rough idle..

[fastjim]

yo dsmers.. my friend has a 97 rs automatic that idles like its got some aggressive cams in it.. i think it might be the timing cuz when you put it in drive the rpms dive down to like 200 for a sec and almost dies out and all the lights on the car dim in and out like as if she had like a 4000 watt speaker system running off a stock alternator.. can anyone tell what is wrong.. basically it idles real bad i think its a timing problem and if so how much does that cost to get fixed like parts wise and how hard is that to do..

[272sWrx]

cams might be too big.

[awdturbo]

well it could be a seizing pump of some type or timing. Something to drag on the motor would cause her alternator to run slower and her lights and all to dim. But thats a guess. Timing just doesnt skip unless her belt it old and over due for a change.

[koho2731]

It could be a vac lk or the plugs/ wires are going/are bad. the lights diming when the car dropes to 200 rpm is normal the alt isn't spinning fast enough to put out enough amps to power anything and is putting a strain on the battery

[fastjim]

the lights dim in and out when its idleing in drive.. when you step on the gas it goes back to normal and when you put it in park its not as bad.. we put new plugs and wires in last year.. dont know when if at all when the timing belt was changed..

[koho2731]

ck the Alt it may have the voltage regulator going bad on it also a bad ground can cause all kinds of weird things. How does the Battery terminals look?

[awdlaserbeam]

http://www.dsm.org/how-tos/tttt/tttt3.html