almost death at idle

[1moreMPH]

alright, so once the car has been warmed up (not hard or anything), if i stop at a light for a while or just sit and idle in a parking lot, the RPMs go WAY down -- like down from the normal 700 to about 2-300. Obviously, the car just shakes and you hear this really low base. It dips down like 3 times, and then returns to normal. No driving problems seem to happen, but this can't be a good thing. It's like the car is just about to die on me, but then it saves itself......anyone with this problem? anyone know what it is/how to fix?

Thanx

 

[mooS mooS]

Happened to me once, and freaked me the hell out... no idea what causes it or how to fix it... so I'm subscribing to this thread to find out. If anyone knows,and is not just guessing, please do tell.

 

[dominoy2k1]

any mods on the car?

 

[ONRAILS]

Yea.. that usually happens to me when I have the AC on. Once the fan kicks off, the rpm's dip down real low, almost stalling the engine. I assume that a grounding kit would fix that.

 

[protegeV]

my car has done this twice...

 

[alprotege]

my car has done this before,the dealership had to replace the idle control sensor and it fixed it for about a week,then back to the same old thing again,dont know what causes this to happen.

 

[Glowmunkey]

Check for leaks in the intake pipes, especially around the BOV. If nothing is found, check for vacuum leaks.

 

[chrisjw85]

Yea.. that usually happens to me when I have the AC on. Once the fan kicks off, the rpm's dip down real low, almost stalling the engine. I assume that a grounding kit would fix that.

My thoughts too

 

[KpaBap]

Dirty intake manifold?

 

[dupa12345]

it happened to me to.. several times with ac on or off.. kind of sounds like a tuning type of deal
it always saves itself though i mean it never completely died

 

[Stormtrooper77]

Yea.. that usually happens to me when I have the AC on. Once the fan kicks off, the rpm's dip down real low, almost stalling the engine. I assume that a grounding kit would fix that.

A grounding kit will not fix this. I have one and it still does it. Just not as drastic a drop.

 

[celdridge]

alright, so once the car has been warmed up (not hard or anything), if i stop at a light for a while or just sit and idle in a parking lot, the RPMs go WAY down -- like down from the normal 700 to about 2-300. Obviously, the car just shakes and you hear this really low base. It dips down like 3 times, and then returns to normal. No driving problems seem to happen, but this can't be a good thing. It's like the car is just about to die on me, but then it saves itself......anyone with this problem? anyone know what it is/how to fix?

Thanx

What are your mods ? Are you running a BOV ? Open Vent or Recirc?

 

[1moreMPH]

sounds like a pretty frequent problem, still love to know what's wrong....some poeple asked for mods, there are none. Car is still factory everything (i am waiting a bit b4 touching it)

 

[flat_black]

Bill Harvey has the same problem, and I explained how I fixed it on my Protege5 to him; There's a little set screw on the side of the throttle body that faces the firewall, toward the back. Take off your inlet hose just before the throttle body, and loosen the 8mm (?, not entirely sure) nut at the base. Once you loosen it there's a little hex-key bolt (5mm-ish?) that goes through the middle of it. The nut at the base is just a locknut, so you'll have to back it up, depending on how far up you want to prop the butterfly in the throttle body. I got it to the point of barely touching, then a tiny bit more, and now it idles at, like, 775, and doesn't ever dip. Hope this helps you guys! Oh, and don't forget to tighten the lock nut down, too.

 

[1moreMPH]

Bill Harvey has the same problem, and I explained how I fixed it on my Protege5 to him; There's a little set screw on the side of the throttle body that faces the firewall, toward the back. Take off your inlet hose just before the throttle body, and loosen the 8mm (?, not entirely sure) nut at the base. Once you loosen it there's a little hex-key bolt (5mm-ish?) that goes through the middle of it. The nut at the base is just a locknut, so you'll have to back it up, depending on how far up you want to prop the butterfly in the throttle body. I got it to the point of barely touching, then a tiny bit more, and now it idles at, like, 775, and doesn't ever dip. Hope this helps you guys! Oh, and don't forget to tighten the lock nut down, too.

that seems like a resonable suggestion....but i dunno if i trust myself. I may take it to the dealer to see what they can do (warranty?). Perhaps i'll show them your suggestion and they can deal with it. It just freaks me out...i really don't wanna be stuck at a stop light one day because my car died and gave out. Thanks for the tips though. Any others -- please share! gracias.

 

[Jtzks]

I had the exact same problem where idles were dropping to 200-300 for past couple of days. Check engine light eventually came on, and Mazda informed me that this is all caused by a faulty EGR valve. Due to backorder I have to wait a couple of days for the replacement part, but will keep everyone posted if this is infact solved the problem

 

[1moreMPH]

thanks a lot dude -- keep me posted. If that's the problem, that should be a pretty easy fix. Mine's going to the dealer soon -- i'll be sure and mention that to them.

PS: do you have a sound coming from underneath the car that sounds like a million crickets are in ur engine? ....some people have posted something like that, and i seem to have the same problem...just wondering if they might be linked? (only sounds at startup AND ONLY AT IDLE. at throttle, it goes away)

 

[Lil Freek]

Damn.. i had the exact same prob as you, and so does my buddy.
and my car is ATx... so it's got nothing to do with me.

My car's at the dealership today, and I thought this would be covered under my Drivetrain and Engine warranty... but it turns out it's not (bastards)
So how hard is it to change the EGR valve? edit - from what i can tell from the worshop manual - it's crazy easy to get at.

 

[jonbig]

My msp did the same thing all the time back when it was stock..still does it haha

 

[Lil Freek]

dealership has confirmed that's what the prob was.. i sucked and am paying them cdn$45 for cleaning the EGR valve and the hoses.
the EGR valve itself is cdn$195 - which is a TOTAL pain in the ass! I'm trying to find one off a wrecked P5 or 2.0 protege - with no success cuz it's not in anybody's inventory. (too small/random of a part)