idle headaches and exhaust issues

[michael.defeo]

Allright...so I bought a VR4 and it seemed to be in really good condition. 87k miles, just had $2k worth of maintenance done, int. and ext. are in great condition...etc. I put about 125 miles on the vehicle and noticed a few things.

Exhaust issues first:

1. There is a difference between the pressure from each bank of exhausts. The left bank is about twice the pressure of the right exhaust.

2. After starting the car, usually there is a white smoke/condensation coming out of either the left or right bank of exhausts, but never both. The condensation/smoke sometimes alternates sides from startup to startup.

3. An odorless liquid, maybe water collects on the tip of the exhaust that has the smoke/exhaust coming out of it.

4. I only started noticing this after unhooking the battery and presumably wiping the memory of the ECU.

5. I have not noticed any of these things when examining the exhaust after the car has been driven.

Is this normal???

Now on to my real concern...my unstable idle.

First time I drove the car, i noticed the idle 'stuck' at about 2k when coming to a stop...the previous owner said it was probably a sticky valve. On the drive home from buying the car when stopped, the idle oscillated between about 1300 and 2000...so every time I hit a red light, people thought I was looking for a race!

What I tried...

To try to resolve this problem I disconnected the batt. for about 20 min to reset the ECU. (this did nothing)

I tried adjusting the TPS following the link on the WIKI...everything was to spec except for the last measurement of the voltage between pins 2 and 3. (this did nothing)

I tried to adjust the idle with the setscrew on the throttle body...this did not effect the idle too much (see below)

I tightened the screw all the way to see if the idle would eventually fall, and after driving for about 15 min, pulling into the gas station, the rpms dropped and the car died...victory! I opened the screw a bit, started the car and had a stable idle at about 700 rpms. I was elated until I drove about 5 more miles, stopped and the rpms rocked back to 2krpms.

I think all I have left to check are caps on the ECU and removing and cleaning the ISC. Does anyone have any other suggestions...is my exhaust behavior normal? and of course WFT is going on with my idle?!?!?!?