Car Issues...?

Question

...when my car is in park when I first start it, the RPM goes straight to around 1500. This has happened for quite a while, but usually when I go into drive it's fine. Today when I put it into drive, everything I did added 1500 RPMs for around 2 minutes until it finally cooled down.

Is my car dying? It only has 117,000 miles ('99 toyota camry). I'm thinking it did this because I did not drive it all day Sunday. Any idea what the problem is? Should I look into getting it fixed, or look into a new car?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Actually you have it backwards. When the car is cold the cold start sensor adds fuel to the system and increases the RPM until the car warms up. As it warms up the RPM will drop to between 700-900. You have a failing cold start sensor. It is not sending accurate information to the computer control system. Minor fix for your car.

Answer 2

No, just adjust your idle - it could be a compression problem, it could be a fuel injection issue. Try using some fuel injection cleaner in your gas tank, and adjusting your idle screw (bring it down a couple of RPM). Do this while the engine is running.

The gas you are getting may be crappy, too - try a higher octane level for a while.

If it's compression, get your hoses checked/replaced.

It's not that old a car, and it doesn't have that many miles on it - don't trade it in, fix it! You'll save yourself a bundle of money!

Answer 3

Is this the1st time using this car in cold weather? Cold temps cause the engine to idle faster. They are designed this way to keep the engine from stalling and to warm the engine sooner. Once the engine reaches the normal operating temperature, you have a normal idle.
good luck

Answer 4

I've seen where a vacuum leak will raise idle take a can of carb cleaner spray it around and notice if the idle changes thats where the leak is

Answer 5

tune up