Car Stalling

zilog_jones

I've had my '98 Fiesta (1.3) for about 9 months now. I'd stall it occasionally (sometimes more than once a day ), and just assume it was my fault. However, earlier today it got particularly annoying.

It often stalled when I was slowing down, but today I noticed even when stopped and in neutral, if I revved it a good bit for a couple of seconds then let off the pedal the revs would just go right down and it would start knocking pretty badly (the battery light would flicker too), and sometimes it would cut out completely. Surely this is not normal? I don't know what revs it's doing as it's the LX, i.e. no tachometer

So maybe it's not all my fault? It's my first car, so don't really know what's normal (only other thing I've driven in was my instructor's Atoz). I also noticed the when idle if I turn the wheels fully the engine slows down a good bit too.

I've done a bit of Googling for similar problems and suggestions have including cleaning the throttle body and related things (someone here suggested this might solve the pretty rough idling as well), the idle control valve, adjusting the valve clearances, and even the alternator (though I can't say it's any more problematic with the lights and rear window heater and stuff on). Any ideas?

Stark

I'm having the same problem with my car at the moment. Seems to be worst on hot days/after long drives although the temperature guage reads normal and coolant is fine etc. From what I can gather on the Internet, the idle control valve seems to be the most likely culprit. I'm going to try cleaning it out this weekend when I'm at home and can get my father to give me a hand with it.

zilog_jones

Yeah the hot day thing almost makes sense - up until yesterday I hadn't really driven at all in the daytime for a few weeks, only in the morning (my driveway's in the shade till after noon) and evening (12 hour shifts in Dell FTW). I see nothing unusual with the temperature or anything else either.

BTW I have absolutely no trouble starting the car, either when cold or after it cuts out.

I like the sound of only having to clean something - I've had to replace enough fuppin things in this car already!

ciaran76

Can't believe I came across this thread today as this exact same problem happened me twice in the last few days.

I will ask my friend to look at the idle control valve on Sat. to see what he thinks about it.

daedalus2097

Depending on the engine (and I think this applies to the 96-99 model) it's electronic single point injection, and therefore no idle control valve. In fact there's very little mechanical adjustment on them. The injector can be cleaned with throttle body/carb cleaner, but it's a fairly common problem with these engines. A good service might help a fair bit, new air filter, new fuel filter if it hasn't been changed in a few years, correct gaps on the spark plugs (maybe new plugs?) and get the valve clearances adjusted (though this shouldn't affect the idling without affecting the engine while driving/revving too).

The battery light will tend to come on normally when the engine begins to stall so it's nothing to worry about. Pretty much rules out the alternator too...

zilog_jones

According to the Haynes manual there is an "idle air control valve". It doesn't specify which petrol engine, so I assume it's in both. It talks about cleaning it and fitting new O-ring seals, so I guess it's the same thing?

I got new plugs and an air filter in January. I don't know when the valve clearances or fuel filter were last done - does the fuel filter cost much?

I was hoping the battery light thing was normal, as I guess the alternator's not getting enough power from the engine when it's about to cut out and I had no electrical problems besides that. When idling it does slow down noticeably when I put the window heater or lights on, but I guess cleaning out the injector and idle control valve should help this?

Thanks for the help, and it's nice to hear it's nothing out of the ordinary

daedalus2097

Hmmm... I may be way off then, I thought only the carbourettor models had an idle control valve. But if there's one on yours, that's probably the first place to look. The fuel filters are cheap enough, you can pick one up in Halfords, but it's less likely to be causing this kind of thing without reducing power under driving conditions... Slowing down is also normal as the extra load causes the alternator to become harder to turn, hence the engine drops in speed a little bit... (and hence you shouldn't leave your rear heaters on when you don't need them cos it'll use more petrol!).

Might still be worth checking the gaps on the plugs... Doesn't make much difference but they're rarely supplied with the correct gap. The gap is related to the engine and not the plug, so go with whatever the Haynes Manual specifies...

patrickc

i has a 98 fiesta same happened some years back, it stalled a good bit for no apparent reason, turns out was the air intake valve as mentioned before.

fozzle

My '91 Swift does this too. She starts first time but my driveway is very steep and she cuts out after a few seconds of my foot being off the accellerator. Unfortuneately she does it any time my foot's off the gas for the first 10 or 15 minutes of driving her, I'm worried someone's going to go into the back of me somewhere. She's my first car and I know bugger all about engines so should I just bring her to a mechanic or should get out my Hynes Manual and try fixing/cleaning her myself?

walshs3

Yeah i had the same problem with my 98 fiesta flight,garage told me it was the airflow monitor,its a little black box about the size of a cigarette box on the pipe coming from the airfilter housing,was told to geta new one,not a secondhand one,was told it was about 70euro for th part but cat remember if that was inc or ex vat,now to get the money together for it.:)

zuutroy

As stated, IACV or air flow sensor or maybe the distributor has let in some moisture....

Bluenarf

ford: fix or repair daily!!

---

Paul
www.paulsnet.org

daedalus2097

zuutroy wrote:

As stated, IACV or air flow sensor or maybe the distributor has let in some moisture....

Most of those engines have electronic ignition, so no distributor... Might be worth checking all your spark plug leads.

Ah, in fairness, while those engines give this kinda trouble fairly commonly, they tend not to completely die, which I kinda like about them. I was driving one for years, had a couple of problems with it but always managed to either fix it on the side of the road or limp home in it. I switched to a '97 Golf then, 2 days later it died totally and without warning in the overtaking lane during morning traffic. Took me a week to find the problem, which turned out to be a tiny broken connector on a sensor

zilog_jones

daedalus2097 wrote:

Most of those engines have electronic ignition, so no distributor...

The engine got electronic ignition some time before the Mk. IV came out - possibly as early as 1988(?)
I'm getting my idle control valve cleaned out today (had to take it back to a garage for some previous unfinished work anyway), so I'll see how it turns out soon.

Hal1

Air filter / lambada sensor? that was the case with my polo when it was having performance issues. Try a new set of plugs & leads, change the oil

zilog_jones

Cleaning the idle control valve seems to have done the job. I've only driven home from the garage so far, but had absolutely no trouble. It seems to be a bit livelier as well - maybe he cleaned the throttle body and stuff too? I didn't get to see the mechanic today (fookin Bus Eireann made me late - now I remember why I got a car! ).

Hal1: I got the car serviced in January, including new plugs, oil and the air filter. Luckily in my case it seems to have just been some dirt and not anything expensive