IAC valve

[THAWA]

I'm sick of this stupid valve! It's been giving me problems since last march. I replaced my original one with one from a jy, and that did good for a couple of weeks and started to act up every once in a while. Now I'm wondering if there's something I'm doing wrong that's causing these valves to go bad so quickly. (BTW I am throwing a code for it again) I've got the usual symptomes, as well, car dieing when stopping, high revs while idling, and all that other crap. So what's the deal? Am I going to be forced to have a crappy idle until I finally bite the bullet and buy a new valve from the dealer? Or is there something I can check to make sure it's not something else causing the problem? When i first tested the electrical connections everything was fine resistance and all that stuff, just the valve was sticking, I havent checked the connections again though.

[heelhooker]

I had the same problem recently-very low, eratic idle...stalling at stops from time to time.

All of the electrical stuff checked out. I checked the idle switch too, as I though maybe the previous owner messed with the throttle stop.

I ended up just spraying a liberal amount of brake cleaner into the inlet pipe on the iac valve while it was still on the manifold. Surprisingly, this actually seemed to work. The idle is way smoother and consistant at ~750rpm. I don't know how long the fix will last, but it was simple and easy.

I noticed a fair amount of oil in the intake tract. I wonder if this tends to gunk the valve up.

[Legacy777]

yeah they pick up a lot of oil and gunk.....plus someone on here mentioned that once you clean them, they can pickup carbon deposits more easily.

[THAWA]

well this is lame as hell. I might try pouring a little sea foam in through that tube. Then if that doesnt fix anything go get another jy one

[omegax]

Hey i have that one off my legacy L if it fits ill get rid of it cheap. Considering ive had my own problems if it deosnt work ill offer to refund everything but the shipping. Ive cleaned mine out throughly and the problem never stopped or even got remotely better Mine may have been good for all i know

[heelhooker]

Is the iac valve just a basic open-closed solinoid valve, or is it a proportional flow valve (input 0-5V, 4-20ma, etc.)? If it's the former, I wonder if it could be replaced with a generic 12V solinoid valve with a comparable flow capacity and response time. Such valves are pretty cheap (~$50)

[THAWA]

omegax, is it hitachi or jecs? If you dont know, what year/tranny/type of car did it come out of.

[omegax]

91 legacy L 5MT non-turbo FWD

[THAWA]

oh right, yeah, that wont work for me w/o the corrosponding maf. and I believe we already went over prices with that (dunno for sure but i think it was you). I'm going to have to hold off on all that though. Thanks again for the offer

[vrg3]

heelhooker - The type used on most BC/BFs is nonlinear, but not quite "open-closed." It has two solenoids in it, and has a resting position that's partly open. The ECU can pull it fully closed or fully open. I believe the resting position is determined by the temperature of the coolant flowing through it.

Where would you find a 12-volt solenoid valve that flows similarly to a 1/2" tube for only 50 dollars?

[heelhooker]

vrg3 -- not that it would work, but...mcmaster-carr part #4738K98 $54.19 normally closed, requires a 2psi pressure differential, it's 24VDC (.333A), 1/2" pipe

[vrg3]

Hmm. Interesting.

When I was going to try to rig up a simple idle control system for my brother's car, I was thinking of ganging a couple of EGR solenoids from a junkyard in series or something.

Hmm.

[heelhooker]

or maybe put two in parallel...one with a flow capacity calibrated for "cold idle", and the other calibrated for normal operating temp.