Idle problem CURE!!!!!!!! Finally!!
08-18-2008, 09:57 PM
#176
Junior Member
Join Date: 05-11-05
Location: SW Chi Suburbs
Posts: 474
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I also tried this fix today (05 SS S/C 68000 miles) and it did the trick. I am having the issue that a few others mentioned though where it hangs around 1500 before it drops back down. I'll drive it more tomorrow and see if it fixes itself. The TB was totally caked in black ****... I used about 3/4 can of TB cleaner to get it all off. Otherwise yeah it looks like this did the trick.
09-05-2008, 12:26 AM
#177
Member
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: 03-01-08
Location: Port Jefferson Station, NY
Posts: 323
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
downshifting, neutral, and gas usage.
I don't know the specifics on how the decelleration fuel cut-off works with downshifting, but I don't know that it would help at all. If you use the downshifting to slow yourself down you may actually hurt your gas mileage. Fuel cut-off is typically enabled above a certain RPM i.e. above 1800 RPMs fuel cut-off is enabled. It is then disabled once you get below 1200 RPMs. So above 3K there would still be fuel cut-off. However, the fuel doesn't necessarily cut off immediately, I am sure there is some kind of delay like maybe a second or so before it actually cuts off.
you can't notice fuel cutoff anyways. if your foot isn't on the gas at moderate to high rpms, you're not suppling gas. you're sucking air in, compressing it, and pushing it out yes but no gas goes in so no ignition or combustion. neutral lets the car coast farther yes because you're avoiding that air compression by being disengaged with the engine. however, coasting at idle uses gas!
ya'll go ahead and pop it into neutral if you won't be idling for long before you stop or get back in gear. if not, keep it in high gear until 25 mph or so, you won't bog down @ 1000rpms just pop it out of gear b4 you do.
downshifting uses no fuel so long as ur above the rpm where fuel is needed for a sustained running engine (idle, 750 but kicks in sooner so to avoid stalling or rough idle, see shitty egg analogy above lmao) and you're not on the gas.
only revmatching on downshifts hurts ur gas, unless the driver pulls the clutch out slowly each gear without gas, which is awful for your clutch. either way downshifting = less gas efficient, or clutch wearing. pick your poison.
09-13-2008, 12:31 AM
#180
Senior Member
The idle problem is mostly caused by a flaw in the tuning. There are different idle spark tables, and fuel tables and those result in crap idling.
Ask some that I have tuned recently.....it goes away.
Ask some that I have tuned recently.....it goes away.
09-13-2008, 02:10 AM
#182
Senior Member
I went through 3 axles.......broke them all. The biggest problem is when you get Stage 2 on the 07s. They stall and have a very jumpy idle then it gets worse with the AC on. It will give you a heart attack sometimes because it does it so bad that the car shakes.
09-14-2008, 07:32 AM
#183
Senior Member
Join Date: 01-21-07
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 782
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
So what might resolve this problem then? Getting a custom tune?
09-14-2008, 11:44 AM
#185
New Member
Join Date: 12-18-06
Location: Ontario
Posts: 82
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
its even worse with a lightened flywheel
09-14-2008, 01:02 PM
#186
Premium Member
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: 08-21-06
Location: Western NY
Posts: 6,574
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My car has had a idle misfire since it had the stage tune flashed 2 years ago (the car was 3 months old 7k miles) . The local dealer and i have tried everything short of opening up the motor. I have a great idle , and it's never set a code. It's just annoying as hell to watch it on a tech2 misfire graph. Very random , and it's never missed under load. I think it's in the GM tune myself.
Last edited by rukkee; 09-14-2008 at 11:37 PM.
09-24-2008, 05:41 PM
#189
Senior Member
Join Date: 03-13-07
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 7,520
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just did this last night..
38k miles..
Made a HUGE difference. Big thank you to the OP!!!!
Def worth it. Only took 20 mins and 3 dollars for the throttle body cleaner!
38k miles..
Made a HUGE difference. Big thank you to the OP!!!!
Def worth it. Only took 20 mins and 3 dollars for the throttle body cleaner!
10-17-2008, 01:00 PM
#190
Cleaned my throttle body out 3 nights ago. What a diff. it made. I only have 15,000+ miles on my car, but it was pretty gummed up. I tried this, because for a couple of weeks my car has felt pretty sluggish on a 2nd gear pull and it was drivin me nuts that the power wasn't coming on instantly like it used to. You don't have to take the throttle body off to clean it properly. All I did was take my upper intake duct off, sprayed some approved throttle body cleaner on a rag (some cleaners don't work on F.I. cars), and manually oppened the throttle plate and cleaned behind and around it. It looked brand new when I was finished !!! Props to the guy who started this thread ....
I also wanted to add something that I have seen a lot of on this site about the crappy 07' GM Stage tunes. I have an 07' and I have had the Stage tune on my car for over a year now with no problems. In my Stage kit instructions at the very end when the dealer has to download the tune there is a list for all the SS/SC and Ion RL years. The 07's need to have a diagnostic table downloaded along with the tune due to the difference in the stock 07' tune vs. 05' and 06's tune. I bought my Stage 1 kit from the dealer and it included the updated instructions with the right part number to download for the 07' tune. I then purchased the Stage 1 to 2 upgrade kit from Crate Engine Depot and the instructions didn't even list the 07' model year in them. Maybe some of you who have 07's had the older set of instructions with your Stage kits and the dealership downloaded the 05' - 06' tune. Hope this helps.
I also wanted to add something that I have seen a lot of on this site about the crappy 07' GM Stage tunes. I have an 07' and I have had the Stage tune on my car for over a year now with no problems. In my Stage kit instructions at the very end when the dealer has to download the tune there is a list for all the SS/SC and Ion RL years. The 07's need to have a diagnostic table downloaded along with the tune due to the difference in the stock 07' tune vs. 05' and 06's tune. I bought my Stage 1 kit from the dealer and it included the updated instructions with the right part number to download for the 07' tune. I then purchased the Stage 1 to 2 upgrade kit from Crate Engine Depot and the instructions didn't even list the 07' model year in them. Maybe some of you who have 07's had the older set of instructions with your Stage kits and the dealership downloaded the 05' - 06' tune. Hope this helps.
Last edited by Staged07SS; 10-17-2008 at 02:55 PM.
10-17-2008, 03:21 PM
#191
Senior Member
Join Date: 06-25-07
Location: Kissimmee, Fl
Posts: 6,003
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
For those who are still wanting to do this, I posted a how to, just waiting for the mods to approve it...I have pics and vids of how the car runs after the tb was cleaned....I think this is a must at least every 15K miles.
10-19-2008, 09:26 PM
#194
Junior Member
Join Date: 06-19-06
Location: Waterford, MI
Posts: 437
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I just wanted to say that I stumbled across this thread and was having the same issues as the OP since last December. My rough idle wasn't bad enough to cause it to stall out but it was very embarassing at stoplights and made the ride quite jerky.
To make a long story short I got some throttle body cleaner and removed my throttle body as recommended here. It wasn't clean on the inside and had some grease in it but by no means did it look bad enough to be causing my problems. However, after thoroughly cleaning it and buttoning it up I took the cobalt for a spin and it was a completely different car. First off it idled smoother at startup and when coasting with the clutch depressed. Also it had much better low end power that hadn't been there for so long I forgot it even existed. This made my upshifts a lot smoother, especially 1 to 2, because before it would bog a lot and then lurch forward. This was bad enought in the past that I thought I was having clutch issues. Overall acceleration seems pretty much unchanged especially on the top end but below 2500 rpm you can really tell the difference.
The change that i have felt is way too noticeable to be due to wishful thinking, however, we will see how long it lasts. Hopefully, this isn't something I will have to repeat but I can say that taking the throttle body off is pretty painless and will take 45 minutes the first time and probably 15 minutes if you do it again. I would recommend trying this to anyone having idle issues without a CEL.
To make a long story short I got some throttle body cleaner and removed my throttle body as recommended here. It wasn't clean on the inside and had some grease in it but by no means did it look bad enough to be causing my problems. However, after thoroughly cleaning it and buttoning it up I took the cobalt for a spin and it was a completely different car. First off it idled smoother at startup and when coasting with the clutch depressed. Also it had much better low end power that hadn't been there for so long I forgot it even existed. This made my upshifts a lot smoother, especially 1 to 2, because before it would bog a lot and then lurch forward. This was bad enought in the past that I thought I was having clutch issues. Overall acceleration seems pretty much unchanged especially on the top end but below 2500 rpm you can really tell the difference.
The change that i have felt is way too noticeable to be due to wishful thinking, however, we will see how long it lasts. Hopefully, this isn't something I will have to repeat but I can say that taking the throttle body off is pretty painless and will take 45 minutes the first time and probably 15 minutes if you do it again. I would recommend trying this to anyone having idle issues without a CEL.
10-21-2008, 05:34 PM
#197
Premium Member
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: 08-21-06
Location: Western NY
Posts: 6,574
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I do mine at every oil change , after you do it once it takes about 5 minutes to get it off and another 5 to clean it . You can do this while the oil is draining out of the motor .
10-29-2008, 03:06 AM
#198
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Well well, I am the guy who started this thread and I have to say that I am extremely excited about how many people this has helped so far but I am now experiencing another problem. I recently had an aftermarket "Centerforce dual compression clutch and flywheel" installed on the car and now the problem is back 100%. It is however slightly different now. Whenever I leave my car sitting overnight outside my house for example and go to start it in the morning my idle jumps like crazy again and then the car stalls. Normally the car will stall 2-3 times and then finally start and run but when the temperature gets colder like it is starting too this time of the year the problem is getting worse and worse with the weather. The other day it was -10 degrees Celcius and the car took 8 attempts to start before it would run on its own. I am baffled because I had spent the time cleaning the TB again for the 3rd time and I have an oil catch tank also installed. No codes are tripping from the Tech tool from GM and everything is showing normal. The car was left at the GM dealership the other day and the head tech left it outside to see the problem for himself and did all the testing but nothing is showing up, he says that he cant start replacing things on the car to see because its against GM's rules so he needs some definitive facts that something is wrong before he can go ahead and start replacing something. I am soo frustrated that my only opinion on this matter would be that mabye the actual physical mechanical part of the TB is troubled and not showing up on his tool because mabye all the sensors are fine. I will keep you guys posted if anything comes up that might help......
