Erratic idle (1 Viewer)

[landtank]

Amidst one of the other posts on heat I mentioned that my idle was somewhat erratic and asked about it being a problem or not. Dan had suggested I look at the throttle cable which I did but it seemed fine. Well it happened again today and I rechecked the cable and found it was not returning properly. The first check was when cold and now it was hot as before when the problem manifested itself. One other problem I had was the tranny would not downshift into 1st when slowing down say for a turn and then would downshift exiting the turn as I pressed the accelerater. I've seen other posts for what might be the same problem so if the cable takes care of everything I'll post back.
Once again, thanks Dan for your help! It would have been alot harder and probably take longer for me to find this on my own.

 

[Scamper]

Rick,

Did you find that the problem was the cable not returning fully (i.e., "stickly throttle body")? I'm curious becuase about two weeks ago I came back from a road trip and found that the engine was idling quite high--about 1300rpm. Upon inspection I noticed that if I pushed the throttle body butterfly arm (I don't know what you call it, but it's where the cable is attached to the TB) back fully, the idle speed came back to normal.

I applied a liberal amount of WD40 to the arm where it joins the TB and also ensured there was sufficient lubrication on the cable--at least where I could see it. A confounding issue I should mention is that I have a S/C, so the routing of the cables is a bit modified from stock and there may be additional strain on them.

Anyway, after a day of rest, I've not noticed this high idle any more. But being a skeptic, I'm also not convinced that this simple solution fixed anything, so if you've discovered anything else I'd be quite interested...

Tom

 

[AZcruiser]

I had a similar bad idle and found out I had a crack in the airboot/tube which was giving me a bad mix. With the other symptoms probably not really related.
c

 

[Beowulf]

Tom,
Others have reported the problem and fixed as you describe. A long(er) term fix is to clean up the cables, remove one end of the cable and lubricate down in the cable housing with a graphite mixture, and clean up the TB.
-B-

 

[cruiserdan]

Tom,

  The phenomenon seems to be caused by a couple of different things. In the case of a stock motor it is more related to plain old cable wear. In a motor with a supercharger it can happen as a result of relocating the throttle body. The instructions tell you not to disconnect the cables from the throttle body when you move it. I have found that the cable housing gets a torsional twist in it and it makes the cable bind in the housing. By cracking the adjusting nuts loose it allows the cable to "unwind". After that, they are usually OK unless the cable got a "set".

 

[landtank]

My problem is 100% cable. I was able to jump out of the truck while it was still at an elavated rpm and confirm it! The cable was tight unlike the Cruise cale which was loose. New cable was 64.00.

Any prep work for the new cable as far as lubing?

 

[landtoy80]

Moved post to tranny throttle cable.
kurt

 

[cruiserdan]

Rick,

No prep, go ahead and put it in. Double check the part number. It sounds too cheap. :-/ It should be a 78180-60280.
They may have looked up a 78180-60080. That is for an FJ80.

Just shooting from the hip..............Dan

 

[landtank]

Dan, I PM'd you but for everyone else I am getting 35520-60140 cable assy, throt list=68.57 gold discount=61.71

 

[cruiserdan]

That is the transmission kick-down cable, sometimes called a TV cable(throttle valve) or throttle cable. As opposed to an "accererator" cable or gas feed or whatever the heck you want to call it. Which is what I imagine you need instead of the kick-down cable.  :-/

 Oh BTW, The published price on the 35520-60140 is $65.30.

 It looks like your dealer is using an escalator, 5% to be precise

 

[landtank]

OH Good . I get to go around again with these morons. Well this sucks because I've been called out to work for Tuesday which is a driving call. Ever thought of moving to MA?

 

[Scamper]

B and Dan: thanks for the tips. I'll look carefully at those cables. They may have given them a "twist" for good measure when they put the head back on a few weeks ago--that would coincide with when it started to act this way.

Tom