Hello,
My elderly mother's 2002 ES300 has an idle of 500 RPM when warmed up. Regardless of being in P, R, or D, the idle stays at a consistent 500 RPM. It appears that the car doesn't have a throttle cable to adjust (i.e. drive-by-wire system?), or maybe I just don't know where it's located. I've tried the idle relearn procedure two different times, but the idle doesn't change. The reason I'm concerned is the car moves forward when parked downhill, and unfortunately, she panics a bit when the car rolls forward when she's trying to reverse out of a parking spot.

Does anyone know what the RPM should be at when in R or D, and how to adjust it?

Thank you in advance.

 

Hello,

That Idle RPM is indeed to Low, it should be around 700 - 800 RPM.

Idle Speed doesn't drop without a Reason, the fact that it is Low in your case indicates some Underlying problem. The next steps will depend on what Tools you have at your disposal, if you do have a Scan Tool capable of reading Engine Live Data, with the Engine at Idle and the Transmission in Park, take a Snapshot of all the Parameters your Scan Tool can provide and post them here. If, however, you don't own a Scan Tool, you can start by Cleaning Out the Throttle Body, below is a video on how to do so.


Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

Thank you for the response Arsenii.

I forgot to mention that I had already cleaned the throttle body before the idle reprogramming procedure. Unfortunately, I don't have a live reading scan tool. There is currently no CEL either. I'll try calling the local Autozone or O'Reilly and see if their scan tool does live data reading.

 

Our ‘02 has always idled at ~600 rpm. Usually 600 to 620rpm IIRC from OBD monitoring. This is regardless of anything - cleaning and servicing all components, checking running parameters, etc. It does not affect driveability at all. I’ve tried every conceivable fix and remedy and quit. It’s been 200k miles that way with no ill effect. You need to really see what the idle actually is via the OBD data - the needle is usually accurate but the data is definitive.

The car rolling forward in your mother’s case is not strictly the idle, it’s her driving technique also. That can be adressed.

 

Interesting, with my 2000 ES, 600RPM or below and I will get a noticeable Vibration throughout the Cabin, that would drive me absolutely nuts.

If none of the Parts Stores would agree to lend you a Scan Tool, the next best option would be to source a Used one, you can find barely used Scan Tools on eBay and marketplaces like Craigslist for half of their original value, just make sure to find as much information about selected Scan Tool as you can before pulling the trigger, it's not something you will be able to return easily..

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

Check the IAC valve. My Es300 had low idling and turned out I had a bad IAC.

 

IAC valve?

 

The most simple answer is, did you make sure everything was off before doing the idle relearn? Radio, AC, headlights, cabin lights, literally everything needs to be off. Had a customer go crazy trying to get the idle correctly after installing an alternator once, turns out the issue was just that the headlights were on the whole time.
IAC valve, as others have mentioned, might be bad.
Clean the mass airflow sensor and check the air filter for ***** and giggles.
If none of those things fix it, as others have mentioned, you're gonna wanna find a scantool with live data. They're not expensive - I carry an AutoLink AL329. Literally $30 and it does live data well enough to do 90% of diagnostic work I do as a mobile mechanic.
What you're particularly gonna want to be looking for is the mass airflow sensor reading (ex. air flow in g/s) and the fuel trims. If the MAF is out of spec, that might be your problem, if your fuel trims are out of spec, then you might have a vacuum leak or fuel delivery issue.
Happy hunting.