For All peeps with Idle/Richness/Starting/etc problems, read this.

[dicion]

I've decided to post this here, as I see alot of people who have a bunch of these problems and in their lists of 'checked' things, they dont list the ECU

If your ECU is original, and you have a 1G or 2G Car... CHECK IT.
The caps (most common), or the IC's (second most) or something else in the ECU WILL FAIL after around 7 years. It's not a matter of *IF*, it's a matter of *WHEN*.

The ECU is behind your radio, and takes 5 minutes with a phillips screwdriver and a 10mm socket to get to. Open it up, and inspect the area around the 3 capacitors. It will be quite evident if there's a cap leak, as there will be a gooey film over the area, and corrosion on/around solder joints and mounts. If it looks good, I STILL recommend replacing the caps by following the procedures in this vfaq:

http://www.tmo.com/howto/ecu1g/caps.htm

The ECU controls your fuel mixture, which can cause all variety of starting, idling, and richness problems, and when the ECU is not functioning properly, the car will not rev past a certain point.

So in closing, learn from my mistake.. I Didn't check the ECU first, and ended up replacing a bunch of parts that weren't broken.

 

[1LE]

Another cause can be a defective FPR solenoid. It comes into play on warm starts and if not working properly can cause difficulty starting and even idling (until O2 sensor warms up).

 

[dicion]

Ya, there's lots of possible causes for those problems.

Im just saying 'dont forget the ecu' because apparently lots of people don't include it in the things they check when trying to diagnose a problem. Considering it took me 5 minutes to remove it, the very first time I ever did, it's not a diffucult thing to check.

So yeha, in closing, It may not be the ECU causing your problems, there's lots of potential reasons for those problems. However, be sure to include it on your list of 'things to check' before you go out spending $$$ on parts you 'think' might be causing it.