MellonC00

My car either doesn't start or can't hold idle when I drive it for a very short time from the initial cold start in the morning, turned off after less than 5 mins,then, started again.

It's odd. It starts up fine even after a cold night at a ski resort with temps reaching 0 degrees over night. But after dropping the kids off at the lift, which took all of 3 minutes, it died after starting or didn't even budge (not even a crank).

Then, I leave it for about 2 hours and come back to it and try again. It starts just fine. So I have many questions?

1. Could it be a dirty throttle body? I think not cuz I clean it once every 30k Miles.
2. IACV as I understood is part of the throttle body cleaning. Perhaps not?
3. Can PCV vlale have something to do with this?
4. One OCV was replaced. May the other one is giving me problems?
5. Alternator, perhaps? I say this because some attempts don't even get the starter cranking. Simply no response to my turning the key.

I'd really appreciate your help. Hopefully others who have the same issue benefits.

salimshah

Your description has me confused ... is it a starter problem or holding the idle problem.

Please read Mega thread .. having problems .. start here sticky

Starter/battery problem would be:
Starter fails to spin the engine at fast enough speed (need to gauge how fast the engine is spinning from past experience)
You hear clicks ans some times it starts.

Idle problems:
Engine is spun fast enough and it seems it is catching ignition but as soon as you let go of the starter the engine stalls.

Stopped at a stop light the engine bogs down and shuts off.


Salim

WainiacS

During the cold winter a bad cell in your battery could show itself in such ways. I had a situation where my car started. Drove to the gas station and when I went to leave it would not start or even turn over. After jump starting I got home and put it on the charger and it showed I had 15+volts. So I thought the battery was good. After being stuck again I went to a battery dealer and it turns out I had a bad cell within the battery. Need to have those Cold Cranking Amps available.

MellonC00

upon re-examination of my recollection, the starter does turn and make that rapid clicking noise. thus, it's not my battery.

I'm still not sure how IACV would just simply kill the engine though. It thought you just get rough idle.........

salimshah

I am still confused ,,,

Does the starter spin the engine rapidly every time or at times you get the clicking noise but not spining of engine or the started?

IACV gets signal form ECU and adds more air (which in turn adds more fuel) for engine to idle in three conditions:

1. Engine cold ... old time choke.
2. Engine warm
3. A/C on.

In each conditions enough energy is produced to allow engine to idle.

Salim

MellonC00

Yes I get the rapid clicking noise but not get a turn of the engine. A/C is always on as I have Auto climate control on at all times.

In any case I don't have this problem AT ALL when the engine is dead cold in the morning. Even when it's really cold and my car hasn't run for 2 or 3 days. It only happens after I start the car, drive a very short distance, turn off the engine and try to restart the car.

By the way, sometimes, engine starts up but won't hold idle. It will do that a couple of times. When I try for the third time, the engine doesn't even turn.

salimshah

Lets stop here. There may be other issues, but this one is pretty independent of others.

Instead of rehashing here, I would direct you RX300 mega thread sticky.

Once you get a good spin from the starter every time, we can go look at the other issues about idle speed ...> IACV servicing , there is a DIY on that.

Salim

MellonC00

I did the IACV cleaning before about 20K miles ago (in fact I posted in the DYI thread). It cleaned up the rough idle issue. I'll try again and let everyone know the results.

MellonC00

following up: the clean up of IACV didn't do the job this time. I replaced the unit. It is now perfect. No more stalling and no more rough idle. I think my MPG improved a bit also but I'll reserve judgement on that until I go through a couple more tanks.