Hey All,

I'm kind of new to the forum, i have a 94 Del Sol Si that i bought at the end of last summer. With the weather warming up, i'm anxious to get it out and tuned up for the spring/summer.
The car has an injen CAI, my question is should the car idle funny? It had the CAI since i bought it, and sitting still the car will idle from about 800-1200 RPMs. Is this normal??? Thanks!

 

Check the iac valve, may need cleaning.

 

does it surge up and down? 800-1200-800-1200-800-1200? Or does it start at 1200, and slowly work its way down?

 

it surges up and down 800-1200-800-1200 etc. it surges regardless of the car being warmed up or not.

how does one clean an iac valve?

 

The IACV measures the temperature of the coolant, and adjusts the idle accordingly. One way to see if thats the problem is to unplug the IACV, and see if the idle stabilizes. If it still jumps around, I would say you have a vacumn leak somewhere. Usually you can hear it to locate it. Try that and let us know.

 

another good way to locate a vaccume leak is with an unlit butane torch, the vaccume picks up the butane and the idle rises

 

if its not the IACV then u have a leaky intake manifold gasket. When u have the car running, listen around the intake manifold and listen for a hiss, if thats not it then u have a vaccum leak somewhere, try doing what Moso said, but most likely its a vaccum leak.

 

thanks for all the suggestions so far, you guys rock!

i have noticed on a very few occasions, that the car will idle normally, but it seems the next time i pull to a light or stop, it is surging again. i've only had the car for 1500 miles =D

so i guess what everyone is saying in so many words, my car should not idle so erracitcally with a CAI.

is replacing the intake manifold gasket a big deal?

i'm in the process of replacing the battery, i'll check it out as soon as i have some free time.