Idle problem...
Idle problem...
Author
Discussion

thomasad

Original Poster:

23 posts

278 months

Monday 11th August 2003
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Had a few goes up the runway at Bruntingthorpe on sat- great fun, only managed to get to 165mph, was hoping for a little bit more! did have a passenger though. Its amazing how quickly 2 miles runs out at that speed!
Anyway since i've had the car (10 months now) starting from cold it would always tend to stall instantly unless you gave it a few revs first. After a while this started to happen occasionally when warm as well. Now after Saturday it does it everytime you pull up at a junction etc... Apart from this the car appears to be running fine. Any idea's? Maybe something to do with the throttle pots?
TIA
Andy
edited to say - when it does manage to idle is around 600rpm

>>> Edited by thomasad on Monday 11th August 10:12

suffolkfox

458 posts

274 months

Monday 11th August 2003
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It could be a basic problem of a confused ECU. The adaptive mapping of the engine is such that, in my case, it forgot how to idle and would do as you describe and die unless revved. It seemed to think that blipping the engine was normal practice & was a pain. I reset the maps and followed the standard startup procedure of holding it at a steady 900/1000 revs for approx 45 seconds until the startup timer cuts out and hey presto it learnt how to idle again and has not been an issue since. You may well have other problems, but as a starter its worth resetting the ECU to 'send it back to school' so to speak. If you find someone with the software you can also check if any error messages are showing at the same time.

sixx

81 posts

274 months

Friday 15th August 2003
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How exactly do you reset the maps?

jnr

483 posts

272 months

Friday 15th August 2003
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sixx said:
How exactly do you reset the maps?

I believe you need a laptop with the correct software and an RS232 serial cable....


Jnr

sixx

81 posts

274 months

Saturday 16th August 2003
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Ok so I have the laptop the RS232 cable and I know where the port is so two questions:
1. Does anyone know an ftp site with the software
2. Should I even be thinking about doing this?

Thanks...

gixxer1000

786 posts

273 months

Thursday 28th August 2003
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thomasad, not sure if you've fixed the idle problem yet, but my 2000 4.5 LW had the same problem recently. Turned out to be a dodgy throttle switch (needed to be hooked up to the laptop to diagnose). 2 minute fix (replace the little black switch).

Ticks over beautifully now.

sixx

81 posts

274 months

Friday 29th August 2003
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I resent my maps but that did not fix. What was it on the Pc that made you think it was the throttle switch?

mmertens

397 posts

303 months

Friday 29th August 2003
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Had something vaguely similar recently with mine (2002 4.2) - i.e. always stalling on first start, later on occasionally stalling when warm as well... Took Kevin at Castle quite a while to figure it out, turned out to be a dodgy water temperature sensor (?) which subsequently fed back faulty information to the ECU, causing the thing to think the engine was nice and hot and adjusting the fuel mixture for that (I might be talking complete and utter b*ll*x here to the technical background & consequences, but the temp sensor bit is right).

Hope you get it sorted soon.

gixxer1000

786 posts

273 months

Friday 29th August 2003
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sixx said:
I resent my maps but that did not fix. What was it on the Pc that made you think it was the throttle switch?



errrm, no idea sorry. It was my dealer who diagnosed and replaced the switch. I was shuffling around the workshop whilst they were working on it, and it did take them a while (trial and error I am guessing) to finally land on the throttle switch. Changing it was a 2 min job, and it's only a little black plastic thingy so shouldn't be too expensive (he says without having a clue what he's talking about). May be worth changing on your car and see how you go.

Joe Cozy

64 posts

281 months

Friday 29th August 2003
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I had low tickover and intermittent stalling... Mole Valley said it may be due to air con needing re-gas and service. the air con unit was trying too hard to start up and maintain activity, causing a drain, which caused a drop in revs to the point of stall.

I still need to get it fixed... but since air con was disconnected, no stalling. (I did have a service as well, however, so no cast iron guarantee this was the cause.)

Julian64

14,325 posts

275 months

Friday 29th August 2003
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When Air con loses its gas it finds it easier to turn the pulley round so that can't be it.

Might be the air con motor itself it seizing. You often get this when the systems been regassed but no oil put in.

There should be an 'in' and 'out' clutch on the front of the aircon motor which sins up and stops intermittently depending on where you have the temperature set.

Either way not good to let the aircon sit completely idle for a long time.