87 pathfinder vg30i high idle and surging.

robert1987 · Jan 14th, 2013, 11:08 PM

vg30i motor with 230,000 on it. its my second one. good rigs.. since the day i bought it always has surged when warming up. around 1,000-2,100, and after surging has hi idle around 1,300. now lately it has been doing it more when warmed up, and not in gear. other day it broke down on me. had to tow it. had spark, had fuel, seemed like some sort of sensor. checked the ecu. it threw a number 13 code. radiator sensor. then it started right up like nothing ever happend. ive checked for vacume leaks, cleaned the tbi. new wires, plugs, filters. also sometimes when its warmed up , and surging. ill turn the heater on and it will make it stop, and starts again when is turned off. i looked online, and have found some helpful info, but not what i need to know. if anyone can help me i would be very grateful. thanks

SPEEDO · Jan 16th, 2013, 10:20 AM

high idle, I was going to say "thermo element" (top of throttle body) but also sounds like its hunting, have you checked the air flow meter (hot wire module, black box, also on the upper throttle body) a couple of thoughts anyway

**smj999smj** · Jan 16th, 2013, 02:30 PM

When you mentioned turning on the heater affecting it, the thermo-element ( aka wax element ) also came to my mind. I've seen a few thermo elements fail but I've also seen the coolant hose that run to the thermo element housing get clogged or restricted and cause improper operation.

robert1987 · Jan 21st, 2013, 10:28 PM

sorry i should have said. When the motor is cold the heater does not change anything. only when its warmed up. over the months it has been getting worse. all my vacuum lines seem to be fine. its not the egr valve. because it does not work while idling. my cpu never threw a code for the throttle position sensor, and the wax element wouldn't change anything, because it surges no matter what temp. (more when its cold). so i dont think thats it. right?

**smj999smj** · Jan 22nd, 2013, 12:50 AM

Surging usually occurs when an engine is lean...so one would check for vacuum leaks, bad O2 sensor, etc. Bad wax could play a part in the high idle. Just look at it when it's cold and start the engine and see if it retracts as it warmsa up.

robert1987 · Feb 4th, 2013, 09:40 AM

i figured out that the surging was caused by a bad cap and rotor. rotor was a pain in the ass to get off the shaft. my truck broke down again, and then started back up. the ecu threw a number eleven code. (crankshaft angel sensor). replaced that. so far so good. still the motor idles way to hi.