maybe someone can explain this for me...

I drove about 4 miles to a friends house, it was the first time the car had been driven that day. I shut the car off when i pulled in their driveway, and when i came back out, the car wouldnt start, it was turning over but it seemed flooded. So i cranked it and pushed the gas to the floor and it started up with a cloud of white smoke. So then I was driving my car around town for a bit, alot of stop and go for like 45 minutes. I went through a stop light in 2nd gear, shifted into neutral because i was pulling into the gas station, and my engine starts revving up and down, up and down, up and down. My foot is not on the gas at all but it keeps hopping between idle and like 1500 RPM's. just continuously. I would tap the gas and rev the engine myself but as soon as i let off it would stop. So i shut the car off and put gas in it, then start it up again and dont touch the gas, and my car revs up to about 4500 RPM's by itself and stays there. I touch the gas pedal and the RPM's drop to the point of the car wanting to bog out, but I hit the gas and kept it running. After this it ran fine, i drove 100 miles today without a problem.

Any clues? Or am I staring some sort of problem in the face right now? My car has 113,000 miles on it, and has not been driven very hard at all.

 

come on guys, someone has gotta know!

 

damn you!

 

Ouch, that sounds really bad. Believe me, I COMPLETELY FEEL YOUR PAIN. The car I bought will not idle right now unless it's been warmed up by driving around, and even then only just barely for a bit before it dies or the sick idle sound makes me turn it off. It's with the doctor (rotary mechanic) right now getting a physical so we'll see. But I hope someone can explain your problem. Doesn't sound good...

 

the only thing is, my car drove fine that night and the day after. the day after I was in a line of traffic on the way home from work, came to a straightaway and passed 8 cars in a row and hit 117 on the speedo. The car was pulling just as good as it always does, and nothing seemed wrong. I just dont get why it did that the other night, if it was getting hot or something, stressed, the ECU geting screwy, or if my car is just going through menopause or something.

 

i vote for menopause!

 

I'm not a mechanic but I have owned my 1987 RX7-Turbo for 15 years. The first 3 years were spent getting to know this unique vehicle, what I learned is that I never cut the car off immediatley, It does not matter if I'm in a rush or not also when I first start the car for the first time of the day, I usaully let it run for about 4 minutes while I watch my Air/Fuel monitor. This is important because the weather may be cold or Hot and I may need to adjust my S-AFC accordingly. Once I drive and make a stop at the local soda stand, I then restart the car and wait about 20 seconds for the idle to drop back to 750 rpm I'm having no problems with this companion of mine Good Luck getting to know your friend.

 

Sticking / leaking Injector?
Bad TPS?
Bad / loose connection at the AFM?

I'd run a bottle of FI cleaner and check the electricals.

 

yeah ill run something through there. i recently ran some marvel through the oil and the gas, but i havent had this problem before. And I always run my car for a while before i shut it off. When it flooded, it was completely warmed up before i shut it off, thats why i thought it was weird that it flooded. Because i have only flooded my car a couple times before, and it was always when the idle was still pretty high. it didnt make sense to me why it did it this time.