My '01 Solara has developed a strange ilding problem. When it's cold it won't idle at all until it's been running for a couple of minutes. Then, perversely, when it's hot it often idles up to 2,000 a 2,500 revs...
My mechanic has tried everything and were stumped...
Needless to,say it's a bit dangerous backing out onto the road and having the engine die while there's a car coming...

My '01 Solara has developed a strange ilding problem. When it's cold it won't idle at all until it's been running for a couple of minutes. Then, perversely, when it's hot it often idles up to 2,000 a 2,500 revs...
My mechanic has tried everything and were stumped...
Needless to,say it's a bit dangerous backing out onto the road and having the engine die while there's a car coming...

A dodgy throttle position sensor is the only thing I can think of, apart from maybe a vacuum leak. It could be a combination of a few things...

Possibly dodgy/stuck/clogged ISC too. If I remember the procedure correctly, remove the plug to the ISC and check electrical resistance between each of the centre pins to the pins either side of them, ie. four separate readings. All readings should be the same, if any are out your ISC is probably cactus. Presumably a clogged idle air passage could cause it too but you'd have been suffering with a bad idle for ages in this case.

Thanks. And just to add to the fun, when I went out tonight I found that while my mechanic was trying to find the problem, he's caused the fuel gauge, central locking, trip computer and interior lights to stop working! I'm guessing a fuse might be frizzed, or that there's some way of resetting everything, but I don't work on my cars any more so I'm at a loss!

Thanks. And just to add to the fun, when I went out tonight I found that while my mechanic was trying to find the problem, he's caused the fuel gauge, central locking, trip computer and interior lights to stop working! I'm guessing a fuse might be frizzed, or that there's some way of resetting everything, but I don't work on my cars any more so I'm at a loss!

It would have to be more then one fuse to encompass all of those systems.

I hope your ECU hasn't become dodgy.

There's a 15 amp fuse in the under-bonnet fuse/relay box that covers this stuff, fuse No. 11 if that helps. From memory it's one of the ones in the protective box thing.

Thanks, mate, I just went out with a torch and had a look but all the fuses seem ok.
I'll get my mechanic to,pick it up from my work tomorrow and fix it, after all, he seems to have broken whatever is broken!

Thanks, mate, I just went out with a torch and had a look but all the fuses seem ok.
I'll get my mechanic to,pick it up from my work tomorrow and fix it, after all, he seems to have broken whatever is broken!

It's definitely that fuse in the yellow box, pull the fuse right out and replace it - sometimes they look ok but aren't. lol
Fracture right at one end through old age. Probably just coincidence it went out.

The logic "something went wrong, it must be the fault of the person who last touched it" sometimes doesn't apply.

Okay, I will replace it, even though it looks fine and the car has only done 130,000 Kay's....