Van’s Chevy 350 Engine Rough Idle Problem Solved and a Hike

Saturday May 20, 2017 Troy Oregon

Working on the rough idle problem

When we were in town yesterday I purchased a new PCV valve for the van’s engine. I’ve had a rough idle problem with the Chevy 350 engine in the van and haven’t been able to solve the problem for over a year now.

I installed the PCV valve and started the engine and warmed it up and the problem was still there, so I started checking things over making sure all the rubber hoses fit tightly. In the process, I  happened to notice the TBI’s throttle was not closing all the way, staying about an eighth inch to go to get to the stop. I pushed the throttle lever to the stop and the rough idle seemed to disappear.

So I hunted around for a spring to install to pull the throttle linkage to the stop and installed it. There’s the spring installed to pull the throttle linkage back to the stop.

Why the engine ran rough at idle

So here’s what I figured out was happening to cause the engine to not idle properly. There is a switch in the throttle position sensor that is supposed to be triggered when the throttle lever goes to idle to tell the computer to idle.
But since the linkage didn’t go to the stop, the idle switch wasn’t turned on so the computer didn’t know to idle and caused the engine to run rough. This problem might also happen if the throttle position sensor is not adjusted right to trigger the idle switch.

I was happy to finally solve this problem.

Dan tells me to go take a hike

I checked with Dan to see how he was doing on the bedroom wall. He was almost done and told me to go for a hike which sounded like a good idea to me.

I walked out the road and left it here to walk on an elk trail going through the forest.

Elk trails come and go

Sometimes I could walk on the elk trail and sometimes it just disappeared until I picked it up again.

I walked through this field of wild flowers.

And across this field and walked along the tree line on the right.

Occasionally I picked up the elk trail again.

I crossed over this grassy field and walked along the tree line from right to left.

There were several little ponds in the grassy field.

I worked my way up along the trees on the right, then walked along the trees in the back working my way to the left.

Elk mud bath

This muddy hole is an elk wallow. They’ve been using it recently as the water was all muddy.

I walked through these yellow flowers heading towards home.

I was getting pretty bushed and eager to get home for a rest. The house is across this field in the trees.

Where’s my shirt

I was glad to be back at the house for a glass of water and a rest. Only trouble was I started out the walk with an outer heavier shirt that I took off and was carrying, but when I got back to the house, eventually I realized I didn’t have that shirt. I think maybe I left it on an old car I sat on for a bit, but I’m really not sure what I did with it. Of course this means I’ll have to go for another walk and look for the shirt.

Nice looking wild flower

After dinner Dan and I were shooting the bull out in front of the house when I spotted this wild flower in the grass.

It wasn’t long before the dark settled in and that was it for another fine day.