I have searched and searched and everyone has the rough idle. There seem to be numerous repairs. I have seen o2, egr, thermostat. short story my dad was pulling out of a parking lot and instantly it started running bad. he got it home and let it sit and I bought it.

First thing when I got it over here I pulled one plug wire at a time and all of the affected engine except one so ok that is the problem. 8 wires and plugs and a lot of confusion to the last two plug wires(missing plastic pullers) still running poorly.

For what ever reason I looked down and the cat is glowing red. Ahh ha, that is the problem. next day I try to unbolt it and break on bolt to the flange and can not access the other so I cut the cat off. You can see right through it.

I try to test the egr valve by applying vacuum from a vacuum pump and it does not hold vacuum, it drops almost instantly. One thing I do not know is, is the egr supposed to hold any amount of vacuum that is applied, because it seems to hold like 3 or maybe 4? Does this mean the egr is bad? Also trying to test the dpfe and it does not seem to have correct voltage coming from it. Also when it is unplugged it does not affect the idling what so ever, not even make it worse.

I know the maf works because when it is unplugged the engine dies. I think the IAC works, the spring inside moves freely and I went ahead and sprayed out the inside with carb cleaner.

I noticed in the process that the temp gauge is not reading anything. So I went ahead and got a new temp sensor and thermostat. It still does not read anything. I don't know if anyone knows where I should go from here. I am almost tempted to replace the egr, dpfe, and vacuum solenoid and see where that gets me. The parts are not that much, I get a good discount.

I am told that seeing the cat glowing red is indicative of rich running condition and that an egr issue would not cause it to be rich, but to be lean. I am awaiting a repair manual so I can more thoroughly diagnose, but any help is appreciated



Thanks and sorry about the long read, just trying to be informative
Shawn

 

A cat glowing red is more than just rich mixture . The engine is dumping fuel .
Pull the injectors and have them cleaned . At least one is sticking open .
Also , dump the crankcase oil , it's prob full of gas.

 

if it is like everything else is that going to be a pain or are there any tricks that I should know first?

 

I've been battling the same problem buddy. New plugs, wires, coils, and three mechanics and still no fix. I'm clueless at this point.

 

I'm pretty sure exhaust glowing red means running lean not rich.

 

I know this is an old post but did you ever get her idling right?

 

I knwo this is an old post but did you ever get her idling right?

 

The OP hasn't been here since 2012, best start your own thread.

 

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