Hello all,
I've been suffering from a rise in revs every time I stomp on the clutch to shift. As a result, I'm not able to match revs.
In addition, the revs don't drop when gears are engaged. I can sit in first giving it no gas and it will just drive itself at 1000RPM. The car won't idle any lower than 1000RPM either, except at startup. I reset the PCM and no improvment.
Can anyone here shed some light on the possible cause and solution of this problem? I've heard about bad fuel pumps causing similar symptoms.
Thanks all!
Also make sure that the throttle body is clean.
I know it's not the classic TH problem that comes standard on all SVTs. I've had the fix in place for a year - this is a downright rise in revs, all the way up to around 3500. I thought I recalled a bunch of CEGers with similar problems over the years. Anyone......
There is an accelerator cable bushing recall for the 1998's that solved the exact problem you are describing for me. It got so bad for me that I could idle around in 5th gear at 50 MPH!!!!!! When I pushed my clutch in, the RPM's would climb to 4000 and not go down for about 15 seconds. Very dangerous!!!!!! The recall took care of it.
Originally posted by Ed98.5SVT:
There is an accelerator cable bushing recall for the 1998's that solved the exact problem you are describing for me. It got so bad for me that I could idle around in 5th gear at 50 MPH!!!!!! When I pushed my clutch in, the RPM's would climb to 4000 and not go down for about 15 seconds. Very dangerous!!!!!! The recall took care of it.
Thanks very much! I'll look into this!
Harry!!!
This is exactly what has been happening with my car off-and-on for the past eight or nine months.
Campbell's replaced the IAC valve in March, and that seemed to fix things, but only for two or three weeks.
I took it back in a couple of weeks ago, and they did what was called a "hard stop adjustment." That fixed the problem for about a week; it's back again.
(Although when the car is not doing the high RPM thing, I notice the revs drop quite smartly between shifts since having this "hard stop adjustment." Campbells says this adjustment is something the techs figured out on their own; it's not in any of the manuals...FYI)
I drove down to London over the weekend, and believe me, it gave me quite a wild ride returning along the 401 through Toronto....four lanes, bumper-to-bumper at 120-130 kph...and I'm on-and-off the brakes to keep from rear-ending slower drivers.
I'll be going back to Campbell's for a new console soon, and will bring the info the recall on the 98s with me.
This is a major pain...can't shift properly; must be causing premature clutch wear, higher fuel consumption, not to mention the danger involved from longer stopping distances and driving a car that speeds up when you take your foot off the gas.
On a lighter note, I took this complaint to Donnellys in July...the shop foreman there spent about 15 minutes telling me this was "normal."
Let me know how you make out getting yours fixed.
Cheers.
Originally posted by BlacknBlue:
Originally posted by Ed98.5SVT:
There is an accelerator cable bushing recall for the 1998's that solved the exact problem you are describing for me. It got so bad for me that I could idle around in 5th gear at 50 MPH!!!!!! When I pushed my clutch in, the RPM's would climb to 4000 and not go down for about 15 seconds. Very dangerous!!!!!! The recall took care of it.
Thanks very much! I'll look into this!
Here is the recall info that fixed my problem.
In reply to:
Recall Alert: FORD CONTOUR, MERCURY MYSTIQUE
Owner Notification Date: 8/9/1999
Number of Units Potentially Affected: 153,000
Component Description: FUEL:THROTTLE LINKAGES AND CONTROL
NHTSA Campaign Number: 99V194000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Description of Recall Campaign: Vehicle Description: Passenger vehicles. The accelerator cable may have been manufactured with a burr on or near the end of the cable sleeve interior. This burr could fray the core wire resulting in the accelerator not returning to idle when the accelerator is released.
This condition can result in the throttle sticking, binding, or causing high engine RPM.
Dealers will install a revised accelerator cable that has a flared conduit sleeve end and molded on end fitting. Owner notification is expected to begin during August 1999. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact Ford at 1-800-392-3673. Also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Auto Safety Hotline at 1-888-DASH-2-DOT (1-888-327-4236).
I am having the exact same issue and the dealer has told me on about six different occasions that it was a vaccum leak. Short term resolve and then it returns. This time around they have reprogrammed the PCM, replaced the IAC sensor. Wait and see at this point as they are awaiting word on whether or not they tear down the tranny (synchros gone perhaps, in ESPs hands now.)
Fern
FWIW, I had the accelerator cable recall performed back in '99, but in the past 4 months or so I've occasionally experienced "throttle rise" (a very appropriate name for the phenomenon, quite distinct from the "throttle hang" resulting from the built-in emissions reduction strategy).
My observation is that there is no irregularity whatsoever in the "feel" of the throttle pedal when this happens, so in my case at least I conclude there's nothing wrong with the throttle cable or body. The air has to be coming from somewhere else downstream of the MAF sensor (the IAC, perhaps).
Can anyone shed some light on the inner workings of the IAC? Is it a solenoid, or a continuously-variable control valve? I suspect the latter, and if I could command the IAC "full open" and see the engine RPM increase to 3500-4000 or so, I'd have to say the problem is caused by the IAC valve sticking open on occasion.
I was getting ready to take the car into the dealer tho fix this, and removed my KKM and replaced the stock airbox as I always do for waranty work.
I figured I better drive it around first with the stock airbox to ensure that the problem is still there, but since putting in the stock airbox the problem seems to have disappeared. I'll keep an eye on this and report any changes.
Thanks to all replies and good luck!
Harry, in my experience, this "throttle rise" comes and goes. I've experienced it with the TH fix in, and with the TH fix out, so I'd really doubt your KKM is making a difference. Still, drive it a couple of days and see what happens.
With me, the car is fine for a couple of days, then it'll do it all the time on the third day. On the fourth day, I'll get a throttle rise as I shift from second to third, and then it'll be normal when I shift from third to fourth. It's nuts.
Yesterday, for example, I drove from Hull to Bank and Heron in Ottawa. For three-quarters of the trip, RPM were crazy -- rising between shifts, idling at 1500, etc., etc. -- then, for the last few blocks, the car behaved perfectly.
Back to Campbells next week.
Hey Craig,
I remembered reading about others' experience with throttle rise, and I figured it was all likely due to a sensor going out - At 118,000km I figured it was likely something like that. It started very intermittently, and began to be an everday thing over the period of two weeks. I wonder if the ambient heat/humidity had anything to do with it.
Another thing I noted on one occasion, was that after a run up the highway I stopped and let the car "idle" for about 20 minutes. During that time, the RPMs sat right up at 1300.
I popped the hood, messed with the throttle manually to see if it was sticking - nothing changed. Hopped in the car for the return trip, and the problem seemed to dissappear - its crazy, like you say.
The thing I have to really stress is that it had become an everyday thing at the point I swapped intakes. Since then, I haven't seen it. I'm not saying that the KKM was the cause, but the change seems to have at least confused the car into somehow thinking it's fixed.
Are you still selling??? If so, what are you looking at getting?
Cheers,
Harry
Yeah, it's funny. Campbell's replaced the IAC valve back in March, and the car was fine for two or three weeks, then it gradually started doing it again.
Sometimes it seems like it's associated with a high-speed run, and other times not. I've had the same kind of idle situation you describe after coming off the highway following an hour or two at high speed: it'll run at 1500 RPM or so forever, apparently.
The throttle cable may be a possibility, but like you, I'm thinking it's more likely a wonky sensor somewhere...who knows, maybe I got a bad IAC valve back in March.
The weather does not seem to be a factor in my case....it's done it in the coldest, driest days of winter, and the hottest, most humid days of summer. Beats the heck outta me, and apparently, it also beats the heck out of the technicians at Campbell's.
As for selling...not actively pursuing a buyer, but if someone came along with a good offer, I'd definitely think about it. Good offer? Something close to $20K, I'd hope.
We must try to get together again sometime.
Craig,
I'll be in Ottawa this weekend and I'm trying to get together with Ray and Phil Rohtla for coffee tomorrow AM. Let me know if you're interested in joining in - not sure where exactly yet.
Harry
Ah...I'm outta town (Kingston) from tonight until Sunday evening. One of these days.
My car goes in to the shop Tuesday to have the console replaced, and the throttle rise looked at again.
(boot around emerg brake handle loose since tranny work last year. No big deal until I noticed a bunch of things I thought I'd lost - pens, backup TH plug, lighters, etc. - had actually slid from the little console tray into the brake handle mechanism. can't fix just the boot; need whole new console)
Took my car to dealer with this "high and rising" RPM thing today.
Just had a call from the SA...they're going to replace the throttle body.
Looking forward to their full report and your thoughts after they "fix' it.
I recently experienced this problem and it turned out to be a dirty/contaminated MAF (replaced under emmissions warranty). It's been two months now and no problems...
Call from the dealer today. In addition to deciding to replace the throttle body, they tell me they also discovered a "kinked throttle cable." With luck, I'll have it back tomorrow, and with even more luck, it'll work properly.
I assume the cable was kinked the last time Harry was messing around under my hood.
So, got the car back today, with new throttle body and new throttle cable. Dealer tested it extensively...service manager took it home last night, a 60-mile commute, and says it worked the way it should. (got the car back with a full tank of gas, by the way...that was a nice touch...'course, with my luck, they filled it with regular)
Long term will be interesting. As I've noted before in this thread, the IAC valve was replaced the last time I made this complaint, and that did fix the problem, but it was only about three weeks before the throttle rise started to occur again...at first occasionally, gradually increasing in frequency until the last couple of weeks when it's been happening every day.
Others have pointed to the throttle cable recall, and another instance was resolved with a new MAF sensor.
Either there's more than one cause for this kind of thing, or technicians all over North America are somehow bumping or bending something the right way 'round when they're doing something else. Beats the heck outta me.
Fingers crossed
[DUPLICATE ISSUE/THREAD]
I know this thread is old, but this issue still exists. I had a 2000 Cougar (v6) with this same issue... it started around 20k miles. I kept bringing it to the dealer, and they gave me the same line.. "Well, that's normal." and when I told them that it is a safety issue and that they don't understand the problem, they finally seemed interested. The several times I brought my Cougar there, I got it back unchanged. They said they couldn't duplicate the problem. So, I was driving to work one day, and the rpm hang was pretty bad, I dropped by the dealer and had the mechanic ride along. FINALLY they began to understand! They were able to test the car, while this problem was happening, and they found the problem. I believe it was some electrical problem, but since this was about 3-4 months ago, I can't clearly recall.
The reason I'm bringing this up: The lease expired on my 2000 Cougar and I just (1 week ago) picked up a 2000 Contour SVT... which has the same rpm hang!! As I'm sure you can imagine, this is very frustrating... and it only has 17.7k miles.
I'll try to contact that dealer to see if they have the record of what they did to fix this... and if others are interested, I can post the results.
[EDIT: The service center said it was the TPS... and it runs $192. I'm trying to find out if this is considered a 'maintenance item'...]
Apparently, SHO's have a similar problem and fix... though they're saying it the TPS connector that can also kill the TPS sensor....
http://www.v8sho.com/SHO/highidle.html