Idle problems

[Cavey]

Sorry chaps, sure this is an old chestnut, and have done searches on old threads, but...

My car seems to stick at around 2000 revs. When running in gear, off throttle, the revs drop to this point and then settle, rather than continuing to drop off. With the clutch in, the revs drop to 2000, hover sround there for about 10 seconds, and then drop back to about 1100.

Have removed and cleaned the idle control valve, ensured gsaket sealing properly, and lubed all the throttle linkage. Throttle does not appear to be sticking. Is there anything else to try before starting to replace stuff?

Thanks

Martin

[tvrgit]

It's a long shot and it might sound stupid but try leaving the car idling until the cooling fan cuts in. I don't know why, but mine seems to need to be reset through a complete "cold to nearly boiling" cycle if I disconnect the battery or the ISCV - after that it runs fine. It's probably the temperature sensor that activates the fast idle or cold start fuel enrichment or something, and the ecu needs to reset its range - I don't know, and I haven't had time to work through a full diagnosis (especially since it's fine most of the time).

[Hargo]

Mine does exactly the same as yours Martin.

As a temporary fix ( which seems to be a long term fix ) I found that if I unplugged the TPS it idled fine. I tried other TPS' and it did the same so I'm assuming that the problem is elsewhere ?

Cheers

Al

[ketvrin]

Hi Martin - you are talking about an S arent you and not that old bus on your profile ? if its and S3 with a diagnostic plug out of the ECU it would be worth investing in a Gunsens tester (or similar) to see what code it spits out to home in on the problem...

I just bought one from ebay for £2 but even new they are only about £16 I believe...

K

[Cavey]

Cheers all. And yes, need to update the profile. Bentley belongs to my dad, and he's not a regular visitor to PH!

Warm up cycle doesn't seem to help. However, just been out with ISCV unplugged and problem solved. Even seems to pull slightly better! (Certainly pulls better than I do, ho ho) So replacement ordered from local Ford garage and hopefully when installed that will do the trick.

Except it probably won't be that easy will it...

[Hargo]

.... Probably not , now that you've mentioned the ISCV, that's what I had to unplug on mine to get the idle down ( car's been off the road for a while so I had got mixed up ).

I got a new one from eBay and it did the same. I tried cleaning them but as soon as you plugged it in you could hear the valve move and the suction of the inlet.

I'll be interested to hear how you get on with yours though, maybe I just got a dud

Al

[Cavey]

Al

I must say that when I cleaned the valve it did seem to continue to stick when you depressed the valve, so perhaps it's just sh@gged.


Should have the new one on this weekend, so will let you know.

Martin

[Cavey]

Well, ISCV replaced, no change in symptoms. Grrrrr.

So it's not the valve or the solenoid, but the problem goes away when the ISCV is disconnected.

Any ideas what to try next?

[Mr Plow]

Might sound daft, but I had idling problems so got some carb cleaner, took off the air intake pipes and sprayed some down the throttle bodies will holding the engine on half throttle.
Did the trick for me?

[bil]

Could be extra air, have you tried, checking the air filter is good and seals good, also check the air intake ducts between the air flow meters and throttle bodies are sealed at both joints and no holes along length.
bil

[Cavey]

Cheers, will try...