TOPIC: 2003 infiniti i35 high rev post groove

Hello my fellow gadgetmen(and women)

So after grooving my 03 infiniti i35 (same engine as the nissan maxima) I keep getting a high and erratic idle. I've checked for vacuum leaks and I've already done all of the relearn procedures but to no avail. My idle keeps bouncing between 1500 and 2000. I have engine code p0507 and a pending p1800 that I didnt have before. I grooved it 3 weeks ago and have been trying to trouble shoot ever since. Put about 600 miles on the car hoping itd relearn and adjust itself but no luck. Help!?

Kevin - first, apologies for taking so long to find and approve this post! I don't know why it was tagged as "pending" or "unapproved" but lets get the ball rolling here:

we need to dig into those codes a bit, but first, did you take pictures of your work?

Yes i did, i built up the wall first with jb quick and after i grooved and let it cure i checked for leaks before reinstalling.

I’m going to make an educated guess as to what’s happening with your car: if the throttle plate damage is any indication, you grooved too close to the “closed” or “hot idle” throttle position and the computer is freaking out at not being able to balance the air coming in to the fuel it’s programmed to deliver at idle. You need to move that groove downstream, closer to where the throttle body and intake manifold mate. That’s usually about 1/8” or 3/16”...maybe 1/4”. Not much, but as I’ve been telling people in other topics/threads, it’s #allthesmallthings.

The good news is you can probably salvage the TB and regroove it. Mix up enough JBQuick to fill the groove you’ve cut, apply it, let it dry/cure for the full time the package says, and search the forums for the “business card trick”. You’ll have to approximate and guess where the butterfly is supposed to rest at idle, but you can make a pretty accurate educated guess once you’ve done your research. All the info is here - we’ve faced and fixed issues like this on many other cars before. Including my own!!

Aafter reading several other forums and talking to mike that exactly what I did. The first groove was at its idle position and the second one was further back. Still kept idling high so we thought maybe vacuum leak, I checked everywhere for leaks and nada. That's why I am stumped.

Michael in Minnesota?
Were there any pending/stored codes in the computer prior to grooving?
How did you check for leaks?
Did you perform a full re-learn from cold each time? Is everything you disconnected to remove the TB properly re-connected?

Yea Minnesota mike, did the relearn procedure at least 10 times even checked with infiniti dealer to make sure the relearn was correct. I checked for vacuum leaks using the old carb cleaner trick and my neighbor did the old cigar smoke check and we didnt see or hear anything. I'm not sure what ti do at this point. I had no codes at all ever before this in the 3 years I've had the car. I also grooved my titan, great results and it had zero issues not even that whistle I read about on the forums. This infinit is just my problem child. It's making crazy torque though so I know the groove is working it's just this high idle and bad gas mileage that's not correcting itself after 3 full tanks of gas and 600 miles

Other than replacing the TB with a new one, remove this one again and make sure that the plate is free to move in both directions over the patch job. Part of me thinks it gets stuck somewhere around there, so more air is getting in, meaning more fuel and a higher idle.
If I'm right, be careful removing the extra material - if you take away TOO much, you may end up with a spot for more air to sneak past the throttle plate when it's closed.
It could also be that this last caution is the case already...in which case you have to build it back up without impeding movement of the plate. that'll be the toughest. at this point, it would be in your best interest to make a decision about proceeding with this TB or getting a "new to you" one to start from scratch with. How much is a used 17yr old TB at a boneyard?

Hi guys, I have been reading this thread recently and thought of an incident that happened to me. I was working on a 2015 AcurA ILX and after I installed the grooved tb, the idle was high and remained like that. I had to take it off and I noticed that if I closed the to plate it would stick closed. So I inspected the plate and there was a tiny piece of the plate that was sharpe to the touch. I got some 500 grit sandpaper and corrected it to a smooth surface. The plate didn't seem to stick anymore and there was an immediate regulation in idle. Just putting my 2 cents and it wouldn't hurt to try. Also make sure not to reuse the tb gasket. I hope this helps.

Hey why not! Simple but it really could end up being the solution so I'll try it. Thank you! I'll let you know what happens

Any updates on the I35 Kevin ?