I bought a 1995 Chevrolet 1500 Suburban (5.7L 350 V8) today from a used car lot & immediately noticed that it hesitated, almost sputtered, when I initially take off from a stop. It did it regardless of engine temperature. Then I also noticed that if I barely depressed the gas pedal, it kind of sputtered while I was in drive, moving down the road, almost chugging a long.
First things first, I put a 16 ounce can of Sea Foam in the gas tank & filled it completely with 89 octane fuel. (35 gallons or so...)
Next, I went to O'Reilly's & picked up some throttle body & air intake cleaner. I figured that I would clean the throttle body & the idle control valve. Sure enough, the idle control valve was heavily gummed with carbon, as well as the throttle body.
I spent a good long while soaking the throttle body in cleaner & using cotton swabs to "de-gunk" the insides, then the idle control valve got a good soaking & cleaning. By soaking I mean it got hosed with the cleaner & wiped down, & then was allowed to dry completely.
Once I was pretty satisfied that I got *most* of the carbon dislodged in the throttle body & the idle control valve was clean, I discovered that the paper gasket on the valve disintegrated. So, back to O'Reilly's only to find that they didn't care them & sold me a rubber o-ring instead. It didn't compress like they said, it rolled out & pinched, so I had to make a gasket.
The gasket I made was from an old toilet paper roll, the cardboard, which is nowhere near the thickness of the actual gasket.
I put everything back together & now my truck idles somewhere around 1700-2000 RPM & 1000-1100 RPM in drive. Still hesitates & sputters when I barely press the gas.
Then on the way home after grabbing something to eat, it felt as though the truck was starting off in a higher gear & not shifting properly, & a couple times after I started it, it sounded as though the engine was making lifter noise (same speed as the engine revs) which subsided after awhile.
The service engine soon light came on when I sat at idle in gear or park, then turned off again after about ten seconds of accelerating moderately. This happened twice, then hasn't since.
Except for the hesitation & the sputtering at low acceleration, this all started after I cleaned the throttle body & idle control valve. High idle, lifter noise (twice) & feeling like it is starting out in third (low power accelerating).
For sure I need a new gasket for my idle control valve, that may be part of it, but being too thin, is it causing my idle control valve to be in too far, since it was designed for a thicker gasket? Could I have ruined my idle control valve by cleaning it? Could a small bit of carbon fallen in deeper into the valve causing problems or is it even possible for it to be ruined by cleaning it?
Any help from an auto expert would be of great help & will be very appreciated.
Thank all of you in advance. I will make sure to rate the best answers & all that, believe me, I am very appreciative for any help I get.
-James
Also, all of my gauges appear normal, the temp is below 200 consistently, voltage 14, oil pressure between 20 & 55 (hot) between being stopped & in gear & moving in gear... Everything is text book as far as gauges go, but when I rev the engine in park past 2500 RPM, the speedometer goes up a little too. When I rev it up to around 3500-4000 RPM, my speedometer needle is at around 8-10 mph & immediately drops back down when I let the engine return to idle...
Very curious.
Thanks in advance! *again*
First things first, I put a 16 ounce can of Sea Foam in the gas tank & filled it completely with 89 octane fuel. (35 gallons or so...)
Next, I went to O'Reilly's & picked up some throttle body & air intake cleaner. I figured that I would clean the throttle body & the idle control valve. Sure enough, the idle control valve was heavily gummed with carbon, as well as the throttle body.
I spent a good long while soaking the throttle body in cleaner & using cotton swabs to "de-gunk" the insides, then the idle control valve got a good soaking & cleaning. By soaking I mean it got hosed with the cleaner & wiped down, & then was allowed to dry completely.
Once I was pretty satisfied that I got *most* of the carbon dislodged in the throttle body & the idle control valve was clean, I discovered that the paper gasket on the valve disintegrated. So, back to O'Reilly's only to find that they didn't care them & sold me a rubber o-ring instead. It didn't compress like they said, it rolled out & pinched, so I had to make a gasket.
The gasket I made was from an old toilet paper roll, the cardboard, which is nowhere near the thickness of the actual gasket.
I put everything back together & now my truck idles somewhere around 1700-2000 RPM & 1000-1100 RPM in drive. Still hesitates & sputters when I barely press the gas.
Then on the way home after grabbing something to eat, it felt as though the truck was starting off in a higher gear & not shifting properly, & a couple times after I started it, it sounded as though the engine was making lifter noise (same speed as the engine revs) which subsided after awhile.
The service engine soon light came on when I sat at idle in gear or park, then turned off again after about ten seconds of accelerating moderately. This happened twice, then hasn't since.
Except for the hesitation & the sputtering at low acceleration, this all started after I cleaned the throttle body & idle control valve. High idle, lifter noise (twice) & feeling like it is starting out in third (low power accelerating).
For sure I need a new gasket for my idle control valve, that may be part of it, but being too thin, is it causing my idle control valve to be in too far, since it was designed for a thicker gasket? Could I have ruined my idle control valve by cleaning it? Could a small bit of carbon fallen in deeper into the valve causing problems or is it even possible for it to be ruined by cleaning it?
Any help from an auto expert would be of great help & will be very appreciated.
Thank all of you in advance. I will make sure to rate the best answers & all that, believe me, I am very appreciative for any help I get.
-James
Also, all of my gauges appear normal, the temp is below 200 consistently, voltage 14, oil pressure between 20 & 55 (hot) between being stopped & in gear & moving in gear... Everything is text book as far as gauges go, but when I rev the engine in park past 2500 RPM, the speedometer goes up a little too. When I rev it up to around 3500-4000 RPM, my speedometer needle is at around 8-10 mph & immediately drops back down when I let the engine return to idle...
Very curious.
Thanks in advance! *again*