[T3] cool weather idle hunt

[Daniel Nohejl]

> If you're up for this, you can remove the AAR and wiggle the shaft 
> from the bottom. It should move freely, under the spring force of the 
> thermo element. Do this COLD, at the temp where it has been acting up 
> on you. 
> 
> For a more complete test, note its setting, then remove the 
> calibration screw so the shaft is completely free. Then see if it's 
> free to move from stop to stop. Use Loctite when replacing the screw.

I can certainly do these tests over the weekend. I also have at least one more spare AAR which I should probably send you for another round of calibration. It can’t hurt anything. 

Still, as annoying as this AAR issue is, it only impacts drivability for about 10 minutes. When it really gets on my nerves at a particularly long stoplight, I put on the parking brake and give a little throttle until the idle smooths out. The other idle issue I wrote about yesterday is liable to get me rear-ended in traffic and then I’ll be posting about my totaled car! I’ll copy and paste from my original message just in case it got lost along the way:


I also reported another hunt that seemed to happen at random moments once the motor was warm. The idle sounds like it drops 300 rpm and does short little surges almost as if it’s running out of gas. If I take too long to get back on the throttle, the motor stalls. On the way home tonight in traffic, the car stalled 5 times and another 4 times while trying to parallel park. Jim theorized (below in messaged dated Dec 2) that this hunt was the result of an intermittent connection, but I’ve tried gently wiggling each connector in the engine bay on several and nothing has made any difference (hasn’t made the idle rebound or get worse). 

I have noticed, though, that this hunt ALWAYS happens when driving in traffic with the headlights on: thus it mostly happens at night or on rainy or snowy days. It SOMETIMES happens under other conditions, but I haven’t logged enough of them to report back anything of interest. 

I have a little cigarette lighter voltage meter and I’ve plugged it in during this hunt but haven’t seen any voltage numbers I haven’t seen before. With the headlights on in traffic, the voltage can drop as low as 11.5 but it comes back up to about 13.8 or more once I get back on the gas which has long been the case.

I’ve got a solid state VR, and a recently rebuilt generator. It’s probably time to get the battery tested at the FLAPS as it’s been a while. 

In any event, I wonder if this new presentation of information rings any bells for anyone??? It seems to point in the charging system, but perhaps another issue is making it seem that way.