14 GMT -6
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Post by FACE PLANT FOR LIFE on Sept 12, 2014 13:31:14 GMT -6
My car has had an issue where if it's cold, it will stumble when the accelerator is pressed, so I set out to fix that yesterday. First of all, I thought the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) was the IAC (Idle Air Control Valve). So I removed the airbox from the intake (which I never had to do in the first place) and then found out that the rubber piece that goes on the snorkel for airbox didn't come with it, so I had to wrestle that back on, and in the meantime I found out that the rubber piece had a tack in it, making me slice myself. And also in the process of removing the bolt that secures the airbox, I sliced myself on a socket that had somehow peeled away and had a sharp sliver of metal (they just don't make Craftsman like they used to...) that will slice you if you touch the socket to pull it off (giant gash in my hand, now). And then I put the airbox back on after I found out that looking into the intake would do me no good, but the hose clamp came apart on me, so I spent 20 minutes trying to get the hose clamp back together around the intake!
And let's not forget that once all that was done, I started it up, and it stalled immediately. Started again, SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE ROUGH IDLE ALERT OH JESUS. And then the car stopped shaking and the idle went really really high, almost as if I was accelerating. I tried to give it a bit of throttle to quiet it down...stall. Started it again, stall. Again, stall. AGAIN, no stall, rough idle, shake shake shake, stall. Started it one last time, quickly put it in drive and gave it gas, no response and then it LURCHES forward. Stall. I was pretty sure I broke something at this point. I actually got it out on the road, gave it full throttle, it stumbled very hard before accelerating normally, but the moment I gave it anything but full throttle, it tried to die. Also full throttle seemed very weak. I got it back in the driveway, went over everything again, disassembled everything and put it back together. Started the engine "CHECK ENGINE" came on, car idled fine. Put it in drive, gave it gas, no response for .5-1 second and then it lurched forward and died. Well...at this point I was sure there was something very very wrong. Popped the hood and realized that I forgot to attach two vacuum hoses to the airbox. Put those back on and the CHECK ENGINE light went out, but the car still stumbled and stalled.
Just for the heck of it I looked one more time, and it turns out that I forgot to tighten a SINGLE hose clamp on the outside of the airbox. Was probably making a very bad leak of fresh air that the MAF couldn't compensate for. Upon tightening said hose clamp, all engine problems went away.
Always tighten your hose clamps.
Now today, due to the increasingly cold weather, the stumble has gotten much much worse. I literally could not accelerate for 10-15 seconds once I left my driveway. Everybody behind me hated me. I'm positive that it's my IAC valve but I can't get to my IAC valve (it's hidden somewhere that I can't get to without some sort of special tool).
And let's not forget that once all that was done, I started it up, and it stalled immediately. Started again, SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE ROUGH IDLE ALERT OH JESUS. And then the car stopped shaking and the idle went really really high, almost as if I was accelerating. I tried to give it a bit of throttle to quiet it down...stall. Started it again, stall. Again, stall. AGAIN, no stall, rough idle, shake shake shake, stall. Started it one last time, quickly put it in drive and gave it gas, no response and then it LURCHES forward. Stall. I was pretty sure I broke something at this point. I actually got it out on the road, gave it full throttle, it stumbled very hard before accelerating normally, but the moment I gave it anything but full throttle, it tried to die. Also full throttle seemed very weak. I got it back in the driveway, went over everything again, disassembled everything and put it back together. Started the engine "CHECK ENGINE" came on, car idled fine. Put it in drive, gave it gas, no response for .5-1 second and then it lurched forward and died. Well...at this point I was sure there was something very very wrong. Popped the hood and realized that I forgot to attach two vacuum hoses to the airbox. Put those back on and the CHECK ENGINE light went out, but the car still stumbled and stalled.
Just for the heck of it I looked one more time, and it turns out that I forgot to tighten a SINGLE hose clamp on the outside of the airbox. Was probably making a very bad leak of fresh air that the MAF couldn't compensate for. Upon tightening said hose clamp, all engine problems went away.
Always tighten your hose clamps.
Now today, due to the increasingly cold weather, the stumble has gotten much much worse. I literally could not accelerate for 10-15 seconds once I left my driveway. Everybody behind me hated me. I'm positive that it's my IAC valve but I can't get to my IAC valve (it's hidden somewhere that I can't get to without some sort of special tool).
