4agze hard to start and then stalls

[wiso]

anyone experienced this before,

i am haveing some trouble with my car atm, she is sometimes hard to start, and then sometimes stalls. it all staterd when i degreased the front of the engine (front and oil pump section only) as i am trying to find an oil leak, after giving the degreaser a very weak hose off she was fine, she idled fine and ran as normal for a while (20mins) then on the way home from where i did this every time i let off the throttle and had her in nuetrel she would stall, every time i start (hard to start need to give it some throtle) it it stalls again unless i put my foot on the pedal and give her some throttle.

then last night after letting her cool down she seemed fine again she started fine ad idled fine, but when she got back up to heat she would start doing it over again, stalling and hard to start.

I thought i may have got water in the dizzy but that has been cleaned out, the dizzy, cap, leads and rotor have been checked by some mates at dynotune, they aren't great, but they are ok, they shouldn't be causeing this they reckon. they are making some new leads up for me anyway, and getting a new cap and rotor.

I have checked all the vac lines, there are no vac leaks

but anyway does anybody else know what could be causing this?


eidt: should add this engine is all standard in my AW11SC, it is not a conversion

[turbo_gze]

My mate's old 4agze AFM had the same problem as what you are experiencing and it turned out to be his EFI relay.

[The Witzl]

perhaps some cleaning of the AFM? It might be getting a little sticky and not opening enough to close the CIRCUIT OPENING RELAY.

This could also be air leaks after the AFM. When was the last time you replaced your intake hoses, clamps, gaskets and pipes?

[4agte]

have to checked the earths?

[.T.]

we had a similar problem with a 20v clubbie that got caught in a massive storm. issue turned out to be water in the afm - dry out, problem went away


T

[GUN METAL]

Stab in the dark but how about water in the cam cover valley. I had a similar problem after hosing the engine bay once. I could not believe how much water was actually in there

[Cuzzo]

i was actually goig to say that but he said he hosed it lightly on the front of the engine. But i have also degreased my engine and found about 2 lt of water around the sparkys. OMG bitch to get out. i used a blower vac.LOL

[wiso]

ok these are all good things, things to check, thank you

let me add another level to it

it will idle fine and run fine until it reaches normal operating temp then the problem will start.

afm i was alsop thinking something along those lines cause it is similar to when you have the afm unplugged and start her, but that doesn't explain why she will idle fine when cold.

sorry scott there is no water in the cam cover valley

someone said perhaps cause my points on the cap are pretty worn down when it heats up it expands, and then doesn't make a good spark..... sounds feasable, but also bs.

ohh well i'll eliminate that when the new leads and cap arrives wednesday

[Starfire]

The easiest way to get all the eater out of the valley between the cams is with paper towel. Take the spark plug leads off and remove the valley cover.

Thrown in 6 - 10 squares of paper towel. You would be amazed at how much they can absorb. Pull them out, squeeze them dry(ish) and put them back in. Keep doing that till most of the free water is gone. Use a couple more dry bits to get the last of it out.

If you have a compressor or a can of air then blow out anything that you can and mop that up too.

Put the leads back on but not the valley cover. Go for a longish drive (to get some heat in to the engine and evaporate off any residual water). Replace the valley cover and viola.

As for Wiso's problem, it is a hard one. Usually they run worse when they are cold The AFM sounds like a potential cause - it is one of the critical meters on the 4AGZE. Have you tried shorting the check connector and seeing if it reports an error code? Check for air leaks and anything else weird.

[wiso]

yeah done that, should have mentioned, i'm not getting any error codes from the ecu, which leads me to believe it not an electrical fault.

yeah i have checked over all theair hoses and vac lines, they are all fine, nothing missing, nothing cracked

[davedave]

It sounds a lot like the AFM as 'hard to start' and 'problems idling' are common symptoms. But with an AFM problem, you'd probaby notice performance being impacted rather heavily as well.
What about the Idle Air Control Valve?

[wiso]

yeah thats the thing, if you keep her reving manually she runs fine, no lack of power or anything.

well i have tried all the things mentioned, the afm is fine, nce and dry, the door moves normally, the continuity test check out.

efi relay is fine the tests are normal.

no water anywhere else


dave, i thought that only controlled the idle when the air con is on? is that the vsv on the left side of the engine bay, or am i confused

[davedave]

Nope, that be your A/C idle up.

AFAIK, the IACV normally sits just under your throttle body (it's the light green thing, just to the top left of my oil cap in this pic)

It has an air line which will come from after your AFM

I don't really have an explaination as to why it would do it only when warm other than it might have something to do with it not being on choke.

I'd get a second opinion though before going out an getting another one to test, I'm really just speculating

PS, just found this link http://www.se-r.net/engine/about_iacv.html

[wiso]

hmmm, the only think i can see around, and in the bgb remotly like that is the idle speed control valve.

i did the resistance checks according to the bgb and it fine.

i am totally stumped

[Starfire]

it could be a dry joint in the AFM - as it heats up it expands and then loses contact? It would be a pretty unusual situation but could explain it.

Pity youre not in adelaide, I have one that you could try out.