Here is some back story. Right before Christmas I was pulling out of a parking lot and my car began to idle very high, almost driving on its own. I drove it a few blocks and then when I got to a stop sign it would not come to a complete stop because of the very high idle. I put the car in park (I didn’t know I shouldn’t do that) and it went up to 4000 RPMS and held there. I called my dad and he told me to be really careful and drive it the 5 blocks to work. I did and when I got there I had to drive around the parking lot for 30 mins because it wouldn’t come down. I called my friend and he told me to put it in neutral and then shut it off. It was ok when I went back out to go home. It didn’t do it again for about a week and then that time it I was on the freeway and it locked up going 60 mph and wouldn’t come down. Then there was a “pop" sound and it levels out to normal. The next day I bought and idle air control valve and drove to my parent’s house to have my dad replace it. On the way there when coming to a stop light the idle dropped to 500 rpm’s and shuddered like it was going to stall. My dad changed the IAC and the high idle problem went away but the low idle continued. I have taken it to 3 separate mechanics. The last one was able to duplicate the problem and they said that the computer needed to be reprogrammed and that the problem should be fixed. After 155.00 charge for the computer and new spark plugs it ran fine for 3 days and then it started it idle low again. Then a few more days went by and when turning a corner the idle dropped to zero and the car stalled. This happened twice within a week. I took it back to the shop and they had it for 3 days and couldn’t find anything. And then this is what happened this morning on my way to taking my son to school. Something told me this morning to take the side streets because it is slick and the car was going to mess up. And low and behold it did, it was running high. Not too bad around 1250-1500 rpm’s but since it was about 25 out that didn’t surprise me but when I stopped at a stop sign I thought I would throw it in neutral because that usually gets it to level out. So I did and all of a sudden it shot up to 3k and held there! So I turned it off put it in park, gave it a few seconds and then turned it back on. Again it shot up to 3k but then it came down to 2500 and held. So then out of no where there was a “pop" of some sort (similar to the one that happened when I was on the freeway) and then it immediately dropped to 500 and then leveled off at a perfect 750 and ran fine the rest of the way to school and back to work.I was obviously a pop of air or something similar. So what I’m thinking is a air leak, or a clogged hose or filter. Which would make sense why it’s so intermittent because there is buildup and it runs poor then the “pop" clears it and it’s find for a little while. Ok I know you don’t know much about cars but I had to get this all out. Do you think any of that makes sense or adds up?
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Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 AT 3:05 PM
