Ford Focus Idle Control Valve - help!

wiglet

Hello!

My '98 Ford Focus suffers from a strange engine idling problem. When sitting at lights, for example, the engine revs up and down like a boy racer, which is not ideal. Only when I put my foot on the clutch does the revving reside.

I have scoured forums and the symptoms seem to point at a faulty Idle Control Valve. Looks like I can pick a second hand one up on eBay for about 30 yoyos, but have no idea where it is located under the bonnet. Anyone care to point me in the right direction?

Many thanks!
Wig

Plug

It could also be the T-peice pipe behind the inlet manifold.

italodisco

Christ my focus does that too!! Is a 00 hatch, sitting at traffic lights and the engine revs up and down up and down too, not like a boy racer but drops nearly to 0 revs and up to 1.5 .
I noticed that the headlights dim a bit when the revs drop down .

I'm not looking to hijack a thread here , just dying to see what advice you get ;-)

cletus

I think it should be on the side of the throttle body. Sometime removing and spraying with carb cleaner does the trick

wiglet

Thanks Plug and Cletus for your input here!

Unfortunately my expertise lie more with IT than with cars and engines. Where is the inlet manifold and where would I find the throttle body?

Cheers for the replies!

cletus

http://i53.tinypic.com/r8rwia.jpg

If you look at the picture above, on the extreme right there is a large plastic hose. This runs from your air intake to the throttle body. The throttle body is metal, and bolted onto the side of it is a kind of arrow head shaped with a cable coming from it.

This is the idle control valve. Disconnect the red cable from your battery, unplug the cable leasing to the idle control valve and unbolt.

It might be worth getting a can of carb cleaner and cleaning the throttle body as well. To do this, remove the hose mentioned above. Inside the throttle body is a butterfly valve (a circular piece of metal taht pivots at the centre) which is controled by the throttle cable.

Move the cable so the valve opens and spray the carb cleaner into the throttle body itself and onto the back of the butterfly valve. Scrub with and old toothbrush, and replace hose

Hope this helps

Edit: this is generally what the idle control valve looks like

https://www.google.ie/search?q=ford+focus+idle+control+valve&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=_JvkUNGiOs6YhQfPtYCIDQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=672#biv=i|7;d|jvrkD66p2DcdaM:

wiglet

Thanks for that Cletus, I'll have a look later and will report back. If I get stuck I may take a few photos and stick em up here for review if thats ok!

Cheers!

Waterson

Though Ford do not advise it, a clean up of the throttle plate with some carburettor cleaner will often improve performance. The hunting symptom can be caused by a variety of issues, including perished breather hoses, leaking anifold gaskets, blocked ICV or blocked crankshaft breather hoses. All are cheap and easy enough to check/replace. Keep us posted how you do with the ICV, though Id have a go at cleaning it out prior to replacement. Its secured to the throttle body (where your thottle cable links onto) by two 8 m bolts if memory serves. Take care not to damage the rubber O rings when removing it. Best of luck.

irelandspurs

Like plug said will probably be the crankcase pipe,did mine recently as had collapsed in on itself.

corktina

cletus wrote: »

http://i53.tinypic.com/r8rwia.jpg

If you look at the picture above, on the extreme right there is a large plastic hose. This runs from your air intake to the throttle body. The throttle body is metal, and bolted onto the side of it is a kind of arrow head shaped with a cable coming from it.

This is the idle control valve. Disconnect the red cable from your battery, unplug the cable leasing to the idle control valve and unbolt.

It might be worth getting a can of carb cleaner and cleaning the throttle body as well. To do this, remove the hose mentioned above. Inside the throttle body is a butterfly valve (a circular piece of metal taht pivots at the centre) which is controled by the throttle cable.

Move the cable so the valve opens and spray the carb cleaner into the throttle body itself and onto the back of the butterfly valve. Scrub with and old toothbrush, and replace hose

Hope this helps

Edit: this is generally what the idle control valve looks like

https://www.google.ie/search?q=ford+focus+idle+control+valve&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=_JvkUNGiOs6YhQfPtYCIDQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=672#biv=i|7;d|jvrkD66p2DcdaM:

maybe Im oldskool but that should be "disconnect black cable! surely....

cletus

apologies corktina, pure stupidity on my behalf

franorzxrh2

the idle valve is under the inlet manifold going into the block, check the rubber hoses going from head to idle valve to the t piece joining to the icv, trhese hoses parish a lot of ther time and cause this problem alot on the focuses