To all Z5 owners, please post here!

[95Protege]

Well my 95 with 161,000 miles had that problem #1 till i adjusted the idle air adjustment. Now it idles like a new car and never goes dead but before when it had that problem it would drop and start shaking the interior like it was gonna fall out lol....

[coolmommy84]

Fixed my problem for #1

ok guys, I HAD #1.
I have a 97 LX automatic
80k miles on it. drive it about 250 miles a day.


I had bought my car in december of 2005 so its fairly new to me. It did the exact same thing with the ac button on especially.

But this only occured after i had taken my car in cuz it suddenly over heated for no reason and the mecanic said everything was fine. so after that, the idle really sucked, seemed liek it would die, so about a month later I took it back.

The mecanic found a rip in my air intake tube. It was also cracking and gettin old. So he replaced that. Which after he did that, the car idled fine. But the same problem when i started the AC it woudl want to die. So I took it back about two days later becasue the car started over heating once again. He finally found the big problem....


Here is his description of labor:

REMOVED AND REPLACED WATER PUMP AND TIMING BELT-
REPLACED VAVLE COVER GASKET.
REPLACED DRIVE BELTS
REFILL COOLING SYSTEM
RECHECKED.

COST:$609.85

After he did all of this with the air intake tube included, my car runs perfect now. No idle problems what so ever and it has been about two months since the repairs. I hope this helps cuz it really helped my car and it is the EXACT problem everyone is having.

[Intruder]

Well my 95 with 161,000 miles had that problem #1 till i adjusted the idle air adjustment.

How do you do that?

[Project Protoge]

Their is a little hole in the side of the idle air control solenoid. It has a small hex head scew in it about an inch and you can turn it in and out to adjust the solenoids pintle to be more open or closed. I am not sure if that applys to all model years but my 97 has it.

[Intruder]

And what does that do? Raises/lowers your idle rpm?

[Project Protoge]

It will cause the pintle to either open more or close less. I would not recomend messing with it since you have the adjusting screw to add more air. The only reason to mess with it is if the adjusting screw does not allow for enough adjustment for the idle air control solenoid to keep a proper idle. This is usually do to carbon build up in the vaccum line that is cast into the intake manifold, or a vaccum leak.

[Intruder]

How do you clean that carbon off? Do you take the IAC valve off the TB and spray with carb cleaner?

[strutman]

my car does the whole rpms going up and down thing when i first start it, then it eventually evens out and is fine...

is that because of the common z5 problem or is it because of the crankshaft sensor not working because of some wire break somewhere that i'll never find or worry about.

[coolmommy84]

dunno if you read my thread or not, but my car did that as wel, but i got it fixed. Had the air intake tueb replaced, the water pump, the gaskets adn somethin else, you can read it up on the 4th page here, but now my car runs perfect, no idel problems...

my car does the whole rpms going up and down thing when i first start it, then it eventually evens out and is fine...

is that because of the common z5 problem or is it because of the crankshaft sensor not working because of some wire break somewhere that i'll never find or worry about.

[95Protege]

Their is a little hole in the side of the idle air control solenoid. It has a small hex head scew in it about an inch and you can turn it in and out to adjust the solenoids pintle to be more open or closed. I am not sure if that applys to all model years but my 97 has it.

Mine was a flathead screw on the throttle body that in a manual was called IAA but maybe they started using hex screws in the newer ones. All i know is I have never heard my car idle that good because it just sits there and sounds like a cat purring.

It really helped because before this if i put it in neutral to go in the house to get something it would everytime go dead before i got out like 2 minutes. But the other night it idle for 45 minutes at burger king and never tried to stall out.

[RicardoS]

misfire is my concern and the cel as everyone refers it to in this forum, likes to turn on and off at it's own will, usually shuts off at start up and turn on at start up every couple of days. I want to solve the misfire isssue. So far I believe I can try the crankshaft sensor hoping it isn't wiring inbetween harnesses or valve cover gasket, cause my z5 has 130k with timing belt and water pump done just 35k ago. I have turned what I call the idle screw which did help but not solve my cel light po304 code? (Sounds like its time to spend some more money blind?) don't have a compression tester but disconnected the fuel pump and cranked her over listening for hesitation and uneven cranks and she sounded fine.???? Thank you to everyone for there time and effort!!!

[strutman]

coolmommy, i replaced all that on my car before i dropped the engine in.

[RicardoS]

If the Monitor detects random deviant cylinder events without a regular culprit, the P0300 code is stored. Check connections to the electronic distributor/spark packs. DOHC vehicle in particular have a vulnerability in the Fuel Cut Off loom (which wires the two coil packs under the centre cylinder cover). 24Vs have a separate electronic distributor at the front of Bank 1 - check the connections to this - since the fault is truly random it is more likely that the cause is to be found here.

With the other codes, the fault is a specific cylinder(P0304 Cylinder 4 Misfire Detected ). Check the following:

security/condition of the ignition lead(s) Make sure the lead is not cracked/split or chafing. The lead should show a (manuel specific)approx resistance. Excessive resistance or open shows a fault.
Condition of spark plug. Check for broken/burned electrode, cracked ceramic body, excessive burning or contamination. Check grade is correct. Replace as necessary.

The INJectors have their own trouble codes for shorts or loss of pressure, so do not necessarily suspect the INJector unless these Trouble Codes are also recorded.

Misfires can also be caused by air leaks in the egr system or in the Inlet system, leaning out the mixture which becomes too lean to fire.

[RicardoS]

A code P0304 may mean that one or more of the following has happened:

Faulty spark plug or wire
Faulty coil (pack)
Faulty oxygen sensor(s)
Faulty fuel injector
Burned exhaust valve
Faulty catalytic converter(s)
Running out of fuel
Poor compression
Defective computer

[Project Protoge]

How do you clean that carbon off? Do you take the IAC valve off the TB and spray with carb cleaner?

You can get to it by just removing the throttle body. Unbolting the iac is not very easy, and the gasket is very flimsy. I used a lot of either brake or carb cleaner and a dental pick or something of the sort since the build up is very hard. takes a while but the car will run much smoother.