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IAC Valve

8

8000RPM

CEG'er
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
328
Location
Washington, D.C.
when i start my car at first, there is a whistling sound (like air leaking out under pressure through a pin hole) coming from the IAC valve/EGR area. I am not sure exactly, but it seems to me that it's not the egr. So, could someone tell me if your cars make that sound. i changed the IAC gasket last night, and I can still hear it. no improvement whatsoever. what are the signs of IAC going bad? ...ohh and also, when i start the car, there is smell coming out from that area too. smells like exhaust gases...sometimes i can smell it inside the car too.
any ideas? the car has also lost some power.
 
Tony, I forgot to say that I had MSDS headers, so I have no precats. I also have home made MIL's.

And also, I have always though that Bank 1 is on the firewall side, and Bank 2 is the one on the radiator side...and that's what you have in this thread...right?
http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=762

btw, the new IAC gasket that I installed, was also home made. I bought some gasket material from Advanced, and i made a cut out identical to the original gasket. The new one was a hair thicker, which I don't think is a problem. any other ideas? could the IAC valve leak its self? Or could the EGR solenoid be leak out? since it is right next to the IAC, and it might be coming from there...
 
8000RPM said:
Tony, I forgot to say that I had MSDS headers, so I have no precats. I also have home made MIL's.

And also, I have always though that Bank 1 is on the firewall side, and Bank 2 is the one on the radiator side...and that's what you have in this thread...right?
http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=762

btw, the new IAC gasket that I installed, was also home made. I bought some gasket material from Advanced, and i made a cut out identical to the original gasket. The new one was a hair thicker, which I don't think is a problem. any other ideas? could the IAC valve leak its self? Or could the EGR solenoid be leak out? since it is right next to the IAC, and it might be coming from there...
Click to expand...
Correct. I made a mistake. Bank 1 is firewall side and Bank 2 is radiator side. I will edit the post.

Unfortunately, the leak could be anything then (as you have headers).... from exhaust flange gasket, to any of the DIY gaskets you made or the EGR tube or main cat being plugged. You just need to determine exactly where the leaking air is coming from.
 
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well, i checked the dpfe sensor hoses. there are two actually. they seem to be good and all ends seem to be tight in there. I checked the egr vac. hoses. i also put an extra clamp on the pcv valve... I think the sound is coming right from the IAC valve though. when i lean over the motor and put my ear in there, that's where I can hear it the loudest. the question is, if it leaks from the IAC, should it smell like exhaust gases, or am i looking at dealing with two separate issues? what type of air goes through the IAC?
 
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IAC is fresh air only. It taps off after the MAF sensor and the air filter. The EGR control solenoid is on the firewall side of the engine near the IAC. It has vacuum going to it. Have you checked around it?
 
yeah, i checked its vac line. it has a double rubber like boot and it is tight in there. could the solenoid be leaking itself?

i guess then the iac is leaking, causing the sound. but maybe there's another problem causing the smell, which could be from the solenoid, the dpfe, egr tube, main cat...or what not. :(
 
i am not sure how to test the pcv system? any suggestions? i changed the pcv valve when i did the UIM/LIM cleaning about 8 months ago...but i installed a pcv valve from auto zone...its hoses seem to be ok, not leaking...but how can i test it?

just out of curiousity - why would you own 3 contours? what's up with that? ;)
 
To test the PCV valve itself, you just take it off and shake it, if the element inside rattles convincingly, it is good.

Mike
 
you might want to check your intake manifold gaskets. i had a similar problem when i change my iac and leaned on the intake manifold. check out my post< cold start problem
 
8000RPM said:
just out of curiousity - why would you own 3 contours? what's up with that? ;)
Click to expand...

It's really efficient to have a mini fleet! By the time something breaks on the third one I'm really good at fixing it. Just last summer one lost the A/C, took a little while to troubleshoot down to the low pressure switch. Three weeks later same problem on one of the others, sure enough same problem, fixed in a half hour. The family thinks I'm a genius (but then again I really am a rocket scientist in my day job).

P.S. it also makes it easy to diagnose when you can swap parts.
 
mrutkaus said:
To test the PCV valve itself, you just take it off and shake it, if the element inside rattles convincingly, it is good.

Mike
Click to expand...

Oh, yeah, i remember reading about that before. so i guess i will check on it. but that will test the valve itself. any other components that need/could be tested? other than the vac hoses that go to the pcv valve?
 
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