[manpace]

What do the plugs look like?

Good call. They are new also, I put them in when I did the valves.

 

[manpace]

I cleaned out the throttle body and the IACV and they were filthy. The previous owner had a K&N permanent engine filter and it let a lot of junk into the engine. Cleaned them out the other day and the rough idle seems to have gone away and the CEL hasn't come back.

 

[manpace]

Before and after.

The job was pretty simple; watch some youtube videos about it and you'll know what to do. Don't be intimidated about taking the whole body off, it's easy to get off and even easier to get back on. The only thing the youtubers won't tell you is how to detach the accelerator cords from the body, but you can see how here. Be sure and put them back on in the right place!

Remember that two of the hoses you have to take off will have coolant shooting out of them. I remembered this one-half second after removing one of them. Either drain out coolant first or clamp the hoses. A lot will come out.

I used Mass Air Flow Sensor cleaner and it worked great. Q-tips soaked in cleaners were useful for the IACV. The screws on the IACV were easy to remove, I love living in the desert. Didn't bother with the torx screws on the IACV itself.

Now hopefully this trouble is behind me and my Element is ready for this weekend's adventure. Happy trails everyone!

 

[manpace]

It wasn't the throttle body! Rough-idle-on-cold-start kept recurring.

Here's what it was: the engine was slightly low on oil and after I added oil the issue went away and hasn't come back.

So the moving engine parts were unlubricated when I was cold starting... 😳