# idle droppage



## mcf1000x2003 (Dec 8, 2005)

When im at a light or in park my cars idle drops from 700 to about 400 rpms like its gonna die when the back up cooling fan kicks on.Also all the lights like the instrument cluster and radio and headlights dem that split second it kicks on.IS this normal for these cars?


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## LONDONDERRY (May 19, 2004)

mcf1000x2003 said:


> When im at a light or in park my cars idle drops from 700 to about 400 rpms like its gonna die when the back up cooling fan kicks on.Also all the lights like the instrument cluster and radio and headlights dem that split second it kicks on.IS this normal for these cars?



My Altima, has the same issue. I have not addressed it because of the extreme cold weather in New England, but I believe it might be the idle air control valve needs to be cleaned or replaced.


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## Darktide (Jul 29, 2004)

Same here Londonderry... But for me my 2nd cooling fan kicks on randomly (even when its cold but not all the time). Its weird but as far as I can see its normal. Hopefully someone might have some suggestions if its not normal


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## mcf1000x2003 (Dec 8, 2005)

yeah mine kickson randomly to.U can feel it alittle at the light but if u put it in park it feels like its gonna die almost


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## LONDONDERRY (May 19, 2004)

mcf1000x2003 said:


> yeah mine kickson randomly to.U can feel it alittle at the light but if u put it in park it feels like its gonna die almost



When's the last time the car was tuned up?


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## gfriedman (Oct 12, 2005)

mcf1000x2003 said:


> When im at a light or in park my cars idle drops from 700 to about 400 rpms like its gonna die when the back up cooling fan kicks on.Also all the lights like the instrument cluster and radio and headlights dem that split second it kicks on.IS this normal for these cars?


Sounds like an electric problem to me. Maybe get your battery checked or the alternator


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## mcf1000x2003 (Dec 8, 2005)

I dint know when the last tune up was.I just bought the car about a week ago.I bought some NGK platinum laser spark plugs that I am gonna put on tomarrow.


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## LONDONDERRY (May 19, 2004)

gfriedman said:


> Sounds like an electric problem to me. Maybe get your battery checked or the alternator



I agree. Have the electrical system checked out. Autozone does this for free. If you just bought the car two weeks ago, I would suggest giving it a tune up regardless, just make sure you use Nissan OEm parts

Frank


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## jserrano (Oct 27, 2004)

The radiator fans 'kicking on' shouldn't cause your idle to drop. It if does, then it point directly to an issue with the alternator, or a radiator fan motor that is spiking too much noise on the B+ line and causing the alternator to drag the engine down.

Check the DC and AC ripple voltage on the B+ terminal on the alternator before and after the radiator fans kick in.


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## jovanni (Mar 29, 2005)

*same problems*

my alty's been doing the same when heater on ,fan kicks in every 5 minutes when it does i hear a loud click noise(is this normal)when fan kicks in the needle rises then fan kicks off quick and then idle is low,i replaced alternator when i got the car 4 months ago.is there a switch or something i can replace?also when ifirst start the car in the cold and turn heater on i dont hear that loud clicking noise,thanx


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## DRUNKHORSE (Mar 6, 2005)

The search feature is your friend guys....use it.


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## mcf1000x2003 (Dec 8, 2005)

It seemed a little worse now when I was on my break i turned on my car to listen to some tunes when all of the sudden the car starts to act like its gonna die more than usual.I replaced the plugs with NGK Laser platinums.Also the more the idle dropped it seemed the more dem my lights on my clock and cluster got but there was no battery light or check engine lights coming on.Does anyone think this is an alternator going bad or a bad battery im gonna go to autozone tomarrow to have both checked out.And I searched the forums but everything i read has no answers just a bunch of questions.


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## mcf1000x2003 (Dec 8, 2005)

so i tried the ac for the first time today and the car died on me.I took it to the mechanic at the car lot and he said it could be the pcv valve and he will look at it on monday.It also had a little clunk sound when the idle was bodding bogging down.


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## mcf1000x2003 (Dec 8, 2005)

Im sorry he said egr valve not pcv does the simptoms im having seem that it can be the egr ive never had one go bad on any car ive had.


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## gfriedman (Oct 12, 2005)

EGR can cause a car to stall so it's worth checking it. But that doesn't explain why your lights dim severly when the idle drops. Heck, you should be able to turn off your car and not see much difference in the lights. Says to me your battery is weak (terminals corroded?), alternator issues, or a bad engine ground. What's the mileage and year of the car anyways? And does the engine stumble when you first start it or does it happen after it's warmed up?


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## mcf1000x2003 (Dec 8, 2005)

it has 127k and it starts up with no problem then about 30 seconds later is when the rpms start to flucuate between 800 and 400 rpms then it will idle good then every 5-10 seconds it will flucuate again.I cleaned the battery connection and it never dems anymore but the idle still fluctuates and it dies when turning on the ac.


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## gfriedman (Oct 12, 2005)

mcf1000x2003 said:


> but the idle still fluctuates and it dies when turning on the ac.


The IAC/FICD is supposed to bring the idle up when the ac gets turned on. I'd take a look at that first - see if the wires to it are good. If they are it might need to be cleaned or replaced. There are plenty of writeups on how this is done here or get the Haynes book.


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## tuperyow99 (3 mo ago)

mcf1000x2003 said:


> When im at a light or in park my cars idle drops from 700 to about 400 rpms like its gonna die when the back up cooling fan kicks on.Also all the lights like the instrument cluster and radio and headlights dem that split second it kicks on.IS this normal for these cars?


 Hi you solve this.? Same issue


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

tuperyow99 said:


> Hi you solve this.? Same issue


You're replying to a 17 year old post. The OP may not even be on the forum anymore or probably has figured it out back then or has sold the car. We try to encourage members not to reply to threads older then 2 years old; it takes up useless space on the server. If you have a situation, you're more then welcome to start a new thread; you'll get much better response this way.

Thanks for your support.


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