Erratic idle and running
Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2025 4:17 pm
Hello Guys,
I need a little help here with diagnosis. I have a ‘91 S2 with 116K miles. It is currently exhibiting an intermittent problem that is driving me nuts. So, when cold, it always starts well, settling into a nice steady idle. However, if I drive it, when pulling away it often is hesitant to take throttle right away, acting like it’s either running way too rich or too lean (hard to tell), until it gets above 2,000 RPM at which point it seems to clear out and run just fine. Come to a stop, idles fine, pulls away fine. But if I should stop somewhere and turn off the engine and I come back fairly soon while the engine is still warm, it is often very hard to start and when it does, it cycles up and down from 500 RPM to 1000 and will not take any throttle, often stalling. It may do this several times or it may start and idle just fine. It’s that intermittent.
What do you think? It has a new fuel pump (replaced for another reason) though it did the same thing with the old one. It came with a with a new check valve. Throttle position sensor? It was replaced some years ago, when the car wouldn’t idle at all. Fuel injection damper? Fuel injection regulator? Any thoughts would be most helpful.
I need a little help here with diagnosis. I have a ‘91 S2 with 116K miles. It is currently exhibiting an intermittent problem that is driving me nuts. So, when cold, it always starts well, settling into a nice steady idle. However, if I drive it, when pulling away it often is hesitant to take throttle right away, acting like it’s either running way too rich or too lean (hard to tell), until it gets above 2,000 RPM at which point it seems to clear out and run just fine. Come to a stop, idles fine, pulls away fine. But if I should stop somewhere and turn off the engine and I come back fairly soon while the engine is still warm, it is often very hard to start and when it does, it cycles up and down from 500 RPM to 1000 and will not take any throttle, often stalling. It may do this several times or it may start and idle just fine. It’s that intermittent.
What do you think? It has a new fuel pump (replaced for another reason) though it did the same thing with the old one. It came with a with a new check valve. Throttle position sensor? It was replaced some years ago, when the car wouldn’t idle at all. Fuel injection damper? Fuel injection regulator? Any thoughts would be most helpful.