'99 SE stalls and dies at low speeds and idle

[robodude666]

Hey 1oldman,

I only put seafoam into the gas tank. I didn't seafoam the rest of the car.

How hard is it to take the TB out? There seem to be a lot of bolts on the sides and under it. The throttle cable also seems confusing to remove. Would I be able to just disconnect the intake air piping and clean the TB from that angle? Moving the butterfly valve a bit to clean around it?

EDIT:

As a sanity check, I pulled out the MAF sensor since the error code still reads P0102. I cleaned it up all nice and purrty. The filament went from being brownish to white. Driving around, the far feels happier. It doesn't "put put put" as hard when putting it into reverse. The car does not stall nearly as much. It mostly seems to stall when you cruise (foot off break and gas) for an extended period of time. For example, get the car up to 35-40mph. Take foot off gas and let the car move forward. The RPMs drop, go below 800-1000, keep falling and with the car not attempting to recover them drops to 0. All times though, a little bit of gas and the car happily idles at 800-1000 rpm. If the car does stall, and you try to key the car on the car will die again unless you apply some gas in neutral until the battery gauge goes up a bit.

Next weekend I will probably buy a new multimeter (mine is at my mom's apartment in NY) and check that all the sensors are working fine.

-robodude666

[1oldman]

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the TB you have. The only one I know anything about is the setup on the L27 I have. I would think there are clips holding the "links" for the throttle and cruise control on the TB. I think your car still has the cables on it and doesn't have the "fly by wire" throttle cable and cruise control on it yet, but just guessing. Hopefully someone that knows the real answer will post an answer for you. - BC

[robodude666]

Hey guys,

I got around to working on my car a bit this morning.

I installed the new TPS sensor I got from RockAuto, and the car idles at 1500RPM in park/neutral. In reverse, it idles at 800, and in Drive it idles at 1000. This is all the same except for the 1500 RPM idle... It used to idle at 800-1000 in N/P, so it's not "normal" anymore, unless it's supposed idle at 1500 in P/N because the gears aren't engaged. I also got around to replacing the IAC as well. The car would shoot up to 3000 RPM randomly, and drop back down. Turning it off, and turning it back on fixes it. I guess it's just the IAC motor adjusting itself.

I haven't test driven the car yet, but it seems happier. My question is, if it is fixed, do I need to worry about the 1.5k RPM idle in park/neutral?

-robodude666

[01bonneSC]

I would let see where te car idles after it is running in closed loop(warmed up to running temp). Then report back.

[robodude666]

I just got back from a 5 mile (each direction) drive to walmart for some chicken. Car now idles at normal RPMs...so never mind about that. Still stalls when idling or slowing down as before.

So far I have:

- Replaced Air, oil, and fuel filters
- Replaced the TPS
- Cleaned IAC
- Replaced the IAC
- Cleaned MAF
- Ran car with MAF connected/disconnected (no change)

I looked into the throttle body, and it's spotless. As if the inside is brand new, or was cleaned before the car was sold.

I checked my battery with a multimeter this morning, and when the key off the battery was at 12.5v. With the key on and engine on, with A/C set to high, radio on, and lights all on, the battery was charging at 13.5v. All of which is normal. After running the car for a bit, and after letting the car die I turned the key off and measured the battery across the terminals... It was 11.8v, which from my understanding means the battery is dead or weak. I didn't let the battery recharge and measure again, though.. Would replacing the battery help out?

I don't want to invest another $100 to find out it doesn't solve my issue. I bought the car for $2,800 and so far spent at least $300 in parts/tools. I'm considering just posting the car on craigslist for $1.5-2k and get rid of it, though I really don't want to be dealing with that or buying a new car right after getting a job. I'd rather get it fixed, but I'm starting to run out of ideas...

I noticed a few months back at CarFax says there are 28 history items for my car's VIN number. Is it worth spending $35 to find out what was done to the car over its 13 years?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
-robodude666