NB Mk2 2000 1.8 Running Rich

[devnull]

Evening Chaps,

Put the car thought the MOT the other day. The car struggled to pass the MOT, and the tester needed to rev the tits off it for it to pass. He said it was running rich, and to be fair you can smell it. Car is on 80k.

Here's the facts:

• Plugs, leads, filters, gearbox oil, engine oil and timing belt changed in the last year.
• Prior to me purchasing the car a year ago, the previous owner needed to fit a new cat to it to pass the MOT as the previous one had collapsed. The cat as far as I know is an aftermaket one for the MX5.
• Reading the codes off the LED, the car only reports P1523 - VICS solenoid open circuit. Suprise suprise the VICS solenoid was indeed dead, and i've got a new one on order.
• Car doesn't feel quite right - feels a tad gutless, compared to another 1.8 owned by a mate. This might be due to the VICS solenoid as it alters the torque curve, but I won't know until i fit the new part.

I've also ordered a tested secondhand genuine Oxygen sensor, incase the VICS solenoid is a red herring.

Anything else I should be looking at in order to try and resolve this?

Pointers gratefully accepted

[MX-5 Lazza]

VICS is only open for midrange so won't affect an idle emissions test.
It'll be something that affects fuelling so that'll most likely be a sensor. The O2 sensor is a fair shout but also the engine temp sensor or even the thermostat. Does you heater get really hot or just warm? MAF could also be faulty. How you test each of these I'm not sure.

[devnull]

The heater gets thermo nuclear, which is standard for the Mk2 as I understand

[MX-5 Lazza]

Standard for all MX5. So probably a sensor and not the thermostat then.