1995 Suzuki Sidekick Idle drops when the engine is warm

2601 Views 9 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Bex, Mar 18, 2022

ntgd1

Discussion Starter · Mar 15, 2022 (Edited)

Hi all, new to the forum. I have a 1995 Zuki Sidekick 4x4 1.6L 16 valve. 129K miles . Lately the engine idle will drop down to 2-300 rpms but only when the engine is warm, sometimes it will die. Ive read a few things in the forums that seem similar but nothing Ive done has worked. Im leaning towards deposits in the Intake manifold. I dont believe it is fuel related because it runs very well at both low and high speeds. To be clear... it does NOT have a rough idle, it will simply drop very low on occasion when coming to a stop and either die, or slowly come back up to a regular 700 rpm idle. Here are things Ive checked and or cleaned.

Air filter is new
Plugs are new
Serviced the EGR valve and verified that it holds vacuum as well as manually actuated the diaphragm while running which causes it to die ( like it should)
All vacuum lines look to be in very good shape and have done the PB blaster test on them
The check engine light works properly but is NOT on. ( no codes)
I even tried the Seafoam intake cleaner ( kinda gimmicky) with no improvement
Any help is appreciated!

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aquanaut20

· #2 · Mar 15, 2022

Clean the Intake (Idle) Air control Valve..

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ntgd1

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 15, 2022

aquanaut20 said:
Clean the Intake (Idle) Air control Valve..

the one under the black cover with 4 ports yeah?

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rangerbentman

· #4 · Mar 16, 2022

It doth seem that my beloved Intake air control valve is doing the same as yours is. What I did was watch a youtube clip of how to clean the wretchedly expensive creature

Cleaned it twice and then as it did the same thing yet again I took it off and oiled it against the recommendation of" do not oil". I used bicycle chain oil which is real thin stuff. It still does the bad idle but far more sporadically than before and generally only after a long downhill coast.

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ntgd1

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 16, 2022

rangerbentman said:
It doth seem that my beloved Intake air control valve is doing the same as yours is. What I did was watch a youtube clip of how to clean the wretchedly expensive creature

Cleaned it twice and then as it did the same thing yet again I took it off and oiled it against the recommendation of" do not oil". I used bicycle chain oil which is real thin stuff. It still does the bad idle but far more sporadically than before and generally only after a long downhill coast.

Thanks for the feedback and video. I’ll try it tomorrow.

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Mr. Z.

· #6 · Mar 16, 2022

When you removed the egr valve, did you clean the passages in the motor? To gain total access, remove the exhaust manifold and ream the passage ways from both directions with carb. cleaner. I used one of my old gun cleaning "brushes", but almost anything will work. These passages get caked with carbon and will cause your issue.

Cheers

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Bex

· #7 · Mar 17, 2022

In furtherance to the comments about the EGR valve that you serviced, you also need to confirm that the diaphragm in the EGR valve snaps back strongly once you let it go. If it’s sluggish, it can also cause your symptoms.

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ntgd1

Discussion Starter · #8 · Mar 17, 2022

Bex said:
In furtherance to the comments about the EGR valve that you serviced, you also need to confirm that the diaphragm in the EGR valve snaps back strongly once you let it go. If it’s sluggish, it can also cause your symptoms.

Thanks for the reply. The EGR seemed very responsive. I have also removed and cleaned the IAC which didnt have much if any build up. I also tested with 12v to see the actuation which is working. It seems all the external components are ok so I may need to suck it up and remove the intake manifold to clean it. Just as a test.... I turned the Idle Control screw on the Intake out about 1/2 turn. This helped by not letting the idle drop below 4-500 which helped it stabilize better but obviously this isnt a fix. Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

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Mr. Z.

· #9 · Mar 17, 2022

ntgd1 said:
I may need to suck it up and remove the intake manifold to clean it.

Just to be clear...
You need to remove the exhaust manifold, not the intake, to clean the egr passages.

Cheers

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Bex

· #10 · Mar 18, 2022

Perhaps it might be a good idea to calibrate the throttle position sensor. The TPS has an idle switch in it. For the 16v, to calibrate:
With your negative battery cable removed, and the TPS connector disconnected, you insert a .020” feeler gauge between the throttle lever and the idle adjusting screw. You will have to loosen the idle adjusting screw in order to do this. Then you loosen the bolts slightly on the TPS, and take your DVM and connect them to the TPS side of the connector that you disconnected, with one lead on the blue/white wired pin, and the other on the grey/yellow wired pin (they should be the pins on the right side of the connector, the blue/white on top and the grey/yellow on the bottom. - on the connector side, they are the green wire and the black wired pins). Set your DVM to ohms, and rotate the TPS clockwise all the way. Now, slowly begin to rotate the TPS counterclockwise, watching the DVM. When it JUST begins to register ohms, stop, and tighten the bolts to the TPS. You should be registering less than 500 ohms, the lower the better.
Now, start up the car and let it warm up. Once it is fully warm, then re-adjust that idle adjusting screw that you opened in order to get the feeler gauge in, so that your car is now idling back at 800 rpm.

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