Just idling bad? Otherwise runs fine? First thing that guys suggest is to clean the t/b and IAC. If that works,fine. It didn't for me. So after my IAC,CTS,and harnesses tested good (got codes 22 and 25) I thought to pull the CTS. The probe was black. Not crusted but like an oxidation. So I polished it with a 3M pad and installed. The codes were gone immediately and the idle was problem solved after driving the vehicle for about 6mi. I do wish I'd have taken a pic of the CTS to post. I'm posting this because no where I searched,and I searched ALOT,was this mentioned. Give it try. It can't hurt. Hope it helps.

 

Good stuff man, did all that today and it made my throttle response and pulling out wayyy better.

 

One must ask: Why was the CTS probe black? Will this happen again?

 

GLAD it worked out for you.


As to why the probe was black I can only guess. It wasn't something you could just wipe off that's for sure. I know the original owner and that she kept the vehicle well maintained. The cooling system,which I just worked on maybe 6mos ago,was clean. Beings it was more than likely the original CTS my guess is that over all that time maybe a chemical reaction was taking place between the brass of the probe,the aluminum of the stat housing,the coolant,and heat. Will it come back? Probably. But I only started having a bit of an idle problem last summer so it took maybe 16yrs to get that way.

I did find out that my XJ,which was built in Sept '96,has '97 parts. At least the CTS was. HOPING I also got a 29 spline C8.25.