This happened recently, where after going over 50~+mph, and when coming to a complete stop at a red light or stop sign, the car idles really low and having a hard time to stay alive. I got a battery voltage meter and it shows that when driving, it is at 14.5V, and once I put the gear in neutral, rolling or stop, the voltage drops dramatically to below 12V and eventually the car stalls. Once I restart the car, the voltage is back up to 12~13 and gradually moves up to 14.5V.

Anyone know the problem here? Thanks in advance. much help will be apprecitated.

 

you may could use a voltage stabilizer. is you battery relocated?

 

I got the buddy club condenser, doesn't seem like it is helping.

 

I rencently replaced my Optima batter with another Red Top and it doesn't drop below 12V anymore, but the Voltage still drops from 14.8 to 12V at idle

anyone else have diff. remedies?

 

I have a BC condenser also and mine never has any problems and has helped. Not sure why yours would do that?? I'd check your grounds and such.

 

How about your alternator? Does the battery light come on? If not these then maybe checkout the idle air control valve or throttle position sensor.

 

I have tested my altenator by disconnecting the ground to the battery while the car is on and it is fine.

Even thought the voltage drops to 12V, but it slowly climbs back up to 13.5V.

Its weird...

my battery is located in the trunk, and I have 1 ground point there and for the engine bay, I have the buddy club condenser in which I got 3 grounding points.

where can I get the IACV gasket? so I can remove it and clean it out

 

D1,

It is a weird problem. The real puzzler is the voltage droping and then rising. That is only a mystery if theengine rpm stays the same. Your problem sounds like an intermittant one, although it is predictable. I liked your test where you disconnected the bat while the eng was running. You said the voltage still droped to less than 12 at idle and then rose to ?? after a few seconds while the rpm stayed the same. The engine kept running after the bat was disconnected and it should but the voltage should not have dipped like you said. Got a buddy with the same parts? Swap the alternators. AND OH MY GOD.....you are describing a loose alternator belt symptom. Check that first and it has to be TIGHT.

Good luck

John

 

A couple of days before, I was driving at night and all my lights started to dim when I signaled. My battery light soon came on so I turned off the radio and it went away. My battery is a few months old so it could not have been that. I did some research and found that it was the alternator. The mechanic tested it with a volt meter and it was around 14 and he said the norm at idle is supposed to be in the mid 20s. I had it replaced because I did not want to be stranded somewhere.

As for the iacv I can't find the gasket, but it should probably be the same as the 2jzgte one.

 

i actually have a set of unorthodox pullies, and the serpentine belt is really tight.

When the voltage drops really low, so does the idle, but sometimes will climb back up, other times, i had to tap a little on the gas to keep the RPM up. So the RPM fluctuates with the batter voltage. I will check my idle speed control valve. Dunno if thats the prob, but will give it a try.

If I don't drive the car hard, it usually doesn't have this drop in the voltage problem.

anyone else got comment, please post on here to help solve this problem. Thanks

 

anyone else got input on this problem?

 

Not sure if this helps, but right before I sold my auto Accord something similar happened. I would be going at a bit over 40mph and when I brake hard to a stop the idle would drop low and it felt like it was going to die. Not sure if I fixed it, but I cleaned out the iacv, replaced pcv valve, and the battery because it failed a load test when I went to get an oil change. I tested it for about a week in the same situation before I sold it and I could not reproduce the low idle.


Edit: O yea forgot to mention I replaced the distributor cap and rotor during that time as well.

 

I had a similar problem with the engine idling rough and would just die on my SC300. It ended up being an oil leak in the head gasket, the oil was pooling in the plug holes, and the oil was running up the plug wire. The current would then go across the oil to the head of the engine instead of thru the spark plug so it would not fire. Odd one, I know, but I thought I'd share it because it took me a while to try tracking it down, I eventually gave up and took it to lexus.