Cold Starts, High Idle Prob

[Ceipherz]

Just wondering what my car should be idling at when i do a cold start in the morning? I know its cold, so will idle higher than normal, but 2,300rpm seems excessive to me....it doesnt matter what temp it is outside, but when i do a cold start it idles that high till it warms up, then the idle comes down to around 1,200-1,300rpm....is this normal? if not whats my solution??

 

[n0va91TSI]

yeah me too. mine goes down till u drive then its jumpy. stops once the car temp is in the middle of the gauge (pointing straight up)

 

[xcelr8n]

my car does EXACTLY the same thing, but it starts at about 2000 even,
welcome to the 1991 tsi awd club. .

 

[ZenkaiRacerDsM]

Yep mine too.... its annoying as hell and Im going to replace anything I can think of that effects it till I get rid of it.

 

[xcelr8n]

interestingly enough, when i turn the car off, and immediately turn it back on, not only does my car suffer no "hot start" problems so many of us face, it idles rock solid perfect 900rpm.
weird.

 

[NotEnoughRay]

Yea i never had this problem untili messed with my intake.. my car started up and idled at 1500 cold then dropped to 1100 and now.. it starts up at 2000 idles at 1100 again.. then while driving when i stop gasing and go into neutral i get idle rock from 1000 to 1300 till complete stop. I'm thinking it's my maf so i'm trying a differnet one and seeing how that goes.

 

[Ceipherz]

When mine idles it doesnt fluctuate at all, it sits firm at 2,300rpm, after it gets warmed up it idles at 1,200-1,300rpm........

But the question is, anyone know how to fix it?

 

[NotEnoughRay]

change ur idle speed? U try that?

 

[Jebus[tuning]]

I'll de-rail and say I have the same problems with my 95 .

 

[n0va91TSI]

us 91ers need some help. anybody know?


just to clarify when its cold my idle starts at 2000rpm and slowly drops to 1000rpms as the temp gauge moves to about 1/4 heat. Now if you were to try and drive at the 1/4 heat it will still surge to 2000rpm intermitantly whenever the clutch is depressed. All of this surging goes away completly once the temp gauge is at 1/2 heat (needle standing straight up). It is not smooth driving until the gauge is at 1/2 heat. I hate wasting so much time and gas warming the car up for 5-10 minutes in the freezing cold.

HOW DO YOU FIX THIS? is it a BISSS problem?

Please Help!

 

[DoriftoTSi]

I hope it's as simple as the BISS screw or oring. My 91 has the same problem, but once the engine warms up, the idle is normal. So what does that mean? If I lower my engine idle when its cold, how will it affect it when its already warmed up. Literally, i make it half a block down the street (giving it some good boost) the idle lowers significantly and is just about normal.

 

[teme]

i had same problem in my old galant, when i cold started, adjusted biss screw.. dropped it from 2000rpm to 1200rpm.

But i don't know if that is just temporary solution, or what...

I would suggest to clean throttle body and adjust gas pedal wire if necessary.

 

[GetEvryGear]

Mine idles at 1500 when first starting up. Then after about 2 minutes it goes down to 700-800 RPM. 2300 sounds a little high.

 

[jefferino]

I just swapped in my 6-bolt and mine will NOT idle below 1800. I have adjusted the throttle cable all the way that I could. Next step is the BISS or does someone think it could have to do with using a TIAL bov (vented to the atmosphere) and my 2g MAF???

 

[DeanCorleone]

Its nice to know that mine starts up cold at 1400, and drops to 800 - I;m happy with that. Now that I posted this though, I will most likely stick my own foot in my mouth, and start to have problems.

 

[orzech]

old post i know, but what is the answer? I have the same problem 6 bolt swap into a 2g idles up to 2000 thens drops to 1k when it is compeltely warmed up.

 

[ADrewzki]

Yeah, mine does that too. Will startup at roughly 2k and eventually drops down to 750. Not worried about it. Just helps the car warm up faster in my opinion.

 

[captd108]

hey i also deal with the same thing on my car as well. this did start though once i did the 1g throttle body swap so im thinking that that is the reason why it does this, although i did see some 2gs also post in hese so it could be another reason that everyone does get this. (unless all the 2g's who posted happen to have 1g tb swaps) ive also heard on these forums that this is actually normal and is done to help warm up the car faster by having a higher idle rpm and then slowly dropping down to normal. im not 100% sure on that but itys what i like to beleive.

 

[Gen2Eclipse]

This is ZenkaiRacerDsM... On my bro's name since I cant find out how to log out of dsmtuners... Anyways....I replaced the ISC, replaced the throttle body gasket, cleaned the shit out of the throttle body, and replaced the FICV (fast idle control valve). Idled like a champ after that. this was on a 91 tsi awd. Though the main culprit of my bad idle when cold was the FICV.

 

[StyleElements]

your cars idle high on start up because they are in choke mode till they warm up like they are supposed to be

 

[adamgt1]

Hummm, I have been having the same problem on my car.
When the engine is cold and I start it up the idle jumps to 2000rpm, and will pretty much stay there until I reach approx 160F-180F at which point I am leaning it out with the MAF-T to get my idle down.
Without the MAF the idle would still be high. I have double checked everything, my BISS is out 1 CCW rotation, it should be 2 CCW rotations.
I believe that the only thing to try is to block of the FIAV, other than that evertything leads me to believe that it is an ECU problem.
BTW, my injector duty cycle is 4% during this warm up stage.

 

[adamgt1]

Just to give you all an update.
I blocked off the FIAV, and voila, no more hi idle during start up.
It was -22C yesterday morning and the car started up fine, I did not even press the gas pedal.

 

[VBGSX]

Another symptom of a bad FIAV is Idle surge. It will surge up to around 2000 and drop constantly. Some times it will stop once it warms up but sometimes it doesn't.

FIAVs are interchangeabe between 2g's and 1g's.

If you remove it be careful of the rubber gasket between the TB and the FIAV. It can stretch or tear. When you put it back together, it would be best to use a non petroleum(di-electric grease works well) lubricant to relube the gasket.

 

[woody14342]

yeah im having the same problem when the car starts it idles high then after it starts going i get idle surge but i think that may be due to a vaccum leak because it only pulls 10 in hg at idle not real sure.

 

[VBGSX]

A simple boost leak test will eliminate a vacuum leak in the piping/hoses/etc.

Then check:
TPS
Throttle switch...If it's not right, it could hold the butterfly open.
ISC....If ISC stuck open it could cause...lower vacuum...high idle..surging
FIAV.....same as ISC....surging is usually more pronounced

This is what I've seen before