Q: My car idles up and down after it warms up--rpms jumping up and down about every second between, about, 1600 and 1900.

This may indicate a faulty fuel pressure regulator or dirty fuel injectors causing a fluctuation in the fuel supplied to the motor and thereby causing the RPM’s to fluctuate. As you know, when you turn the key to on, the fuel pump is activated and the fuel system is primed with fuel at a specific pressure in order to supply the fuel injectors with enough fuel to start the motor. When this is less than what is needed in order for the motor to fire or in some cases higher than normal, you may notice an erratic fluctuation in engine RPMs.

This may also indicate a vacuum leak. A vacuum leak can be one of the most frustrating and difficult problems to diagnose. High idle speed is a common sign and stalling is another. Confirmation of an engine vacuum leak can be a very loud hissing sound coming from the engine area. When a vacuum leak is present in an engine, this causes an excessive imbalance in the air/fuel ratio which creates a loss of power and causes the motor to run at a much higher RPM as a result of the increased oxygen present in the fuel charge being injected into the motor. I would recommend having an expert from YourMechanic come to your location to diagnose your vehicle’s running condition.