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Clogged catylitic converter causing idle stall?


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trippinbaills
New User

Aug 15, 2010, 2:52 PM

Post #1 of 9 (5610 views)
Clogged catylitic converter causing idle stall? Sign In

drove a 95 camry with the exaust's flex pipe broken. Most of the exaust exited the pipe before making its way through the catalytic converter and grime, dust, etc from the road must have built up on the catylitic converter from it being exposed. I got the flex pipe replaced and the car idled really low and stalled out when came to a stop. I messed with the idle air controll valve to make it idle a little higher, and now when I come to a stop the car won't stall but it almost does- it repeadidly revs itself from 150 rpm(where it almost stalls and the electric dies out for a moment and i have no brakes) and up to 750 back and forth. If i pop it in Neutral it will idle fine at 750 but i wait till i'm under 20MPH to pop in Neutral since it's bad for the car to roll fast in N. I don't think its good for the transmision to keep changing it back and forth all the time especially since when I pop it back into D, I try to get the RPM around 750 and if it's higher than 750, it bucks into gear.
I'm assuming i should change the catalitic converter. almost all searches about low idle lead me to idle air controll issues, but it's clearly not the IACV. the cloged cataylytic is cloging the air and forcing it in the wrong direction unless i'm hitting the gas which overpowers the clog?
Can anyone help so i don't waste $ and time on changing the catalytic converter if it could be somethign else. thank you much


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Aug 15, 2010, 3:25 PM

Post #2 of 9 (5604 views)
Re: Clogged catylitic converter causing idle stall? Sign In

No, I'm afraid your wrong about that. Your idle problem is something other than the converter. That is not the way a plugged converter will act. It will reduce power at higher RPMs but idle just fine when the converter is plugged.

You may have a bad IAC ( idle air control) but try cleaning the throttle body first. Remove the intake snorkel, have someone hold the throttle wide open for you and scrub the back side of the throttle plate and surrounding bore with an old tooth brush and some carb cleaner. Be sure to spray some into the small holes next to the throttle plate. That should help stabilize the idle. If it still has a problem, replace the IAC.



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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.



Sidom
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Aug 15, 2010, 3:31 PM

Post #3 of 9 (5601 views)
Re: Clogged catylitic converter causing idle stall? Sign In

Well I can see where you are going but the logic is flawed on the converter. If you had a plugged or partially plugged converter you would be experiencing problems at higher rpms & speeds not just at idle.....

1st there is no idle adjusts you can make on that car. It's computer controlled. There is a base idle setting but that is never to be used to control the idle. It's a baseline setting for the PCM and changing it can give you erratic idle problems.....

If this is just a low idle problem you are having. Then there are a few things that could be causing this. IAC is definitely one them, or a vacuum leak, mechanical problem, electrical problem, etc....

The 1st & easiest thing to do would be to make sure the throttle body is clean. Get a can of throttle body clean and little brush and clean it real well an see if that has an effect on the problem...........


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Aug 15, 2010, 3:34 PM

Post #4 of 9 (5595 views)
Re: Clogged catylitic converter causing idle stall? Sign In

Beat ya



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.



Sidom
Veteran / Moderator
Sidom profile image

Aug 15, 2010, 4:04 PM

Post #5 of 9 (5591 views)
Re: Clogged catylitic converter causing idle stall? Sign In

Well.....I'm still better looking.... So I guess I'll always have that..............Tongue Sly Cool


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Aug 15, 2010, 4:05 PM

Post #6 of 9 (5585 views)
Re: Clogged catylitic converter causing idle stall? Sign In

OK, you got me.............



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.



trippinbaills
New User

Aug 18, 2010, 6:44 PM

Post #7 of 9 (5574 views)
Re: Clogged catylitic converter causing idle stall? Sign In

thanks. must be the IAC. I cleaned the throttle body, and all behing the plate with like 30 paper towels and 16 inch pliers and carb/choke cleaner had it real clean. $25 for a junked IAC, I'll try that, hopefuly fix it. Just seems like it would be something else because the problem only started when i finally connected the flex and connected the exaust path together.


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Aug 18, 2010, 6:46 PM

Post #8 of 9 (5572 views)
Re: Clogged catylitic converter causing idle stall? Sign In

Make sure the EGR valve isn't sticking open from carbon getting caught in it.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.



Sidom
Veteran / Moderator
Sidom profile image

Aug 18, 2010, 8:43 PM

Post #9 of 9 (5567 views)
Re: Clogged catylitic converter causing idle stall? Sign In

If that battery was disconnected, then that's what caused this problem. The defaults were restored which were way too low for a dirty throttle body and would cause a low idle or stalling problem......

Driving it for a day or two would've cured the problem. It's called relearn. If you got the throttle body spotless clean and it's still idling low, then there is another problem....






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