jlcrafty

My daughters car starts and idles fine. Put it in reverse, idles fine. Put it in neutral, idles fine. Put it in drive, car wil die. If you step hard on the throttle, you can get it go, in a jerky motion. Once you reach about 1400, it smooths out and runs just fine, shifting through the gears fine. Plugs and wires last november. Cap and rotor also. New air and fuel filter. Fuel pressure about 32 at idle. Tested for major vacuum leaks with starting fluid. Is there any links to control module that are only active in drive and not reverse? Tried 2nd and low, with and without OD locked in, same results. Using Haynes manual to try and repair. The only link I could find relevent mentioned 1500rpm in the EGR valve section. I could use any help you can offer. email is jlcrafty@hotmail.com Have been a Mack truck mechanic for 17 years, but could not get trouble codes out of control module using multimeter method in Haynes manual.

 

backlash1

I've come across a car with similar symptoms to what you describe and it turned out to be a gearbox problem. There was a pressure release solenoid that wasn't working. If this is the case, your car will also stall when coming to a stop (unless you shift it into neutral). To give you an idea,this solenoid works in the same way as if you depress the clutch in a manual car, which stalls if you release it at idle. The EGR system should not work at idle, regardless of the car being in D or R or N, and if it is, it will give you a very rough idle rather than a stalling condition. Hope this helps
marc