Hi guys. I am going to attempt starting my first poll with a discussion on idle speeds. I took my 1994 348 Spider in for service for a number of minor things and ever since I got it back it is running great with the exception of its idle speed. I can't prove it, but it 'sounds' to me like its idling a little faster than it was before. It is currently idling at about 1000-1100 according to the tach. I am wondering if this is normal as the service department has told me it is. Please respond to the poll or just reply to this message with your idle speed.
I've noted that in the early US 348 OM (571_89) they give the warm idle speed spec as 950 +/- 100 RPM, but it's not given in later/other 348 OM (and I'd say historically for F, it's been a +/-10% thing in the OMs) -- probably was causing them too much grief with the Owners because of the tach inaccuracy My view is the "spec" can be somewhat different depending on the conditions -- there's the range the mechanic should target when using good accurate equipment at time of warm-running adjustment (the tight spec Malcolm posted IMO) and then there's a slightly bigger range that is very acceptable for normal operation (say the +/- 10%) and then there are limits where it get obvious that something needs to be done (like if at 1500 RPM idle). If your tach is accurate, you're bouncing around the upper boundary of "acceptable", but not sure that I'd put immediate retweak as my top priorty if all else is working well -- JMO.
Identical experience with my '94 348GTS. Before major about 900 - 950; after major at main dealer 1000 - 1050.
Mine idles higher after the major as well. Hmmm.... Getting used to it and now just try to keep it between 5,000 - 7,500 rpm as much as possible so as to not notice the difference in idle so much. Cheers Kevin
I've gathered from my two months on this site that F cars don't have accurate tachometers. is this true of all models or only certain ones? do they tend to read low or high? are they consistently inaccurate across the entire powerband or only like from 0-2000 rpms or something? thanks!
