The idle down on the Camry is definitely longer than the Pontiac. I'm in MA, will time Camry.

 

I live in ~50 degree weather. My Corolla starts cold at like 1250 RPM or so in park (auto). Doesn't drop below 1000 for a good 2 minutes. I just put it in drive and go, no bothering waiting. Driving it heats it faster, which drops the idle much faster. I do believe all Corollas do it.

Go buy yourself a nice OBD II scanner somewhere. One that reads live data, specifically. They can be pricey new, but if you could find/borrow one, that'd be great. And if you get a smartphone, get the Bluetooth dongle! Super cheap.

 

I just thought of one more random thing - analogoldguy - I seem to recall from one of your first posts when you joined this forum that you were contemplating changing your engine mounts due to vibration. Did you ever replace those?

The reason I'm asking is I recall from my "life prior to new engine mounts" that not only would the car shake like a paint shaker - the engine would sound like it had a way higher idle - the bad mounts made it sound a lot louder so you got "tricked" to think the idle was way off when it wasn't. You also got a bigger "thump" when putting it in D or R, since the mounts weren't holding up well. So all in all it sounded and felt a lot worse from an idle / gear shift perspective before I changed my mounts.

All that aside though - as I mentioned start with a simple tachometer check.

 

I took the liberty of taking two photos for you. It's a 60-65 degree F day, cold wind. Car was outside all night/day. Started it, put it in drive, and took this shot:

Waiting two minutes, maybe two and a half, drove 5 miles per hour approximately 50 feet to my garage, and took this photo:

In park, idle is pretty high when it first starts, around 1500, but in drive it obviously dives down. Within 5 minutes, it's always fully hot and idling around 700-800. Hope you have something similar.

I don't bother waiting for it to heat up, I just drive immediately.

 

Nice camera!

 

Hah, thanks. Just my phone, a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Great camera on the thing.

 

Well fellas, (and Haloruler64), nice pictures, but this is going to be hard to get a comparison on. You started the car and put it in drive. I start the car and it is idling pretty high, so I sit waiting for it to come down.. (By the way I am also on the internet using ---> Dial-up !!!! )

So, I'll just paste in this message I composed offline ....

Hello again,

I'll ask a friend if he's got a tachometer.(the guy who helped me look for vacuum leaks) none found.

I can only describe it this way, I do know what the correct fully warmed up idle feels like, (it happens when the temp guage hits exactly half way).

I can run the car for 4 solid minutes in the morning (as I did this morning at about 45 degrees F outside), and it is still not at that kind of idle. At four and a half minutes I am getting impatient, and direct my gaze to the temp gauge which is just starting to move off "C" like Speedy25 has said here. I imagine if I would wait 5 full minutes, the idle would be very close to fully low, but I have never waited 5 minutes.

Every day I am deciding to put it in drive while it is idling a little high, I don't love to do this, but maybe it is just a fact of life, and the transmission can take it. I hope you can accept my judgment of when a car is still idling a little high! I have been driving cars for roughly 54 years.

My Sentra used to take approximately 20 seconds to get to its' lowest idle, (even in a 10 degree blizzard) and seemed to have no relationship to the engine actually being warm. So this is a big change for me. Perhaps this is because of the more stringent emission controls of this newer car. So perhaps I need to learn and adjust!

For rolladad's question, I asked this mechanic about changing a couple of the motor mounts, he said it really did not need them, he could put motor mounts in and it could still buzz ... I really believe that the motor mounts are not fooling my perception of engine speed.

I will print out all these new responses, and try to further understand this ...
Thanks fellas, Bob P.

 

For rolladad's question, I asked this mechanic about changing a couple of the motor mounts, he said it really did not need them, he could put motor mounts in and it could still buzz ... I really believe that the motor mounts are not fooling my perception of engine speed.

Well.... most mechanics don't seem to appreciate the need for new engine mounts in these cars... it's a VERY common response. I took my car to a Car-X place and two Toyota dealerships and told them I thought the mounts were bad - ALL THREE told me nope - they are just fine, and you won't see any changes if you replace them. When I changed them myself it was like getting a brand new car in comparison. So for some reason mechanics routinely misdiagnose engine mounts as ok in these cars because they visually look ok. But if you have the original mounts sitting in there that's just not true.

And I was VERY surprised by the engine noise changing with the mounts replaced. So I wouldn't rule that out.

 

For this year Corolla a common mount to fail is passenger side front. You should be able to visibly inspect it for cracks from the engine bay. You should also be able to see the front center mount from below, its just behind the radiator. Having somebody put the car in D, R, while you watch engine movement can expose bad mounts. Jacking the engine at the oil pan very slightly to take weight off the mounts while idling is a good test too. Here are some pics and a DIY for the front right mount.
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...ion-1993-1997/507385-diy-93-97-corolla-right-front-motor-mount-replacement.html

This morning at 40F I timed a cold start on the Camry. Approx 4 mins to idle down to +-800rpm.

 

Thanks leakyseals, I went and took a look at the instructions. Looks simple enough for a non-professional friend of mine to handle.

I'll still start a separate thread fairly soon with comments about how the motor mounts react. I am not in a position to throw lots of money in wildly.

About your Camary idle down, I'd be happy with that. Mine would take 5 minutes if I ever sat there long enough!

PS Some phone lines went down outside my house, and has taken me offline and without internet intermitantly, right now I can get on, but the phone line repairman is supposed to come Monday!!

So, if I'm silent for a while you know why! Over and out! R.P.