OK well my car was running just fine untill i decided to take off the valve cover and give it a coat of paint. Now the car runs at 2000 most of the time. If i drive it for a bit then let it sit for about 10 mins and start it up it runs ok at 1000 for awhile but eventually goes back to 2000 what did I do?

 

U EFF'D it UP, my friend.

We'll need more info before we start offering possible suggestions...

1st, WTF possessed you to PAINT yer valve cover?!?!?

2nd, whadda ya drive? Engine?

3rd, SERIOUSLY, WTF were yu thinking?

4th, didja clean teh head AND teh cover THOUROUGHLY before putting 'em back together? (this is where you tell me yer not a ID10T, and I )

5th, C'mon, yu can tell me... What were you thinking?

 

well first off its a 81 4000 5 cyl na. I actually took it off to check for a noisy lifter and decided to paint it cause it was off already. BTW I am a apprentice mechaninc so it was all nicely cleaned off and put back together right. Today when I left my dads it was idling at 1000 and when I got to town after a 1/2hr drive it was at 2000 again. Whats going on? why the idle go so high when the motor is warm?

 

Still looking for some help here.

 

So, you say you're a junior mechanic? OK, Junior, let's see if we can work this out, together, shall we. Now, I'm NOT a mechanic, by trade, but I can turn a good wrench when I hafta...

It's an '81, you say, so we can rule out ECM's, for the most part, huh?

What's left that governs idle speed?

There are, what, 3 or 4 things that can affect idle speed. What are they? What aspects of the mechanical process of an operating engine affect idle speed? Answer that question and we'll begin tracking down your problem. BTW, in case you're inclined to whine about THIS process; THIS is what mechanics go throo when diagnosing a problem they've never faced before. Eventually, you'll have enuF experiences to be able to pull from those experiences to make edumuhcated guesses about future problems...