idle problems (spuddering)

ok so i've had my 99 vx for a while now. i bought it in 02 with 19000 miles on it. it's run like a dream ever since. i've never had any problems with it minus a new starter and some brake issues.
however yesterday i drove to get some gas for the lawn mower. it drove fine and there weren't any problems. about 3 hours later i was going to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things. when i started it up it started fine. as i put it in reverse it sounded like it was sputtering a little. but i didnt think anything of it. as i was about a mile down the road i noticed it was running very rough. it sounded like it was sputtering and struggling to keep going. i turned round and went home to see if anything had come loose of what.
about a month ago i had my starter replaced and the guy that did it for me said that there was a vacuum hose that was hanging down there. he couldn't figure out where it went. i didn't think much of it cause it was running fine and i haven't had any problems with it until now. i looked under and saw the hose just hanging there. i cant figure out where it goes to. i did follow it up and it ended near the airfilter housing with it connected to nothing. it doesn't look like that end has ever been connected to anything before. so i figure it's some sort of overflow thing or something like that.

any info on this would be great!

also! my check engine light is flashing on and off at me. i've never seen it do that beore.

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Originally Posted by brainwashed

also! my check engine light is flashing on and off at me. i've never seen it do that beore.

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Take it to O'Rillies or somewhere that will read your OBD code & find out why it's flashing.

A check engine light isn't a major concern....UNTIL IT STARTS FLASHING.

Ditto what Dub said.

If it is "flashing", that is NOT a good sign. The only time I would drive on that would be to get it to the shop.

The airbox doesn't have a drain so that is fishy. The only other close plumbing I can think of that runs to that is from the intake that runs to your passenger valve cover. That needs to breather, so if it is getting "too much" breathing without a line/filter, it will run rough.

ok i figured these pics would help out more. i live 30 miles from town and we don't have an o'rillies anywhere close. i don't want to drive it in to town with the risk of permanent damage to my baby.

alright this is the hose i was talking about. it comes up by the air filter housing which is on the left. the windshield washer fluid reservoir is the bottom right and the power steering fluid reservoir is on the top. i have no idea what this hose is for. but when i followed it down...(next pic)
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._5078944_n.jpg

it led down to this. i have no idea where this is supposed to connect to. it was connected to something. but i can't find it or see where it goes. i have a feeling this could be my problem.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3741587_n.jpg


also this is all on the drivers side.

I think that is the breather tube for the front axle, but you may want to wait for others to confirm that. :_confused I don't think that that being disconnected would have anything to do with you sputtering. I don't know what the flashing check engine light is all about, but have you ever changed your fuel filter or fuel pressure regulator? If either of those is bad that could cause the sputtering. Also, have you changed your PCV valve (it tends to get clogged), or cleaned your EGR? All of these could contribute to sputtering, but you'll probably have to have the engine code read to find out why the CEL is flashing.

That loop in the hose made me think the same thing ... axle breather. Since I still don't have the VX in the driveway yet, I can't check for sure.

ahh alright you guys were right. the hose was the axle breather. after feeling around on the axle i found the hole it went into. as much as i was hoping that would have been the problem it certainly wasn't. major bummer for me. but i'll try replacing the fuel filter and pcv valve and see what else i can do. it also kinda smells like gas while it's running too. so maybe there is a leak somewhere or something. i'll figure it out somehow haha.

I would vote for and EGR issue. I had a new truck suffer the same symptoms and it turned ou to be a bad EGR valve.

would suggest the fuel pressure regulator. If the pressure is backing up fuel may be leaking out and causing the odor mentioned. On the bright side none of these is expensive, fatal or difficult. Spend the weekend taking out and cleaning or replacing.

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Originally Posted by circmand

would suggest the fuel pressure regulator. If the pressure is backing up fuel may be leaking out and causing the odor mentioned. On the bright side none of these is expensive, fatal or difficult. Spend the weekend taking out and cleaning or replacing.

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i'm actually going to be doing that this weekend. i'm gonna start with the fuel filter and pcv valve and work my way up. hopefully those will cure my lady and her and i can go drive off into the sunset! it will be romantic...

Don't know if you saw this, or not:
http://www.vehicross.info/forums/sho...pr+replacement
Great write up on FPR replacement. PCV and EGR are easy to get to. The fuel filter is in an awkward position, but it's not hard to replace. The hardest part for me was getting the fuel lines off of the old one as they where sort of fused on there.

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Originally Posted by MSHardeman

Don't know if you saw this, or not:
http://www.vehicross.info/forums/sho...pr+replacement
Great write up on FPR replacement. PCV and EGR are easy to get to. The fuel filter is in an awkward position, but it's not hard to replace. The hardest part for me was getting the fuel lines off of the old one as they where sort of fused on there.

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i did see that earlier.
at the moment i am soaked in gas while eating dinner. the lines were fused on there but i cut them off since i had a little room to play with. i cut myself in the process and a little gas got in there and it stings like a mother right now haha. one of these days i'll learn how to do things the easy way.

ahh ok i put in the new fuel filter and pcv valve. still no luck. i will say that putting the new fuel filter i probably one of the biggest pains i've ever had to deal with. there isn't much i can do now since i'm stranded at the moment. i guess monday i'll try taking it somewhere and seeing if they can figure it out.

i will say that after being a member on this site for a few years now and just recently starting to post. i'm very glad this site exists! i surfed around on here for a while last night and came up with some really cool ideas for what i'd like to do to it next. the wheels i've got on it right now are ox off road wheels and the finish has pretty much been eaten away from all the salt from the roads(before i lived in florida). i never saw anyone else with the same wheels before until yesterday when i saw there were two vx's with the same set up. also a 3rd set up that i think were painted sinc eit looks almost the exact same but only painted. i'll post some pics in another thread of my set up now andwhat i'de like to do with them after i fix this stupid problem.

Check your spark plugs/coilpacks. It seems that yours is misfiring bad. It happened to me when coolant filled the spark plug hole grounding the spark.

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Originally Posted by jdm monkey

Check your spark plugs/coilpacks. It seems that yours is misfiring bad. It happened to me when coolant filled the spark plug hole grounding the spark.

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hmmm... how do i do that? haha. i've never dealt with these kinds of spark plugs before.

fixed!
thanks to a very very awesome poster on this forum who sent me a code reader to borrow! i was able to fix my baby without taking it somewhere.

the first thing i tried was replacing the fuel filter and pcv valve. i get better gas milage now haha . but that didn't fix anything.

for the last 4 years my check engine light has always been on. sometimes it would go off. but 90% of the time it was on. after hooking up the code reader i found two codes. one was telling me that cylinder 4 was misfiring and the other was saying that there was "insufficient flow" to the egr valve.
the first thing i did was replace all the spark plugs to see if that would help anything. still nothing though. then i took the egr valve off and took a toothbrush and some gasoline and scrubbed the crap out of it. then i soaked the inside of it in gas for a half hour and then cleaned it some more with the toothbrush. then i hooked it back up and tried starting it again. poof! one code gone! i was still misfiring though. the only thing i could think of to do was try replacing the coils. so i ordered that from advance auto and i found out that just one was 100 bucks! i do not have 600 bucks to play with at the moment so i ordered just one in hoping that maybe the guy at the counter might screw up. and give me all 6 for 100 bucks. no dice though. put the new one on and poof! no more misfire! car is fixed!

so now that my baby is fixed i took a nice drive down to johnson city yesterday and everything went fine! but one thing dampened my victory. my cd player finally took a crap on me. so now i'm in the market for a new cd player with a mp3 hook up. this is the 5th stereo i've been through. i should also mention that i listen to hardcore/punk and that i like to blast the stereo when i'm cruising. that might have a little to do with why i've been through so many stereos in the last 8 years.

so i'd like to thank anyone who helped me out in anyway with advice and that special poster who will remain nameless for letting me borrow that code reader! you guys saved me so much money!

i love this board!

The hose that seems to go no where is for the front axle. Mine isn't looped but kinda hangs out of the way

brainwashed,

Sorry I didn't get to meet up with you when I was in JC earlier this month. We didn't get in till Sat morning & had to leave Sun afternoon.

Next time you're near civilization (no rush though), can you send the reader back. I have an intermittent CEL on my Eclipse that I need to turn off from time to time (about once a month). It's just a low temp indicator (P0128) due to the fact that I'm running without a thermostat but it won't go off on it's own.

Tom

Code readers are great. I like mine. But would never spend the cash that the typical car parts place wants for a decent one. Heck, those places (Autozone, Advanced Auto Parts, O' Rileys) will pull your codes for free if you just ask.

That said, they are not the end-all/be-all for diagnostics. Its amazing how much crap can go wrong with the engine and not even throw a code. I had a erratic idle prob for months and not one code was thrown.

BTW: If your check engine light is not on, you are NOT throwing any active codes. Provided the check engine light and computer are working properly, no active codes are stored if the CE light is off. There can be "pending codes" (intended to store codes that are not deemed serious enough to report unless repeatedly detected) and "historical codes" which is simply a history of codes thrown since the last reset, but those are largely academic, and a decent code reader can pull those up for you as well.

I have a cheapo code reader from ebay I got for 40 bux that sends codes and real-time engine data direct to my android based phone. Its a no-brainer if you already have a droid, and the software is free.

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Originally Posted by Grif

Code readers are great. I like mine. But would never spend the cash that the typical car parts place wants for a decent one. Heck, those places (Autozone, Advanced Auto Parts, O' Rileys) will pull your codes for free if you just ask.

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Agreed. I got a cheaper model that I keep at work in case I or any of my co-workers need it (used twice the first week I had it). IIRC, it was only $50 at AutoZone.

The parts stores that read the codes for free are fine when needed but since the low temp code on my Eclipse shows up about once a month, it gets to be a pain to stop in that often.

BTW, I do also have a scan guage mounted in the RV (so I can keep an eye on the Alt Voltage (I have the power inverter from hell mounted in it)). Again, it's just easier to have the other unit for the recurring codes.