Mondeo fast idle when running
Discussion
Hi - any ideas on my 1999 Mondeo 2.0 Zetec Ghia idle?
Just bought the car. Came with short warranty, had couple of problems. They referred me to garage who repaired aircon (condensor) & cleaned butterfly area as throttle was sticky.
Now find idle at standstill is steady 1100rpm, when moving idle increases to nearly 2k, eg drive at 10mph, drop into neutral and revs idle @ 2k. sure it wasn't like this before.
It is totally dependant on car moving eg park on hill, idle is 1100, take handbrake off & roll in neutral and at a few mph idle automatically rises to 2kish, brake and revs drop back.
Very difficult to drive slowly! Garage says this is normal....
Just bought the car. Came with short warranty, had couple of problems. They referred me to garage who repaired aircon (condensor) & cleaned butterfly area as throttle was sticky.
Now find idle at standstill is steady 1100rpm, when moving idle increases to nearly 2k, eg drive at 10mph, drop into neutral and revs idle @ 2k. sure it wasn't like this before.
It is totally dependant on car moving eg park on hill, idle is 1100, take handbrake off & roll in neutral and at a few mph idle automatically rises to 2kish, brake and revs drop back.
Very difficult to drive slowly! Garage says this is normal....
It's normal for the idle to be higher whilst on the move, that's to ensure smoother gear changes. But it shouldn't be *that* high. I reckon that when they refitted the throttle butterfly they left an air gap somewhere and it is breathing in air that it shouldn't. Maybe they left off a crank case breather pipe or something?
Mike
Mike
Hi Mike, thanks for taking time to reply. I've had alook but don't see anything amiss - it does have a shiny inlet so they did clean it well.
I haven't tried another Mondy but have mentioned to other owners and they seem suprised. To be fair, on th emove revs hover atound 1500 when cold, nearly 2k when hot. Driving slowly eg 20mph in 3rd is erratic, bit like driving an auto, it surges foward taking foot off brake.
I know there's a clutch switch which I thought held revs up when changing gear, but doesn't have any effect when on the move (I have tried disconnecting but no difference). I've also checked PAS switch but thats ok as well. The idle valve has been mentioned but I reckon this would lead to erratic idle - but wondered whether someone had altered the bypass valve to compensate (but idle is smooth).
Bring back my Rover 214....
I haven't tried another Mondy but have mentioned to other owners and they seem suprised. To be fair, on th emove revs hover atound 1500 when cold, nearly 2k when hot. Driving slowly eg 20mph in 3rd is erratic, bit like driving an auto, it surges foward taking foot off brake.
I know there's a clutch switch which I thought held revs up when changing gear, but doesn't have any effect when on the move (I have tried disconnecting but no difference). I've also checked PAS switch but thats ok as well. The idle valve has been mentioned but I reckon this would lead to erratic idle - but wondered whether someone had altered the bypass valve to compensate (but idle is smooth).
Bring back my Rover 214....
Been a while but have resolved this problem, not sure how tho - hope someone knowledgable can advise.
Car came with only one key and found out that another would need coding in by Ford dealer @ £100. Short on time before hol, Mrs took it in to dealer for key along with note querying fast running problem (I wanted value for my £100 notes!). Mechanic verbally stated that this was normal for this car. Took car on holiday same day and later noticed that problem had disappeared, tickover was 900rpm and settled on this even when coasting in neutral - brilliant and now what a joy to drive at low speed.
Coincidence?
Or did mechanic reset something, clear out fault codes etc?
Car came with only one key and found out that another would need coding in by Ford dealer @ £100. Short on time before hol, Mrs took it in to dealer for key along with note querying fast running problem (I wanted value for my £100 notes!). Mechanic verbally stated that this was normal for this car. Took car on holiday same day and later noticed that problem had disappeared, tickover was 900rpm and settled on this even when coasting in neutral - brilliant and now what a joy to drive at low speed.
Coincidence?
Or did mechanic reset something, clear out fault codes etc?
Hi danbuoy, clearing out codes by themselves won't fix anything, the root cause has got to be repaired first or any codes will just reset.
As was mentioned above, the number one cause of a high idle is unmetered air getting in the intake , so the technician that programmed the new key for you probably found an over looked vacuum hose that had come loose or one that was split, Etc and fixed it for you. He would have had to plug in a WDS diagnostic tool to program the key and could have taken a quick look at fuel trims to get an educated guess on the cause of the high idle concern.
It's also very possible that when the throttle body was cleaned that the throttle cable was removed and when reinstalled it was set up too tight. allot of throttle cables mount with with sliding tab and if you tighten down the bolt that holds it in place without enough slack in the cable it will not let the throttle close all of the way.
Not having seen the car this is of course some educated guess work but I hope it clears up some of the mystery for you.
As was mentioned above, the number one cause of a high idle is unmetered air getting in the intake , so the technician that programmed the new key for you probably found an over looked vacuum hose that had come loose or one that was split, Etc and fixed it for you. He would have had to plug in a WDS diagnostic tool to program the key and could have taken a quick look at fuel trims to get an educated guess on the cause of the high idle concern.
It's also very possible that when the throttle body was cleaned that the throttle cable was removed and when reinstalled it was set up too tight. allot of throttle cables mount with with sliding tab and if you tighten down the bolt that holds it in place without enough slack in the cable it will not let the throttle close all of the way.
Not having seen the car this is of course some educated guess work but I hope it clears up some of the mystery for you.
Edited by Trooper2 on Wednesday 30th August 03:07
Hiya Troopertoo, thanks for taking trouble too reply.
Still mystified, I'd be happy if mechanic had fixed it by finding a loose hose but my cynical mind reckoned they'd have charged for it (and why not - its their expertise) and told the Mrs. I used to be a mechanic (alright it was 30 years ago) but still work on my motors - I couldn't see anything wrong and on advice of this forum chcked all those pipes out. I did look at throttle and checked free play in throttle after they "fixed" it - it was fine. The fault was utterly consistent tho - sit at tickover on downhill, release brake and at less than walking speed, revs would rise to 1700RPM, slow and revs dropped back. On the move at slow speeds it was orrible to drive.
My only other though was that one of the sensors was in limp home mode and the mecahnic had cleared it.
If I sound OTT, I'm starting to enjoy driving it now rather than lammentng the demise of my beloved Rover214
Still mystified, I'd be happy if mechanic had fixed it by finding a loose hose but my cynical mind reckoned they'd have charged for it (and why not - its their expertise) and told the Mrs. I used to be a mechanic (alright it was 30 years ago) but still work on my motors - I couldn't see anything wrong and on advice of this forum chcked all those pipes out. I did look at throttle and checked free play in throttle after they "fixed" it - it was fine. The fault was utterly consistent tho - sit at tickover on downhill, release brake and at less than walking speed, revs would rise to 1700RPM, slow and revs dropped back. On the move at slow speeds it was orrible to drive.
My only other though was that one of the sensors was in limp home mode and the mecahnic had cleared it.
If I sound OTT, I'm starting to enjoy driving it now rather than lammentng the demise of my beloved Rover214
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