Need help

[granny]

My 89 festiva check engine light on wont go off car runs great but when it gets to operating temp. it wants to have a high idle. any answers will be helpful. Thanks

[TominMO]

EFI or carby? Auto or manual?

[granny]

carby and manual

[heavyMetal]

Temp sensor? replace and pull Neg terminal on the battery and see if it comes back.

[granny]

thanks, will try whatever to get it fixed

[WmWatt]

Haynes manual tells how to read codes without special equipment and lists meaning of codes, or do a search of this forum as I've seen the info posted here.

[TominMO]

Closely inspect all your vacuum hoses; a crack or break might be the reason for the high idle.

[tooldude]

Granny, I noticed you didn't post a birth year, do you work on your own car?

[granny]

yea, me and my husband work on our on cars. We have already checked all vaccum hoses and everthing else we can think of. We owned a 1988 years ago and never had no problems with it put nearly 300,000 miles on it, but this 89 has been nothing but a head ache. our 88 took us all over this united states but we are not so lucky with this one but we are not giving up.

[tooldude]

I also have an 89 carby, manual, which has given me a lot of good service. The most likely problem to have with them, as I see it, and the first major problem I had, is vacuum leaks. (1)For your fast idle problem: you should first check the carb cable & linkage for sticking/binding and make sure the choke is opening all the way when warm; along with this, check that the fast idle cam breaker diaphragm (at upper rear of carb, beside the choke, angled down with a rod connecting to linkage) is activating (eng warm) so that the throttle is released from the fast idle cam (higher step). Mark the rod to see if it moves; the blue TVValve controls it. If you haven't changed the O2 sensor for many miles, it very well could be bad. (2)Ideas about hunting vacuum leaks: You need a hand operated vacuum pump to check the vacuum diaphrams around the carburetor and on the distributor, and the altitude compensator on the firewall (or isolate the 3 hoses). Check vacuum hoses over and also look for cracking right at the connecting nipple. Hardened hoses can seep air around the connector they're on although looking good, and can be cumulative. Isolate the brake booster to check for leaking. There are several metal tubes running under the intake manifold that could possibly have rust holes, and there are two vacuum thermal valves under there with plastic bodies that could get cracked. Check the intake manifold nuts for tightness (don't break those plastic TVValves underneath-take care with the plastic nipples) and/or spray it to detect leaks, and do the same for the carb base. Check for the trouble code.

[granny]

Thanks ya'll