1985 GSL-SE.

I'm already looking through the FSM, Haynes manual, and doing searching as you read this.

Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend (Thur-Sun) I was working on cleaning up my auxiliary ports. I removed the UIM and LIM (not as a whole unit, separately. Because no one said that I could remove it as one whole unit after I did it.) and the anti-afterburn valve/ACV assembly.

Now, the AAV/ACV assembly, when I detached it from the LIM, had most of its gasket stuck to it. However, a couple very small bits of gasket got stuck onto the LIM. When I put those two pieces back together, I stuck a small amount of RTV black sealant onto the "ripped" areas on the AAV/ACV assembly to ensure that the pieces on the LIM would mate and seal up correctly to ensure no vacuum leaks.

The UIM and LIM's gaskets were stuck on there. Damn 22 year old gasket material. So, I ended up having to remove some of it via a wire wheel brush attached to my drill. The UIM had some little scratches left by the wheel. The LIM hardly had any. However, to ensure I wouldn't have any leaks from the scratches and the new manifold gaskets, I took some RTV sealant and spread it on the flanges. However, I took a razor blade and used the edge of it to wipe away any surface sealant. I found this a good way to put a very thin coat of RTV onto the flange and help fill in any scratches that were present.

I did the same to the UIM, where scratches were more noticeable. I put a thin layer of RTV on that. Then, I stuck everything back together (after making sure there wouldn't be any sealant that would ooze into the passageways), tightened everything down and let it set over a couple days for the sealant to cure.

I also cleaned my throttle plates with carb cleaner. Then, on Sunday, after ensuring everything was sealed properly (most making sure the RTV cured) I took the car for a mini test drive, just down the small road next to my house, to the end of the culdesac and came back. No problems, no leaks. My idle was a bit funny, revving up and down, but that was due to my TPS. It's done that before.

Now, fast foward to this evening. So, I take my car out on an actual voyage. That is where I began to notice the real problems. One member believes I have a small vacuum leak or throttle binding. I'm going to check tomorrow with a spray water bottle. And, I already lubed up the throttle rotating assemblies and my throttle plates were cleaned with cleaner.


Here are my problems:

• My idle is now 900. Sometimes 1000. It used to be 650-700 (needs new plugs).
  
• During highway driving, when I upshift, my engine RPM will "hang" for about a half second at most, and then drop. I found this problem out when normal shifting, the car would "jerk" because apparently the engine was still revved up and wouldn't drop down in RPM like a rotary should.
  
• During highway driving (I'm around more long straight away bypasses than city roads) and I put the tranny in neutral, sometimes the idle hangs around 1200-1300. A quick rev of the gas pedal seems to "reset" the idle back down to 900/1000.
  
• During deacceleration, the car hesitates/bucks/whatever, more noticeable at 2000 RPM and going south when in gear.
  
• I also noticed that during deaccleration, sometimes my vacuum gauge will show the needle jump to 21 (in the Deaccleration zone. I have that Auto Gage gauge that has the color bands above the numbers.) then the needle jumps down to 18 before quickly jumping back to 21 and staying there. It's never done that before.

What do you think my cause is? I'm going to check the throttle plates and clean them up with PB Blaster, see if I have binding. But, I could use you guys' opinions. I'm also going to take a water bottle and spray over the area. Or, use my carb cleaner, since that'll make the idle shoot upwards some.

Any suggestions, help is greatly appreciated. I'm also going to get some make-a-gasket material tomorrow and see if maybe the AAV/ACV assembly gasket is leaking and replace that. Oh, that'll be fun.