Idling Issues (Won't idle without giving gas)

[SALTYPILLOW]

Ok so I got a major idling issue with the eclipse. Its a 1998 Eclipse N/A. Ok so a few months back my alternator belt snapped on the road. Managed to get it home that night and popped a new belt on next morning. Here is where the idle issue begins. My friend said when he was under the car putting the belt on, he turned the harmonic balancer to slide the belt on. Ever since then it hasn't idled correctly. It will start only by giving it gas, and if you let go of the pedal it shakes and sits at 500 rpms and below and then dies. I have a CEL which I checked and got P0505 (Idle Air Control System). So I swapped the Throttle Body with sensors from my wrecked 99 eclipse N/A which worked fine on that car before and after the accident. Nothing changed. I cleaned the original throttle body so it shines like new, cleaned out the sensors on original TB and put it back on the car. Also I cleaned out the intake manifold as much as I could without removing it. Still the same. I tried unplugging both sensors (first TPS, then IAC, then both) to see if it would change anything, no difference whether the sensors are connected or not. The only way it will idle is if I pull the vacuum line off the front of the intake thus making a huge vaccum leak. Even making that vaccum leak I have to give it gas before it will finally stabalize and idle at around 1000-1500rpm. This has been going for months like this, also it seems whenever its out of gear it will idle after driving for a bit. When in gear and not moving it idles lower. I just ran the CEL today and got P0505 as well as a P0123 (Throttle Position Sensor) but I'm thinking that could just be from unplugging it while testing if the sensors make a difference in the idle. I just bought a new IAC Sensor so I'm gonna put that on tomorrow but I don't think that's gonna fix it... Also when I bought the car (August 2013) it didn't have an upstream o2 sensor and still doesn't. It has a downstream although its disconnected right now because I just put a new full exhaust on (headers, downpipe, highflow cat, and catback). It needed a new exhaust as the old one ended at the axle and looks like it was made at home depot... (The "muffler" was a metal threaded pipe) So that about covers everything. This is my 4th Eclipse and none of them ever had this problem so I'm at a loss for solutions here. Any help or words of advice would be greatly appreciated. I know I gotta fix the o2 sensors but other than that any other ideas of what it might be? I already checked for vaccum leaks and its all good except for the one I created to get it to idle. Also before anyone says its been posted already, I have seen the similar posts but none are exactly like this, some share similar factors but I've yet to find a post exactly my issue. I made sure I looked as best as I could before posting as this is my first post on here. Also one more thing, my other friend seems to think its a timing issue because his car shows similar signs and his timing is off, but I don't think it could be that off if my friend only turned the balancer a hair and wouldn't the cam gears just turn with it?

 

[95Dsm13]

Are you sure the belts are on correctly? If the Alternator pulley isn't lined up with the balancer it will cause it to idle funny or shread the new belt in my experience with them. I don't think your friend spinning the balancer could of mad it jump time but I wouldn't rule that out, I know that's something you probably don't want to hear but it's a possibility. I'd also check the plugs to see if there is any oil on them, maybe when he turned the balancer oil got on them

 

[SALTYPILLOW]

Are you sure the belts are on correctly? If the Alternator pulley isn't lined up with the balancer it will cause it to idle funny or shread the new belt in my experience with them. I don't think your friend spinning the balancer could of mad it jump time but I wouldn't rule that out, I know that's something you probably don't want to hear but it's a possibility. I'd also check the plugs to see if there is any oil on them, maybe when he turned the balancer oil got on them

I put in new plugs about a week after he did the belt but it didn't fix anything. I'm pretty sure the alternator is lined up because it is a brand new alternator and the belt has no signs of wear. However the battery dies every night. Every time I go to start it, I have to jump it because it is drawing power from somewhere over night and is dead by morning. Its a new battery too. I did notice however that the timing belt is gonna need changing because it has basically stripes going across it where the teeth are, almost as if the teeth are getting ready to come through the top of the belt. The belt cover was snapped when I bought the car so it could be rubbing. The belt has looked like it does since I bought the car. So I'm gonna do the belt soon but if this IAC motor and o2 sensors don't fix it, ima probably do the timing belt much sooner than I expected. I'll also go under and check the belt again as well.

 

[96 GSX LOVE]

I would investigate the timing belt a lot more. It shouldn't have jumped timing but it could have. I would make sure that all pulleys and belts are tight.

 

[SALTYPILLOW]

I would investigate the timing belt a lot more. It shouldn't have jumped timing but it could have. I would make sure that all pulleys and belts are tight.

Well I did notice after i bought the car that the intake cam gear is a bit wobbly. Im gonna see if I can get it to stop moving, but once again this is a pre-existing problem that occured before the idle issue. However im thinking it could be just a coincidence that the timing issues may have risen at the first start up after the alternator belt was put on... Im gonna have to look thoroughly into the timing componants of the car and see what I come up with. As far as the battery dieing, I have absolutely no clue what could be causing that annoying situation. I have eliminated every possible power draw in the car, so I have no idea what is causing my battery to die every night. Tomorrow I am gonna install the IAC, possibly the downstream o2 sensor, (gonna be more challenging because it was cut off the car) but luckily I have another one on my wrecked car to pop in and see what happens on start. I really hope its not timing cause I was kinda waiting until summer to mess with that. Atleast I wanted to... My original plan was to let this engine last till summer, then I am swapping my engine from the wrecked 99 eclipse (that engine is still good after the accident, and is stock rebuilt from the bottom up), and making the current engine my project engine. I am planning on doing a full 420a turbo build over the summer, but for now im trying to make this engine last until the swap in the summer.

UPDATE: Put the new IAC motor in, tried to start, battery is dead. :/ Ima jump it tomorrow cause it started raining just now so gotta stop. I found a random hose coated in oil hanging off the bottom of my car so I'm gonna jack it up and see what that is doing hanging off the car like that. Ill update again when I start the car and hopefully the IAC fixed the issue, I also gotta check the timing to see if it jumped time or not and gonna try to find out what's draining my battery every night. Hopefully I can fix these issues... Wish me luck!

UPDATE #2 - IDLING PROBLEM SOLVED! (NEW ISSUE ARISES): Ok so I popped in the new IAC motor and also i replaced the EGR because the spaghetti string line that it uses snapped on me... So I grabbed the EGR and line from my wrecked car and popped that on my car. IT IDLES!!! Ok so i jumped the car, after a little revving to get it to start, it came alive and idled normally, everything is completely fine right? Wrong. I erased the CEL with my OBDII reader and started it, turned it back off, gave it power, the dreaded CEL is back. Its only got a P0505 like before. I am still missing the downstream o2 sensor but now it will idle normally and as it warms up it with slowly raise rpms on its own. It will idle at 3000rpms and if i put a load on it, it idles at 1500rpms. Im thinking it might be TPS... Also it seems when I first start it, it idles at 500rpms until i give it gas, if i hold the gas a little, it will idle perfectly then jump up to 2500-3000. Any opinions about this? Im gonna do some searching on here and see if I can find anything out. Any other ideas of what it might be? By the way, timing is perfectly fine, I guess it was just a major coincidence that the IAC failed when my friend was replacing the alternator belt. Thank you to those who commented on possible solutions by the way!

 

[Terrancep7]

Don't worry about the downstream o2 sensor if you don't have to pass emission, just get a plug for it and unplug the connector.

As for the idle jumping up to 3000 rpm. Drive the car around for a week or two and if it still idles this way after that, then get an upstream o2 sensor.

 

[SALTYPILLOW]

Well emissions is gonna be a nightmare considering my cat is a pipe going straight through and the outside is larger to make it look like a cat but in reality its just straight piped. Getting back to the idle and stuff, the car starts, idles on its own, doesn't seem to idle high if I have both fans going. Right now I can't do anything because the snow outside is stacked up to the middle of my door. I ordered a new TPS, I fixed the battery drain, I got a downstream o2 just gotta put it on. So just a few little projects and it should be good. Thanks for the help everyone.