Car: 1988 GXL, 160k, stock (unless K&N filters are "mods").

Background: So my car spontaneously decided to idle high (anywhere from 1500-2200, depending upon its mood) some time last? year. I never figured out what was wrong with it, I just sort of adapted to it. I took it to a rotary mechanic, he told me he knew what was wrong with it and it'd cost about 140$ parts/labor. That didn't seem too bad, but I didn't have the money at the time. Plus, he fiddled with something behind the upper intake manifold and it dropped to normal idle, so I figured I could fix it myself.

"Fix": Today, I fidget with the fast idle cam and lo and behold, the idle goes back to 750. The fast idle cam apparently is either stuck or malfunctioning because it doesn't adjust. So I throw a little plastic cap thing over the adjustment screw and now it is stuck in the open position. I took a test drive in the neighborhood and all seemed well. Never dipped below 700. But that was all after the car had warmed up.

Questions: I'm guessing I won't get the 3k warmup procedure as intended. I don't really have a problem with that. Unless there's a problem with not having it? Am I going to be causing any sort of problems with this jury-rigged fix? Any chance that I only fixed a symptom of a larger or worse problem? What should I expect from a cold start?

 

If you allow the car to warm up before driving the car it likely won't affect it much. If you drive the car immediately after starting the car then it will probably run a bit rough until the engine has had an opportunity to warm up sufficiently.

 

You may experience engine stall while slowing down, particularly on a cold engine. If it does indeed happen, make sure you're ready for it since you won't have power brakes...