Re: Where oh where....

[rdh@sli.com (Robert D. Houk)]

   The '83 qtc does not have an electronically controlled air bypass like the 
   newer cars, but it does have an electronic module that is called the Idle 
   Stabilizer that sits between the ECU and the ignition coil.  

Um, are you talking about the little flat, black ignition control module
about the size of a [big] matchbox, thermally mounted on a heat sink un-
derneath the dash in the glove-box region? That has nothing to do with the
idle, it's just the "electronic" ignition switch.

The idle is statically set (I hesitate to use the word "controlled") via
the idle air bypass screw on the intake manifold/throttle-body. The ECU
has no active control over the idle. (OK, OK, it does have this brute
force-and-ignorance hammer where it can wildly swing the ignition timing
when the revs go below a threshold [820 rpm on stock "B" ECU] and try to
kick the revs back uprange; I guess you can even call this an "electronic
idle stabilizer", but mostly it's just an <insert-favorite-perjorative-
here> krock, although granted a krock that does seem to work...[and in
fact, seems to work pretty well too, for such a crude <...> krock])

					-RDH