Serious Idle Issues - Driving Me Crazy!
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Serious Idle Issues - Driving Me Crazy!
Hello, my names Ryan and this is my first time on these forms, first post..but by the looks of it you all more than likely will be seeing me around! A little about me - I am not a "car guy " I don't know much about them in terms of repairs, parts, terms; please bear with me in my descriptions/verbiage. Thanks!
A Couple months ago I purchased a 2003 Dodge Durango SLT 4.7. It has 205,xxx miles on it. I have always wanted one, something about the way they look. So i found one for sale and got it for $800. I live in Ohio, and the condition of the truck is pretty good in terms of rust, how well it has been taken care of..
When i first bought the car it was running well - it made it on a trip the first week i bought it from Ohio to Michigan However, when i was in Michigan i was driving and all of a sudden out of no where my vehicle lost all power and i coasted off the side of the road into a business. I tried to start my truck back up and nothing... anyways, i ended up having to have it towed at this point and it cost me about $200 to get a cam sensor replaced.
After that the car was fine again i drove back to ohio with really no problems other than that the shocks were trashed so it was quite a bumpy ride... so about two weeks back in ohio i am using the vehicle with really no problems and then it happened! the nightmare that i face now!
It began one day when i was backing out of my drive way.. the truck started acting really weird, the idle was going spastic and all i was doing was coasting out of my drive way in reverse. it would fluctuate between almost turning completely off all the way up to maybe 2000 rpm. I drove the truck for a few days like this and the problem just continued to get worse... the idle was crazy, it would stall at lights. . this also i believe affected the overall performance and power of the vehicle.
i dont really know how to describe it other than it made the truck seem like the transmission was going out... when accelerating from a complete stop up to say 20-35 mph where it would go to shift gears the RPMS would bounce up and down but the vehicle wouldn't seem to be accelerating, then all of a sudden it would "kick" and the rpms would drop. Also, the car acted like it was neutral and wouldn't accelerate!
I took the car to my uncle, who is a mechanic. he has a full time job in the office at a Nissan dealership and quit often works on vehicles after work and on the weekends out of his garage.
when we were checking it out at my uncles we took the Idle Air Control unit out. we took it out and i think we sprayed some carb cleaner in the throttle housing/body (the part where the IAC is connected to) then we soaked the IAC for a couple hours in some cleaner (carb cleaner maybe im not quit sure) and then we put it back together.
After we did this the truck was running great again for maybe a week..So i was happy, thought it was a cheap and easy enough fix. The truck ran great again for maybe a week or little less. no problems shifting, rpms, nothing. it solved all the isses that arose. then... once again the reaccuring nightmare came back and gradually all the same problems were once again...
At this point I figure, it has to be the IAC, so i bought a replacement online. We installed it, and it didn't change a thing! SO now, im scratching my head..
So now my truck appears to be a yard ornament. I start researching online. It is suggesting things like: IAC, EGR VALVE, throttle position sensor, O2 sensor. Vacuum leaks.
My uncle got busy so i took it to yet another friend of the family, he worked on it and fixed a coolant leak i had. instead of replacing the lines, he bypassed it and he says the only thing that it will affect is the 3rd row heating. which is fine for me. He said that the truck was ready he had it running good again. I went to pick it up and it was running horrible. Called him up he suggested maybe a major vacuum leak.
My uncle and I ended up spraying maybe break fluid or carb cleaner, not positive on the hoses under the hood especially throttle body/housing and IAC port regin while it was running to see if any spikes in RPMS. we sprayed the crap out of it and no RPMS changed EXCEPT the area, we couldnt pin point it on the throttle housing side opposite the IAC is seated. As i said we couldn't quit narrow it down to a specific hose. we tried to spray it again later in the day in that area and heard nothing? So i am not sure what that tells me.. haha, what a nightmare!
I need some help guys, any advice would be appreciated and thanks for reading my post! I would prefer not to take it to some expensive shop but i really need this truck to run properly, its my only means of transportation right now.
I want to make a note that i did think that the EGR valve symptoms of it being faulty or stuck open or closed sounded very similiar to what i am experiencing. However, there is no check engine for it? Maybe it doesn't matter but i looked ALL OVER ONLINE for the EGR valave for 2003 durango 4.7 and couldn't find one! All i could find was a EGR sylenoid, and some gaskets or something? not sure what the deal is with that... some say that the 4.7 03 has a EGR Valve, and some say it doesn't??
-Ryan
A Couple months ago I purchased a 2003 Dodge Durango SLT 4.7. It has 205,xxx miles on it. I have always wanted one, something about the way they look. So i found one for sale and got it for $800. I live in Ohio, and the condition of the truck is pretty good in terms of rust, how well it has been taken care of..
When i first bought the car it was running well - it made it on a trip the first week i bought it from Ohio to Michigan However, when i was in Michigan i was driving and all of a sudden out of no where my vehicle lost all power and i coasted off the side of the road into a business. I tried to start my truck back up and nothing... anyways, i ended up having to have it towed at this point and it cost me about $200 to get a cam sensor replaced.
After that the car was fine again i drove back to ohio with really no problems other than that the shocks were trashed so it was quite a bumpy ride... so about two weeks back in ohio i am using the vehicle with really no problems and then it happened! the nightmare that i face now!
It began one day when i was backing out of my drive way.. the truck started acting really weird, the idle was going spastic and all i was doing was coasting out of my drive way in reverse. it would fluctuate between almost turning completely off all the way up to maybe 2000 rpm. I drove the truck for a few days like this and the problem just continued to get worse... the idle was crazy, it would stall at lights. . this also i believe affected the overall performance and power of the vehicle.
i dont really know how to describe it other than it made the truck seem like the transmission was going out... when accelerating from a complete stop up to say 20-35 mph where it would go to shift gears the RPMS would bounce up and down but the vehicle wouldn't seem to be accelerating, then all of a sudden it would "kick" and the rpms would drop. Also, the car acted like it was neutral and wouldn't accelerate!
I took the car to my uncle, who is a mechanic. he has a full time job in the office at a Nissan dealership and quit often works on vehicles after work and on the weekends out of his garage.
when we were checking it out at my uncles we took the Idle Air Control unit out. we took it out and i think we sprayed some carb cleaner in the throttle housing/body (the part where the IAC is connected to) then we soaked the IAC for a couple hours in some cleaner (carb cleaner maybe im not quit sure) and then we put it back together.
After we did this the truck was running great again for maybe a week..So i was happy, thought it was a cheap and easy enough fix. The truck ran great again for maybe a week or little less. no problems shifting, rpms, nothing. it solved all the isses that arose. then... once again the reaccuring nightmare came back and gradually all the same problems were once again...
At this point I figure, it has to be the IAC, so i bought a replacement online. We installed it, and it didn't change a thing! SO now, im scratching my head..
So now my truck appears to be a yard ornament. I start researching online. It is suggesting things like: IAC, EGR VALVE, throttle position sensor, O2 sensor. Vacuum leaks.
My uncle got busy so i took it to yet another friend of the family, he worked on it and fixed a coolant leak i had. instead of replacing the lines, he bypassed it and he says the only thing that it will affect is the 3rd row heating. which is fine for me. He said that the truck was ready he had it running good again. I went to pick it up and it was running horrible. Called him up he suggested maybe a major vacuum leak.
My uncle and I ended up spraying maybe break fluid or carb cleaner, not positive on the hoses under the hood especially throttle body/housing and IAC port regin while it was running to see if any spikes in RPMS. we sprayed the crap out of it and no RPMS changed EXCEPT the area, we couldnt pin point it on the throttle housing side opposite the IAC is seated. As i said we couldn't quit narrow it down to a specific hose. we tried to spray it again later in the day in that area and heard nothing? So i am not sure what that tells me.. haha, what a nightmare!
I need some help guys, any advice would be appreciated and thanks for reading my post! I would prefer not to take it to some expensive shop but i really need this truck to run properly, its my only means of transportation right now.
I want to make a note that i did think that the EGR valve symptoms of it being faulty or stuck open or closed sounded very similiar to what i am experiencing. However, there is no check engine for it? Maybe it doesn't matter but i looked ALL OVER ONLINE for the EGR valave for 2003 durango 4.7 and couldn't find one! All i could find was a EGR sylenoid, and some gaskets or something? not sure what the deal is with that... some say that the 4.7 03 has a EGR Valve, and some say it doesn't??
-Ryan
Need to do a scan on the whole system,pinpoint what's going on.Too much guess work for the problems you've dealt with....Just a Thought..$800.00 for a ride,not bad,but the person you bought it from had the problem your dealing with now,that's why they sold it!
Last edited by cruzer55; Apr 9, 2016 at 07:47 AM.
