Could this be causing my rough idle?

Noticed that the inlet tube from the airbox is loose....is it supossed to be like that? The part by where the fender is, I can move it with my arm

 

Nope

 

the part where the fender is the tube I can move it clockwise and North to south about an inch .......

 

Not the cause of rough idle and it's not supposed to move around like that. Last plug change? Gas is good?

 

So ima take off the elbow and see if i can seal it, plugs 3k ago, yup gas is good

 

Think about the loose inlet tube compared to the deck plate mod. Both are letting air in through a source other than the stock inlet.
People do deck plate mods (myself included) all the time and have no issues with idle.

 

so if i take off the elbow i can run the truck like that?

 

That precisely what caused a rough idle noise for me. The insulation wore down and the intake rattled against the fender.

At least try to wrap with new weather stripping and see what happens.

 

You could but you’d be drawing air from inside the engine bay vs taking air from the wheel well.
Basically you’d have a warm air intake.
You could leave it alone or fix it. Removing the air box isn’t hard.

 

This brings up a good question.

What kind of rough idle are we talking about?

Also share some details about your truck. Like engine, miles, is it up to date on it’s services etc.

 

For a rough idle your guna want to remove and clean your throttle body and IAC

Note there are two gaskets be sure to get replacements


yes, you may experience a higher than usual idle but it will return to normal after the computer figures it out.

 

2006 v6 4x4 OR, 115k meticulously maintained. Rough idle = resonance in the cab at idle and low rpm.

Changed the plugs, cleaned the MAF, throttle body, etc. No change.

There’s a few threads on TW about this being solved by insulating the air intake. Common solution.

 

You're likely referring to second gen taco air intake setups, I dunno, I'm not gonna search it myself. Insulating the intake is not a common solution to anything for a first gen. Sorry.

 

Sounds like something likes to vibrate at that engine rpm .

If you keep securing different things you should get lucky .

Baffles in the muffler or cats broke loose tends to drive people crazy because nothing to see.

 

Is it a rattle, or rough engine idle? Are you saying the engine is performing okay, but there is a noise from a loose part? Does it go away when in neutral?

My 4cyl truck "shakes" a bit at stop lights, but in neutral, it goes away. I think the idle speed has just dropped to where a harmonic effect is causing some vibration through the truck, because the engine is running fine. Could be trans mount wear, or something else, but nothing currently affecting function anyway.

 

is there something magical about the first gen that makes it immune to air intake vibrations?

 

i took the elbow off of mine in 2001 and never had an problems. and after 18 years the idle is just as rock solid just as the day it came off the show room floor

 

What's magical about the 1st gen in this case is you are posting a 2nd gen question in the 1st gen forum and he did a good job scoping his knowledge to be centered on 1st gen. experience. Seems like a perfect answer to me, approaching magical, you're absolutely right.

 

The limitations of 1st gen magic are unknown.

 

I have a 2nd gen, but had a similar situation as the setup is similar in mine. I wondered the same about the idle, but after playing with that part with the engine running realized it had little impact. However, the loose elbow/ bolt to fender/ old dried out foam gasket were rattling and I could hear the air being sucked in the elbow where it meets the fender. It sounded awful and I imagined it being all sorts of things. My improvised solution was two fold- wrapped some electrical tape around the pipe where it meets the fender, and then used some glue to reseal the foam. Eliminated air/ rattle noise. I simultaneously cleaned MAF and throttle body as others have recommended and that made a difference in the idle. Disconnect battery while you do those and ECU seems to relearn quicker.