I did the throttle body mod a while ago so obviously I don't have the thermowax setup anymore. My question is how do some of you keep the engine from stalling without the stock thermowax setup? Right now I have a bike cable hooked to the thottle to adjust for a high idle while the engine is cold. It works, but it is a crappy rig job. I was thinking of designing some kind of lever (similar to the e-brake lever) to hook the cable to, but I wanted to see what some of you were doing first.

thanks

 

i'll be honest first and foremost, i dont know if i have the thermowax or not. i never researched what it was. i have the throttle body mod, though, and my car idles fine. sometimes i'll have to tap the throttle once, usually just as a keep-it-from-possibly-dying, but it idles fine cold otherwise. now when my thermosensor wasnt hooked up, then it ran like crap cold and really hated to start.

 

Maybe the thermosensor and the thermowax are the same thing? Your car probably idles fine because you live in Texas. Like during the summer here (PA) I don't have this problem because it is warm enough outside to make it idle ok. Now that it is getting cold though it wants to stall.

 

This is how I do it. Only time I ever have a problem is if the engine has sat over night (like 10 hrs or more) without being started and it is cold (frosty) outside. If this is the case all I have to do is hold the revs at 2k for like 15-20 seconds while I put on my belt and get my music started. By the time I'm done doing those things it idles on its own fine. This only happens sometimes too, sometimes I'll start it up in cold situations and it stays fine but with a lower than normal idle until I start driving.

 

i dont know what the thermowax is, but the thermosensor is no where near the throttle body. its under the alternator on the back of the water pump housing. it lets the ecu know what temp the water is.
i actually just went outside and went to get food and purposely didnt tap the gas pedal to see if it would idle. it idled fine with no problem. its not "cold" outside, but its cool. i would guess mid 60s.

 

thermowax is a special wax that is tacky when cold and not liquid once warm. this way when your car is cold the throttle sticks to the wax and revs higher till ti warms the engine enough for the wax to let it go.I would just permenantly raise my idle a little. not to high but enough to keep from stalling.

 

after i removed my thermowax i had no problems with idling.... however i just recently did the rats nest removal and **** its impossible to let the car idle by itself when cold.. i have to baby it for 3 or 4 min before it will finally catch and idle by itself.... i think i might have a small vack leak as i reused the gaskets when i did the rats nest removal... and possibly my egr blockoff plate is not as sealed as i thought... just my exp from all that

 

i have the throttle body mod and no rat's nest. idles fine. and when warm, i can take out a bit of fuel (-7 to -25 or so; i usually do -10) and it still idles. i usually do that if i smell fumes.
rebuilt mild streetport 91 n/a

 

did the TB mod myself and don't have any issues with idle though my car does seem to hold a 1100 rpm idle when cold as it sits right now though it does so fairly rough like with a nice missing sound

 

Full TB Mod here. No emissions on an s5 n/a.

ZERO cold/cool engine idle.

I have to hold the throttle for about 10 minutes before it warms up enoguh to get an idle. I usually drive off after the first five or so, and a couple blocks later its warm enough to idle.

Even if its 90 degrees outside, if I let her sit overnight, she won't idle on her own until the engine is warm.

Kinda frustrating.

I was actually thinking about rigging some sort of actuator up, or a (haha, rigged) bike cable up so it would be kinda like a manual choke on a carb.

I'd start teh car, pull the manual choke to about 2krpm, turn on the heat and vent, and go backinside the house where its nice and warm for about 15 minutes or so. Go back outside and the car would probably be defrosted and ready to go.

 

Why not just reinstall the thermowax? This thread makes me glad I kept mine when I ditched the nest.

 

After doing the TB mod, I don't have problems with a cold idle while the car is sitting.

When I get to the end of my alley and stop the car, it tries to die (I'm guessing the brake booster is taking away too much vacuum or something.) I drive about a block to a stoplight, the idle will bog and bouce back to normal. From there, it will run fine. Happens every time I go anywhere.

Odd, huh?

 

Hey what exactly is the THROTTLE BODY mod what do you do to it.

 

The thermowax by itself is great.
The reliability problem the damn coolant circuit that works it. (That hose popped once - my only highway breakdown)
I did the full TB mod & emissions removal partly to plug that potential problem.

I have considered reinstalling the AWS circuit with a needle valve in the line to make it adjustable.
Then install a dash switch to manually open it to hold fast idle.

 

I say keep the thermowax. Just check your hoses and replace the OEM spring type clamps with some good screw type clamps. At worst, take the hoses off and clean the outlet off and then reassemble.

 

ditch the thermowax. Do you still have a BAC? Adjust the lower throttle plate in the TB to the setting listed in the FSM, It should idle just fine without thermowax right off the start. Its a little screw that adjusts to allow setting on the plates, open them a little more and it should be fine. Oh yeah, make sure you have good vacuum first, and tps set

 

See I just did this mod and had a 600 idle when I got done. I pulled the slack out of my throttle cable and have a 750. Tps is dead set on at 1ohm, BAC is adjusted but needs a new plug-

So I should just adjust the throttle plates to raise my idle?

 

how do you adjust the BAC? i didnt think it had any settins on it

 

Well some of you have stalling problems and some don't. For me, I'll have to rig something up. Once my engine is warm, I have a near perfect idle at 750 and I don't want to change that because that low idle helps a lot to cool down my turbo. I might be able to find some kind of cable adjustment mechanism at the hardware store or maybe a bike shop.

 

i had the same problem before my engine was rebuilt .. no matter how hot it was outside i had to hold the throttle for alteast 3 mins before it would even think of idleing ..

after landers rebuilt my engine, i havent had to hold the throttle once .. its starts and idles on the first try everytime ....

its not been TOOO cold here yet, but its damn near fulltime hoodie weather now ..
the reason it wasnt idleing before was due to a massive vac leak i had between the block and the LIM ..

you should be looking at vac leaks, as i have NO emmissions on my car and it starts and idles everytime ...

it hasnt gotten to far below 50 degrees yet though, so that might change later on

 

I have my idle set at around 900-1000, no cold idle problems, don't have to hold the throttle or anything. But I can't really start driving for about 30 seconds or else when I let off the throttle it will usually drop the revs so low that it stalls. My engine has pretty low compression though.

 

Good question, my '86 N/A has one of the non-adjustable types.

 

unlessyou have a turbo there is no reason to touch the BAC. Assuming it works. Seriously check the throttle plates, If you set them correctly you won't have to touch the gas pedal in the cold. With no emmisions and the TB mod done.