Hey guys got a weird one here.

Today I was driving down South Road, decided to pull into a mall carpark, after a few minutes of driving through this car park my TE starts idling really badly, so I pull over but then the car stalled.

Tried a couple of times to start it, and nothing.

After a few minutes It started, Idled really rough, but would choke under acceleration.

Got it towed home, it started fine, idled fine, up at about 2k RPM it starting chocking again.

So to see if it did anything, I replaced the inlet manifold with another and pull off and refitted every vaccum hose I could find. Now its back to idling rough, coughing and spluttering.

I also replaced the 3 spark plugs in the front bank and nothing changed.

Thoughts? I was thinking maybe cat converter, or MAF sensor?

maybe your sound system is overeighing the car and the engine cant handle pulling it anymore?

i mate had this with his magna not long back ill try giving him a call and see what he done to fix it if i can get hold off him

Thanks man, but seriously my system may look loud but its really not, its balanced well and thats about it.

The engine light is on aswell, whether its idling fine or not the engine light remains on.

can u get it into a mits workshop to get the codes checked over or know someone who can read them?

I did have RAA there but he said he couldn't read the codes, some crap about the car being too old, I just think he was too old.

But no unfortunately I cant get the car to a workshop.

I will probably read the code tomorrow and see what it says.

Went out just now to read the codes, and well....there is none, the engine light is now off.

The car idled really high for about 3-4 minutes, then settled back down, gave the car a few revs, the missed abit up about 2.5k RPM, turned it off waited abit started it again and it revved fine.

Im happy its currently working but I don't want it to die on me again.

My car acted like that when I forgot to plug in the MAF sensor. lol
Check the plug and socket on the maf electricals to see if they are corroded.

The pins are fine.

I don't know why the engine light would come on, then go off while the problem still remains.

hmm tough one.

would the idle control box cause something like this? ( if 3rd gen even had them)

if everything seems physically fine and connected have you tried just removing the battery for abit and letting the computer clear?

Sounds like a sticky ISC valve to me. .

Sounds like a sticky ISC valve to me. .

Idle speed is fine though so that makes me unsure.

Chris thinks it could be the fuel pump.

Is the coolant temp sensor plug unplugged at all?

Nope!

The best thing to do is to take it to your mechanic when you have the check engine light on. If you find that your check engine light comes on and then goes off between point A to B, it does not matter as long as you do not switch off the engine just to get the codes checked. The moment you turn off the ignition, the codes reset.

Took it to the mechanic it only dropped idle once, he couldn't get it to do it back at the work shop while it was doing it, and there was no engine faults recorded in the computer, he suggested it could be the MAF, same as what I thought.

So went to U pull it, got a another MAF, just fitted it revved alright but when holding steady at 2000 rpm or above it likes to drop and then bring itself back up. So hopefully it will sort its self out once I get a good drive into it.

So the replacement Air Flow Meter, did....nothing.

Replaced the ISC and it kept happening, replaced the TPS and once again it didn't help.

Now not only is it idling like a pig but its also stalling.

Will be heading to the wreckers tomorrow to probably try to source something that might help to swap out, suggestions?

Just spoke to a mate who is an auto elec and he has hit the nail on the head, my heater core is leaking, judging by my passenger foot well, meaning that when the car warms up coolant is actually leaking onto my ecu causing the car to run rough in many different ways.

So time to pull the dash out and replace the heater core.

Question, if my ECU is fried, one account of the water, can I replace it with one from the same model without having the reprogram it?

For anyone following heres my ECU, casing is filthy, however insides are not.
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad217/peaandham_bucket/IMG_3837.jpg
Have I seen somewhere that these ECU's are meant to have plastic covering them on the top? Because mine sure as hell did not lol.

My core
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad217/peaandham_bucket/IMG_3839.jpg

It has signs of leaking out of the bottom seal but im also looking at another few weird looking stains that make me think it would be less of a hassle just to get a new core, seals and elbows and put this right behind me.

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad217/peaandham_bucket/IMG_3836.jpg

Thanks for the pics mate
Im pulling the dash out of my daughers tj tomorrow to fix heater core

No dramas, there might be more in my build log.