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Need advice please!

350 Views 7 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  09GTSAnthony
Hi. Apologies for a long post in advance.
I have a very frustrating problem that I believe is common amongst my gen of lancer, but for the life of me I cannot figure out what is wrong.
I bought my 09 GTS with 70k miles. It ran pretty well overall and still does except for one seriously annoying issue. Around 100k miles, maybe a little less than, the car started rough idling at stops, so much so that it struggles to keep itself on. It regularly dies and I have to restart it in the middle of traffic, or in a more dangerous situation mid turn when I push in the clutch. Basically it will rapidly lose rpms when you push the clutch in and then sometimes will just straight up shut off, or most of the time it will bounce between less than 100 rpms and 500 and then shut itself off.
This has been going on for over 2 years. I've been too broke most of the time to try and get it into shops. However on 2 occasions I have taken it into local places, to not have the problem fixed. Both places did the same thing. Cleaned out the throttle body and the MAF. The first time they did this it helped, and somewhat had the opposite issue afterwards. I'd come to stops and be revving at like 2k rpms with no foot on the gas. Over time the problem resurfaced tho and went back to the way it came in. The second time I took it in was last week, at a different place, they did the same thing pretty much, as well as new spark plugs, and it ran very well and idled perfectly for about 40 miles. Then went right back to doing it again. I also replaced the custom air filter it has a few days ago, which was their recommendation when I called to tell them it's still not idling properly. Still stalling. Also i should note that it doesnt 100 percent of the time do this. It seems like it mainly does it after the car has been warmed up and the outside temperature is about 65 degrees, running best when its cold outside. Sometimes you get a good stop and a perfect idle. If anyone has any similar problem and a solution please share this with me, as I am very much so attached to this car, but it is giving me serious stress just based on the fact that nobody seems to be able to pinpoint what is wrong. I will be the first to admit I am not mechanically skilled. I just need some suggestions for when I take it back in shortly to the shop it just came from.

If the following info helps, it is an 09 GTS, 145k miles, manual, it does have an aftermarket exhaust and aftermarket air intake tube and filter. It has an aftermarket stero which was wired poorly, but has been checked out and ok'd after I fixed a short it had ( I bring this up because I have heard wiring may cause this issue), I had the battery checked and it came back totally fine. As stated above other than this one problem, it runs very well I'd say. Just coming to stops is a nightmare and sketches me out, and I really don't want to drive heel toe everywhere I go just to keep the car on. Lol. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading and sorry for the long post.
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Have you checked the Idle Air Control Valve?
Have you checked the Idle Air Control Valve?
No. But as an update I have been driving the car since Monday of this week (so almost 4 days now) and it hasn't stalled. The only changes are:
When I come to stops now I leave the car in whatever gear it was in while moving all the way until I'm just about to stop, instead of rolling in neutral to a stop.
And second, the outside temperature is really nice lately. It's between 65 and 72 degrees. I noticed it does it more when it's super hot. But sometimes in cold weather too. Like snow
Another thing i can think of is adjusting the throttle position sensor
Another thing i can think of is adjusting the throttle position sensor
Yesterday it started acting up even while driving it in gear to stops, so I disconnected the MAF and put it into limp mode and it seemed to run fine. I've since plugged the MAF back in and it's stalling everywhere again. I went to autozone yesterday and ordered a new MAF that comes in tomorrow. I'll update if that works out
Tried a new MAF sensor today. Car stalled one time so far on a 30 min drive and the Idle is not ideal. Still bounces around once fully stopped. I'm going for the IAC next. Just trying to see if it's something I should take to the shop or just do myself. I think I have located it near the front of the engine right underneath the top radiator hose but I haven't confirmed that's the correct part yet.
Do you reset the computer every time you replace a part to give time to relearn?
Do you reset the computer every time you replace a part to give time to relearn?
Yes I have been. As for an update. The car has been running well ever since I put 100 miles on the new MAF. At first it started out the same but it seems better now. Still feels like I'm walking on egg shells with it, like I'm ready for it to just randomly start stalling again but so far I'm good.
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