car has trouble starting, what could it be? Options

[6strngs]

Are you throwing any codes?

nope. No Check engine light at all.

[6strngs]

alright, I tried figuring out what was going on a few minutes ago... well, I was checking for vacuum from my PCV valve (I think that's what it is... the little nipple sticking out the side of the valve cover) and when I pulled the hose off of it, it made a strange squeeking noise, and when I put my finger over it, I could tell it was blowing air out, but after removing my finger I saw that it left an oil residue on my finger. is that normal? I have this valve going into both my intake and that nipple sticking off the throttle body, for some reason I'm thinking that blowing oil into an intake would be a bad thing...

When I pulled off the throttle body to inspect the IAC, I did notice it was really dirty inside the throttle body and intake manifold... could this possibly be severly damaging my engine by blowing oil into the cylinders?

I wanna pull off my valve cover and see if I can get a better look as to what is going on. I've never done this before, is it hard? and does it need a new gasket when you put it back on? the only time I would really have time to do this would be tomorrow morning, but I doubt I could get a new gasket by tomorrow.

[LewFX]

you need a new gasket if its leaking on the sides

[6strngs]

alright, I'm gonna see what I can learn tomorrow. tonight, after playing some more, I took a small hose off of one thing on my throttle body, and it made my idle jump to about 1,800 rpms. So I drove my 5 miles to work like that, and then after work, I went back to my car, at this point it's been sitting for about 6 hours, and it's 11 o' clock and pretty cold outside, so I figure it would do the start and then die thing on me, but because I had removed that hose it didn't die on me. and after a good long search through my hayne's manual, I see something about an ISCV (idle speed control valve), now, when I was looking for this last time, I didn't find anything because I was looking for an IACV (idle air control valve) anyway, after reading though it, I think that what I cleaned before was not my ISCV, so I'm gonna rip my throttle body off again tomorrow and see if I can clean my actual ISCV and see if that fixes my problem... though I am still concerned about my PCV putting oil into my intake, and I'm wondering if that is what might've caused my ISCV to become overly dirty in the first place... anyone know more about any of this?

[Negative]

The thing you think is your PCV is the spot where you had a tube running to the original stock intake? Look on my profile you will see a red tubing line running almost straight from my intake to the top of my valve cover. You mean this< If so that is just a vent to the valve cover. That's all. It does need to be vented however there is supposed to be a baffle plate that keeps the oil splashed by the cams from running into that line. You would need to pull the valve cover to inspect it but I can't think of a single reason why there would be anything wrong with it. If you pull that tube you should hear a loud almost metal cricket chirping noise. That would be the normal sound of the valves that is otherwise inaudible because of the tube that runs it to the intake. I know cause when I first hooked up an intake to my car I did not run that tube I just put a k&n breather on there. As soon as I ran the line back to the intake it shut up. Kind of like when you put your finger over the nipple.

[6strngs]

The thing you think is your PCV is the spot where you had a tube running to the original stock intake? Look on my profile you will see a red tubing line running almost straight from my intake to the top of my valve cover. You mean this< If so that is just a vent to the valve cover. That's all. It does need to be vented however there is supposed to be a baffle plate that keeps the oil splashed by the cams from running into that line. You would need to pull the valve cover to inspect it but I can't think of a single reason why there would be anything wrong with it. If you pull that tube you should hear a loud almost metal cricket chirping noise. That would be the normal sound of the valves that is otherwise inaudible because of the tube that runs it to the intake. I know cause when I first hooked up an intake to my car I did not run that tube I just put a k&n breather on there. As soon as I ran the line back to the intake it shut up. Kind of like when you put your finger over the nipple.

yes, that red tube in your profile is going to the same nipple I was talking about. My car has an extra nipple on the throttle body, and after being on this site for a while, I notice that I'm not the only one that does. From stock, I had a tube that ran from the nipple on the side of the valve cover to the throttle body. then when I got my injen intake, I was trying to figure where everything went. I ended up splitting the hose so that it went to the intake and the throttle body.

anyway, I wasn't too worried about the noise, I just didn't know if it was normal. I am worried about the oil coming out though. I think I will have to pull my valve cover off and look. (quick question, does the oil need to be drained before you pull the valve cover off?) today, in just a few minutes, I'm going to pull my throttle body off again, and see if I can clean my iscv (for real this time, lol) I'll pull the valve cover off another day... I'm hanging out with my girlfriend tonight...

what I did yesterday, I bought a new hose which now runs from the valve cover vent to the throttle body (like stock) and I put a breather on the nipple on the side of my intake... but now I'm thinking I would probably be better off just plugging that hole instead...

[6strngs]

tomorrow morning will be the ultimate test. if it starts without me having to rev it, then I was successful in my cleaning of the iscv. However, I never actually took the iscv off... I tried... but the four screws holding it on were really ****in tight! and in the process of trying to remove them, I stripped all the heads so I cleaned what I could using engine degreaser and Q-tips.... it really cleaned alot of crap out. and my car seems like it starts better. like, instead of the rpms jumping to 1500, then dropping to 4-500, then raising back up to 750, they start at like 1500, then raise to 2000, then slowly drop back down to 750, the way they should. But like I said, tomorrow will be the ultimate test.

[Negative]

Sounds like you got the right idea. hope it works out ok. you need to figure out why oil is coming up that line. maybe put the breather back on there - deal with the sound and look for oil coming out. That is def. not normal. I've removed mine several times in the last 3 years and i've never seen any trace of it there. As I said there is supposed to be a baffle plate there for this purpose and I can't think of anything that would have damaged it except maybe a careless mechanic. I assume by your questions that you have never pulled the valve cover.
I'll help you through all this anyway I can. Just hit me up. It's not hard to pull the valve cover but you gotta be careful, ie. not strip out stuff. Just take your time and make sure you are not damaging things in the removal of it.

[6strngs]

yeah, I was about to declare that I had fixed the problem. the car started several times with no problems whatsoever, even after it was sitting for a while... but then last night after work it did it again... is there anyway to remove those four screws that I stripped the heads on?

[hitcachi]

If you do pull the valve cover off, then yes you have to replace the gasket.