1997 escort

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Bob Jones - 14 Jun 2006 20:01 GMT

Working on my girlfriends car, just replaced the PVC valve tube because of a
vacuum leak that was causing rough idle. My temp tape fix worked for a
while but finally wasn't doing the job anymore hence the permanent fix.
After the replacement she's still idling really bad. Press on the gas and
things smooth out almost totally.

Does the engine need time to readjust or am I missing something here?
Should I clear the comps memory by disocnnecting the battery? Anyone?

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Kevin - 18 Jun 2006 12:46 GMT

> Working on my girlfriends car, just replaced the PVC valve tube because of a
> vacuum leak that was causing rough idle. My temp tape fix worked for a
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> Does the engine need time to readjust or am I missing something here?
> Should I clear the comps memory by disocnnecting the battery? Anyone?

As a car gets older some of the sensors operate at slightly different values
than when they were new, due to the build up of resistance and wear. This
may cause some of the sensors to report values that are somewhat skewed from
what the PCM normally expects, so it develops a change in idle strategy to
compensate. After repairs are made it may have to relearn it's idle
strategy.
That particular model usually only takes a few minutes of running to relearn
it's idle strategy unless there are some sensors that have skewed values. It
will eventually relearn anyway if some of the sensors are way off but even
so that would only be about 15 minutes of run time. If it continues to have
idle problems beyond that, then there is most likely still some issue that
needs to be corrected.

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Kevin Mouton
Automotive Technology Instructor
"If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy"
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