ucla107

Has anyone experienced an idling problem on a 2002 TL-S?? This has been going on for a while, and I took it to the dealer and have it "fixed" but the problem seems to come back. My idle is off either in the morning, or after work, when the car hasn't been driven for a while. I usually let my car warm up for a couple minutes before I put it in reverse. But it seems like most of the time, when I shift from P to R and start backing up (without giving it gas), my idle will fluctuate.. say between 300- 7 or 800rpm. then I'll shift from R to D5.. and start going foward.. the same happens.. Also, I remember one time when I had to slam on my brakes, the idle went way down... any idea what this is??

asiankidd

well the car does do that at times but if you car isnt like dying on your i think your fine..i see my idle to be low sometimes but nothing is wrong

ucla107

but it's not just low though.. its like fluctuating while it's still sitting still, before i even back up the car

MoDzHuNgRy

OMG.....finally, someone else with the same problem i have! I don't get that when shifting gears though(between p and r), but when i stop at a light or stop a little faster, my rpms drop also! Someone give us some advice!

joecooool

Try replacing your spark plugs. Sounds like they may be fouled.

Southbound

Whatever it is... It's NOT normal! Luckily, my idle is just fine (except for that kick in the butt whenever you stop at a light with the AC on) Even then I don't see the tach move, I just feel the slight jolt.

BUT NO NEW CAR should have idling problems, and luckily my 02TLS is smooth from cold to hot. It does idle a bit faster during the cold start like the old days of a choke on the carburetor... but it NEVER fluctuates. Starts out idling around 1K rmp and warms up to idle around 700-800rpm. Something is wrong if it drops down to 300rmp even during shifts??? Sorry to hear about that...even sorrier to hear that more than one person has experienced it.

Keep us posted. I notice you're from L.A. It doesn't get that extreme cold out here... so there is definitely something wrong.

GOOD LUCK!

nick79

maybe you know my problem. i start the car and it starts out at 1.3rpm i swtich to D5 it goes down to normal.

but it has a rough idle. not crazy rough, but noticable and passenger can notice. its annoying. i dont know why. but if i drive it goes away.

tomax-tl

Dang, I've got the same problem. I park in an underground parking structure so I have to turn on the headlights every morning to drive out. When this "hesitation" occurs, I can see the headlights/dash lights dimming then getting brighter over and over again as if the car is about to stall.

It usually goes away once I've been driving for awhile. I noticed this problem at my first oil change when I brought it to the dealer. What I got was "it's normal". That's so bull. Now I have 19K miles and it still does this once in a while.

What i did notice is that if I warm it up longer (2 min) it tends to occur less. But hell I shouldn't have to warm up the car longer than 1 min (it's just a waste of gas), and besides it's not even cold in So. Cal. The sad part is that when this occurs, it makes my car seem like an old junker that's about to stall.

I don't think it's the spark plugs, because like I said it occured before my first oil change (3500 mi), and the plugs should still be fine then. Is it maybe the idle speed is just set too low? I dunno, I don't know crap about cars...I just enjoy driving them!

2002TLSNavi

Anyone come up with a good fix for this problem? Mine is getting worse and worse. Every morning, and every night leaving work. I tried changing the plugs 2 weeks ago, but same thing. By the way, after almost 50k miles factory plugs looked just great. Really no need to change, but I figured as long as I was gonna take them out to inspect I may as well put new ones in.

I'm having the near stall oscillation problem when in gear. I start the car, it does its normal high idle thing. Sometimes that goes away depending on how long I warm it up. Regardless of warming up for 30 seconds or 5 minutes though, almost every morning when I put it in either D5 or R the idle drops very low, below 400 RPM, feels like it's about to stall, and surges back up to near 1000. It will sit continue to do this even if I am moving (feet off both pedals). Then when I get out of my driveway and shift into drive, it does the same thing. I don't notice it for a minute or so while I am on the gas, but when I come to my first stoplight, it is still doing it. I usually feel compelled to throw it in Neutral at that first light. By the time I hit the next light (about 2 miles down the road) it's fine again, untill I leave work in the evening where the whole thing repeats itself. I'm out of things to try, so I guess I'm going to call the dealer today, (just hit 49k miles last night, so if I'm gonna do it, nows the time).

Just hoping this was a solved issue by now, so I can go to the dealer with some knowledge of the problem, because I'm just about out of warranty and don't have the time to throw darts at the problem.

Dave

chilifrost

Could it be an alternator problem or a bad ground cable because somebody mentioned their idle dropping at a stop sign when AC was on and somebody else mentioned when they left their underground parking they turned on their headlights and had idle problems as well, it sounds like some kind of electrical problem to me.

rock

Have the dealer check the IACV(Idle air control valve) for failure or malfunction.