

| Subject: | Passed inspection...Now idle is messed up. |
| From: | Paolo Damiani |
| Date: | Thu, 2 Jul 1998 22:47:47 EDT |
Well I finally broke down and decided to take the Carat to a mechanic to deal with my emissions problem. A friend with a 77 Westfalia told me about a mechanic who did a decent job on his bus, so off I went. The short story is he cleaned the injectors, put some magic solution through the engine to clean out "carbon buildup" and changed the idle control valve (with another used one). After I got the van back, with it's shiny new inspection sticker, it seemed a bit smoother and pick up seemed improved (placebo? maybe.). However, it seemed to be idling a bit high (about 1100 rather than the 825-850 it did before). Now after extensive driving and warmup (needle on the LED) the idle doesn't want to kick down. It hovers at about 1900. If I tap the accelerator, it'll drop back to about 900, but then climb back to 1900. If I let the clutch out a bit with the brake on it'll usually settle down and stay until I drive and then come to a stop again, then the same thing happens. So, did I merely pay for a sticker and get stuck with Idle control valve worse than my first one, or is there an adjustment the mechanic missed? I'd like to have some opinions before I go back to him next week. Thanks, Paul 89 Carat 145K
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