'54 T2 High Revs

February 4, 2006

Hi,

my gf has a '54 Corolla T2 and has noticed a problem which the dealer says is normal, wondered if any others have noticed anything similar.

When she turns the ignition on the car sits and idles at 2000-3000 revs until she accelerates then it returns to normal, it doesn't happen from a completely cold start only say when she's been out, come home and then gone to go out again. This is a bit concerning as I have never experienced it on any other car and makes one hell of a racket.

Any one have any thoughts on this one.

Cheers

Andrew

February 4, 2006

I must say that that does sound a bit odd, and I know that my 1.6 '05 does idle a bit high from cold (~1.5k), but settles down once its warmed up.

The only thing that I can think of is the automatic choke. Now, I've only been driving about a year, and so have little understanding of what it does, but I can remember that my parent's first car with one would sometimes idle at pretty high revs, which they always put down to this.

Can you clean the choke? or would Shell Optimax or similar fuel with the additives help? I'm afraid that someone else will have to answer that.

David.

February 5, 2006

I wouldn't say that sounds normal - my car (1.4 VVTi) revs a little bit high at idle when its stone cold, but this lasts for 10 minutes or so until the car has warmed up. AFAIK this is to speed up the engines warm up period, during which the emissions are rubbish - its basically to warm the catalytic convertor up to temperature (those things have to be HOT to work right) as quick as poss. If I restart from hot, I think (although its barely noticeable) the car probably idles slightly high for 10-15 seconds, but only at about 1100-1200rpm - not 3000!

There isn't any real reason for it to rev to 2000 rpm for only a few seconds until you accelerate - can't see any useful purpose or reason for this. It sounds like somethings a bit dodgy in the inlet manifold to me, like a sticking valve - don't know enough technical info on the inlet systems of these engines to be any more precise though. Hopefully someone else can enlighten us :)

Oh btw - not wanting to tread on anyones toes, but all the VVTi engines are fuel injected and therefore have no separate choke - all of the warm up period tweaking of engine speed at idle and fuel mixture is handled by the ECU, which takes readings from all over the place (air temperature and mass, engine temp, oxygen content in exhaust and others) to pick the best settings for the engines systems at any given moment. There are however lots of bits in the inlet manifold that can be cleaned, and a few bits that can stick in the wrong position.

A tank of Optimax wouldn't hurt, but I'd be surprised if it fixed the problem.

February 5, 2006

Oh btw - not wanting to tread on anyones toes, but all the VVTi engines are fuel injected and therefore have no separate choke...

I told you I knew nothing about them - and now it turns out that my car doesn't even have one! :rolleyes:

David.

February 6, 2006

i think that is normal.mine on a cold start revs @ about 2500 rpm but starts gradually going down once warmed up.on hot starts its about 1000-1200 but drops very quickly once you get going :thumbsup: