Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with idling

Saturn '98 SC2 idling problem after highway driving

Java_Man — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:07:59 -0800

Why does my '98 Saturn SC1 have odd idling problems after more than an hour of highway driving (i.e. it sometimes revs high, sometimes it drops to nothing and stalls)? According to the mechanic, the car's onboard computer shows no signs of trouble. Outside of this, it does not exhibit any other kind of issues. The stalling I could deal with, but the revving is problematic. At toll booths, I really have to hold down the brake to prevent it from lurching (or throw it into neutral, of course).
It has been tough to have it diagnosed because it only happens after an hour or more of driving at 65mph.

Which car part do I need?

starbaby — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:41:54 -0800

I'm having car trouble. Someone with a similar car suggested I get a certain car part in order to attempt to fix the problem. Help me remember the name of the car part. I drive a 1994 Infiniti G20 [with an automatic transmission]. Recently, my car started dying and idling low. When I stop at stoplights, begin to shift from reverse to drive while backing out, and sometimes even right after I start the car, the car just dies. When it is in park, it idles under 1,000, and seems generally "jumpy" whenever I am stopped with it in drive.

A friend of mine has a 1995 Infiniti G20, and the same thing happened to her. She got the name of a car part from her husband, but seemed unclear about exactly what her husband had said. We are pretty sure it's the fuel ______ valve. Google turns up a multitude of parts that can fill that blank, but I was hoping someone might be able to use information about the car problem to help me figure out which one.

Bonus question: I know that Infinitis are made by Nissan, and have been told that my engine is identical to the Nissan Sentra of the same year. However, images in the coordinating Chilton's for the Nissan Sentra do not show my engine. I cannot get my hands on an Infiniti Chilton's [if they are even made], so if anyone knows which Nissan, if any, my car is similar to, I would appreciate that knowledge so that I might even be able to determine the location of the mysterious car part when I figure out what it is.

[I am pretty clueless about cars, so please forgive if I have used incorrect terminology, am missing something obvious, etc.]

How does your brain idle?

argybarg — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:50:16 -0800

What does your brain do in the background while it's idling? If I'm doing something half-brained and repetitive, I can notice my brain going through its background routines:

-- I mentally pace out rooms in groups of five steps, with a set routine matching inside/outside steps to convex/concave articulations of furniture, etc.
-- If I'm driving, I count off car length in groups of (again) five, matching them to roadside features (reflectors, or guardrail posts).
-- I assign notes in a melody to different positions of my lower and upper teeth meeting, then click out the melodies on my teeth. If the melody has more than 9 notes, I can't do this.
-- If I'm away from home (let's say at a restaurant), I rehearse driving home, especially the details of getting out of the parking lot.

I had a friend who compulsively spelled words backwards. Other than that, no one has shared their mental screen-savers with me. Consequently, I wonder if I'm normal or if I ought to be lining up to be profiled by Oliver Sacks.

Car Stalling

wendell — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 13:06:09 -0800

Because I'd Rather Ask You Asshats Than Call Click & Clack: Unexplined car stalling: '96 Taurus, after driving a long time in warm weather, when idling (more under the hood) I replaced a leaky radiator last summer that caused it to overheat, then started getting this problem: warm day (80+F), when the car has been used for over an hour with only brief periods stopped and parked, on city streets or stop-and-go freeways, it starts idling rough and within a few seconds chugs to a halt and can't be restarted. Resting it for 15-30 minutes 'cools it down' (no, the temp guage never goes above midpoint) so it runs again, but it stalls again after a few stoplights. I don't really have a mechanic I can TRUST, so the more I know about what ails it before I take it in the better. Or is it time to donate it to charity for a tax deduction?