after i installed my exhausts and optima red top battery it seems, when i stay in park for more than 20 minutes the car seems to be hiccuping at the exhaust. the check engine light flashes like mad. it feels like the car is about to turn off. then when i go into drive, and hit the pedal, the car barely moves forward and is very very rough almost like it doesnt want to move forward but im forcing it do so. after about 5 minutes of driving everything is fine.

basically, when i wait to pick up my girl i watch a movie. and every 20-30 mintues of idle this happens. any ideas on what the hell is going on?!!

 

turn off your engine while waiting

probably the battery level is low, the battery eats up quickly while u r at idel with heat or AC on

 

with you engine running, you will still charge the battery enough unless your battery is bad??? check the battery and the connections.

 

under cold weather with heat on, the battery is not able to charge up because it drains so much power

sometimes i got stuck in snow traffic for 2 hrs and i will have idle problems as well

 

but this is a brand new battery and im not idle for 2 hrs im only idle for 30 mins

 

I also installed red top optima about a month ago. And I have a bad habit of napping in the car at lunch for a little less than an hour . Some times I have engine running (in neutral) and AC on. No problem. Had been doing the same thing with the original battery for quite some time - not a problem. Something is wrong here...

 

its probably not realted to the battery at all. but double check to see if all teh conections are tight.

 

all connections are fine. could it be the alternator!? or possibly the o2 sensor?!

thanks for all the help

 

there are so many areas to look at that without knowing more info it would be hard to tell where to start looking. I would suggest checking the connections on the battery. 1) the alternator does not put out enough juice at idle to charge the battery, but its a brand new battery that shouldn't be a problem. If you own a volt meter, I suggest you start checking around. Measure the voltage when you start having idle problems. A dead battery is anything below 11volts. while under charge it should be 14.3 volts. that's a good level. Also keep in mind that when your battery is disconnected the cars ECU will forget all learned programming (idle programming). Everytime I unplug my battery my car will not idle for almost 2 weeks while it relearns the engine patterns. If I come up to a light I have to turn off my A/C or the engine will try and surge and choke out. I only have that problem for the first 2 weeks, it gets better over time and eventually runs perfectly smooth once its re-calibrated itself.

I would:
1) check the connections since thats the last thing you changed
2) check voltage during idle and during engine off
3) relax, dont worry about it, drive your car and wait for it to relearn the new engine patterns.

If you keep having problems let me know,
Chris

 

thanks alot Chris. that part about the ECU being reset makes sense. i guess ill wait it out and hopefully it relearns. thanks again

 

Yeah - after I reset my ecu the idle runs low (sometimes down around 500 rpm) as well until the ecu calibrates itself.

To see if the ecu is calibrated, turn the car to the run position and leave it there (engine off) for 20 seconds. If the check engine light blinks after 20 seconds it's not calibrated. If it just turns off it is calibrated.

If it's not calibrated, just give it a few days of driving to fix itself.

 

sounds like an O2 sensor to me. this happened to me years back with my accord. totally rough idle, almost felt like it was about to stall. it did stall a few times actually. it ended up being the 02 sensor for me. not sure if it is for you too, but i could very well be.

also make sure youre using 91 octane fuel. ive had some rough idleing in my TL when i cheaped out a while back and used 87 (gas is fuckin expensive these days). i switched back to 91 and its perfect again.

 

oh yeah. could also be the EGR valve, or a dirty Throttle Body.

 

Any updates as to how its running? I'd hope my instincts were right...would save you further work on it.

 

Good call, sounds like a stuck egr valve.

 

The only thing that keeps sticking in my mind is that these problems didn't show up until he changed out the battery. If you look at that...I dont think it's the stuck throttle body or a stuck EGR. Wouldn't he have this problem before the battery swap? If not then its just a very odd timing that it occured at the same time, but since he had no problems before the battery swap thats why I lean towards the ECU.

 

Fine then just do an idle learn procedure this will cure your "PCM" problem.
I've replaced batterys, left batterys off for more than 36 hours and have not had this problem with an acura.
With ecu calibration thing with the key on and engine light coming on or off......I'll have to check into that, haven't heard of that.

 

The battery has nothing to do with it. You can start your car and remove the batttery if you want and the car will run fine. It most likely is a sensor. Does it happen EVERYTIME? The easiest fix is to tell your girl to be on time

 

I'm under the impression removing the battery from a running car will cause the alternator to overload. Thats what I was always told, that and something to do with the charging coil?

 

The car has a negative ground. Wouldn't disconnecting the battery shut all of the electrical components off? There's no ground to complete the circuit.

 

I really have to agree that the car will not run without a battery, and if you do try it, I think you'll fry some stuff with the surge when the battery is removed from a running circuit. This is totally off the topic that was started, but I hate to see someone give bad advice.

 

The car will run without the battery in it.
This is how I change a battery and not have the radio code up.