ok, so i had an occaisional surging idle ever since i did my swap... usually it would last for a few days, then go back to normal. well, this got annoying, so i pulled off my iacv and sprayed it with carb cleaner... after that, it surged all the time. my theory was that the iacv was sticking 'cuz it was old, and i managed to spray the goop back into it further, which caused it to stick all the time. regardless, the fact that it got worse and not better made me think i really had the cause of the surging pegged. so $130 for a brand new OEM IACV, and it still surges. when i installed it, i let it idle for about 15 minutes with the radiator cap off, then replaced the coolant that spilled when i disconnected the valve. however, i'm thinking it still may be a problem with air in the system. i have a huge *** koyo radiator, so my fan never kicks on at idle, but i figure after 15 minutes, surely my thermostat opened, right? when i unplug the iacv, the idle holds steady at about 1300 rpms. can anyone help? it's a 1g jdm b16 if that matters. thanks.


Modified by steronz at 7:35 PM 10/16/2005

 

Have you ever flushed the coolant system to get the air out?

 

yeah.... mods can lock this post. ends up the idle screw had backed itself out. i didn't know that could cause a surging idle. durhrhr... now i feel dumb.

is it smart to threadlock that thing? it's spinning really easily...

 

Yeah.. It took a month or so of a surging idle for me to realize I didn't even have an idle screw I wrapped a thin layer of electrical tape around it nice and tight and then re-threaded it back in. Ghetto? yeah, but it was all I had handy at the time and it's been fine for about a year now.

 

the funny thing is i think the sticking iacv actually kept the surging idle at bay... like, it would stick shut and with the screw where it was, it would idle fine. when i sprayed it out with carb cleaner, it started working again and the surging came back. and with the new one, it surged like a ****. i've always had a hard time adjusting the idle screw and getting a steady idle, and now i know why. so i'm gonna threadlock that sumbitch in there and call it good.

 

good luck

I can never get a low enough idle until my car is TOTALLY up to operating temp. It's been driving me nuts forever.