jumpy idle

tstang21

Member
Apr 14, 2008
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trying to figure out on how to adjust the idle. ive advanced the timing to 13* degrees recently. when the car is warming up a bit, the idle tends to be a bit jumpy but not too much when i give it. just give it a 1 min and the rpms lower then goes back to normal. just to note, i didnt change out my fuel filter as yet. could it also be the IAC sensor ? the car runs great but im trying to figure out the little bugs :rolleyes:
 
If this does not work then replace your IAC and do it again.

Begin with a cold vehicle. The idea here is to get the car to a firm cold idle with enough air bleed capacity left in the idle circuit for IAC adjustment.

The idle stop should be set first. Back out the idle stop screw, away from the bell crank arm, until about 1/2 turn past the point where it no longer makes contact (blade fully closed). Using a 0.010" feeler gauge, tighten until gauge just drags between screw and bell crank arm. Remove feeler gauge. Tighten screw exactly 1 1/2 turns. If the screw is very loose, put a drop of loc-tite or silicone on it, so it doesn't work out of adjustment.

Now remove the connector to the Idle Air Controller (IAC) just on the other side of the throttle body. Start the car and allow vehicle to warm for 2 minutes. Give a small "blip" to let it settle. If it is having a hard time staying running you may have to get an assistant until you can get to the front of the car. Now open or close the air bleed screw (CCW opens) next to the IAC until the car idles at 575 to 600 rpm. For guys with aftermarket cams and an EEC tuner, you might want to idle a bit more briskly, say 650 to 675.

Obviously, this rpm range is by what the car and driver wants...IE, no set idle speed, whatever works for YOU.

Turn off the car. Now count the number of turns clockwise to close on the idle air bleed screw. If it falls between 1/2 and 2, it's okay, now reverse it out the same number of turns. Log the number somewhere in case you need it for the future. Reconnect the IAC. You are done.

If the air bleed screw is above 2 turns, it's a good idea to tighten the idle stop screw another 1/2 turn, and then repeat the idle setting. If it is below 1/2 turn, then loosen the idle stop screw by 1/4 to 1/2 a turn, and repeat the idle setting. Be sure to put another drop of silicone RTV on the stop screw if it was disturbed. Reconnect the IAC.

Now remember we adjusted the set screw on the throttle body. That means that the voltage reading from the TPS sensor has changed. It should read between .96 and .99 volts. Anything outside of that range will cause all sorts of issues including misfires and rough idle.

you will have to back probe the TPS connector. With the connector attached to the TPS stick a paper clip into the rubber boot on the connector where the top and middle wires go into the connector. The rubber is very flexible the paper clip will slide in between the rubber and the wire.

Set your multimeter to volts. Turn ignition to ON. Then place your multimeter leads on the metal pins. If it comes up as a negative that is okay as long as you are -.96 to -.99. If you get this reading then great you are done and hopefully your issues are gone. If not proceed to step 9

This is where and extra pair of hands come in handy. Using a large screw driver you will need to loosen the bolts that hold the TPS. DO NOT USE A SCREWDRIVER THAT IS TOO SMALL BECAUSE YOU WILL STRIP THE BOLTS. They probably will be really tight so you have to really lean on the screwdriver and use some finesse.

Once the bolts are loose you will need to move the TPS up or down and continue to read the voltage. Once you get it to the desired setting you can retighten the bolts. What I do is I find .97 and then as carefully as possible I tighten the TPS down. what will happen is the voltage will change usually to .96 or .98 but that it okay. Once you are done with this manually open the throttle body a few times and close it then reread the voltage and make sure it is still within our desired range.

Depending upon how loose your set screw was you might want to cover it in RTV to hold your setting. At this point you have CORRECTLY reset you idle.
 
i took the car for a drive tonight. when im depressing the clucth in and downshifting to 2nd gear, it shuts off. whats going on ? is it the IAC ? i need to fix this.
 
The cheapest things to try are cleaning you MAF and check for vacuum leaks. The MAF just gets cleaned with alcohol and a Q-tip. For the vacuum leak check, buy a can of starter fluid and with the car running spray any suspect areas. i.e. vacuum hoses, throttle body gasket, intake gaskets. When you find a leak (if you have one) the starter fluid will get sucked into the motor and it will rev up. I would still replace your IAC and reset your idle.
 
the IAC valve seems to be the culprit in my point of view. maybe some cleaning will do. its not holding the incoming air. when i downshift to 2nd gear, the rpms drop and the car shuts off. i press the clutch all the way in. now when i let off the clutch fast, it wont stall. theres 1 vaccum line im skeptical about. its coming from upper intake going to i think the canister i believe. its a little bit rotted but i cant change it out since my hands dont fit underneath the manifold. ill spray some starter fluid and see whats up.

i cleaned the maf already with good results :nice:
 
ok i just found the idle screw. did a tiny bit adjustment to it but not much. wondering which way the screw goes. up or down ? when parked, i turned the a/c on and it shuts off.

note: i didnt take out the plug connected to the IAC.
 
R.J., your writeup is perfect except for the tps. The tps adjustment doesn't work on 94-95 cars because the computer reads in the tps setting at idle and treats that as "1". Fox computers presumed they were at "1". so you had to adjust the tps to be about at "1".

I need to reset my idle this weekend, so I'll be going through this procedure myself. My GT idles at ~500rpm, and it's too rough for me.
 
I can neither agree or disagree with the TPS readings because your point makes sense but I have seen a TPS adjustment fix idle and driveability issues on a 94 GT and a 95GT. Maybe it matters how far out the TPS is at idle? A buddy of mine did a HCI with a 75mm Professional Products T-body. He tried everything to get his car to idle and not stall at lights once it was hot. His TPS was .68. When he Set it to .99 the issues went away??
I mention it with the idle adjust because you never know how much of a set screw adjustment will have to be made and then your TPS could be way out!!
 
well i took it for another drive tonight and it seemed ok even though i didnt unplug the IAC. i just adjusted the screw a tad bit. im going to fix up my tps and iac when i get back in town.
 
trouble setting idle, etc.

hey, this is Dan with a modified '88 fox...nice info, but having problems...no chance of sustaining idle with IAC unplugged without lots of throttle...background: Edelbrock RPM perfomer II upper and lower intake, MAF conversion, 24 lb injectors set at 45 psi, 24 lb cal computer and 75 mm MAF meter, 70 mm throttle body, Ford Racing B303 cam, heads were ported and polished w/oversized valves. Vacuum system seems intact. Timing set at 14 degrees. Runs rich as hell at idle (no matter how low I set the fuel PSI) and drives poorly, but has good power at hight RPM, dies real easy taking off from a stop and has a bad idle surge. New non-OEM TPS and hard to get set within specs. Right now I can only get it down to 1.00. ALSO, WHERE IS THE AIR BLEED SCREW? Hope someone can help, thanks!
 
me again

well, i reset the TPS and it read .94, ran the car, and then it read .955, ran it again without touching anything, and now it reads .971. so at least that looks good, but the idle surge is really bad yet and just hard to run the car even with the IAC plugged in.