I don't think the sensors come out, (without a lot of force/you might damage them). Now you have the TB off give it a good spray with carb cleaner or similar to get all the dirt out. If you're lucky that might sort it.

In the right hand picture, inside that hole there is a black shaft. I have tried to pull the whole sensor out the side of the tb, all I have managed is to rotate it. Is there a set position for it? Have I damaged it by doing this? Should it come out or does it come as standard with the tb?

Thanks for the pictures. They make sense of all the words.

Did you rotated the body of idle control valve or just the plunger?
-you can't have rotated the whole valve as it would be damned difficult on a MPI TB, it has a plastic locating lug & it's pressed in (& a booger to get out). Even if you have done this it won't affect how the valve works.
If you have just moved the plunger Don't Panic the ECU will move it to the fully closed position when the engine is switched off.
Remove the TB from the manifold, squirt plenty of carb cleaner, plug the connectors back in, & turn on the ignition (don't turn it further to start the car!). You should see the plunger move in & out as you turn the ignition on & off.

I have plugged in the air inlet valve with the tb removed. Upon turn of the ignition the plunger moves in towards the tb about 5 mm. When ignition turns off it moves in another 5 mm before retracting back towards it original setting . Is this normal operating ?

It's doing something, which has to be a good sign. Difficult to be sure exactly what it's doing, or why, but connect it all up, put the TB back on, fire up the engine.

Report back.

Will report back in couple hours. Its worth noting also that the EML does not come on at all and my OBD2 reader shows nothing. I was led to believe that an air inlet valve sensor would throw up an error code?

The fault definitely seems linked to the warming up of the engine though.

Normal rules said:

Will report back in couple hours. Its worth noting also that the EML does not come on at all and my OBD2 reader shows nothing. I was led to believe that an air inlet valve sensor would throw up an error code?

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Often not.

its a shame the valve cannot be removed from the TB allowing it to be inspected and cleaned properly.

On some I think you can (strangely, I've never had to do it -- yet!).

Ok, all put back together, and I think it has run for a bit longer. I did try to clean out the void created by the IAC but all I had was some engine degreaser. Need to get some carb cleaner and give it a proper go, but it's looking promising. Wish I could see inside to see what if any dirt is in there. I suppose when I give it a blast with some carb cleaner it should come out.

Still cut out after a while though.

Just tested an old gash TB & it does the same.

Rib on plunger almost lines up with step in body. Moves 5mm inboard with ignition on, turn ignition off & it moves further inboard as far as it can, then returns to above position.
Bit confused by this car- I would expect the lambda to throw up a code if something was wrong with the fueling. Did you drain the old fuel out? Have you cleaned the injectors ?

I still suspect the temp sensor, but a full service wouldn't go amiss.

Coils and TDC sensor are prone to issues when hot, so do test for spark and fuel past the injectors when conked.

Ok folks. Next update. Bought some carb cleaner and took tb off. Gave it a good de gunk. To be honest it was quite clean. The function as described earlier is still same. I suspect the air inlet valve is ok.

And so, with the car running , literally just as the top hose goes hot, ie the thermostat has opened then the car stalls. It will restart with throttle applied but dies when allowed to idle on its own. It's clear this fault is linked to the water temp so I guess it needs a coolant temp sensor (the green thing on the inlet mani side). Thing is, I tested this with a pan of boiling water, and it behaved as it should, the resistance went down as the temp went up.

Or is there another sensor that would affect the ecu in this way.

Please help. I have spent considerable time trying to get this little sporting back on the road including new alternator, three of the four new brakes lines, strip and refurb of rear brakes inc new cylinders. This electrical problem is giving me a headache.

its a weird one, you could try the temp sender but it sees a constant temperature reading, it does not all of a sudden get hot water pass over it when the thermostat opens, the water its measuring will heat up gradually with the engine. So i don't think it is that really - does sound like its temperature related but i am surprised its correlated to stat opening point...

I know car don't use the lambda signal while they are warming up, they run richer during warming up - i don't know upto what temp this applies or whether its just a time delayed thing... I would expect it to go into a set 'safe mode' if you unplug both lambda's, some one here will know - i have next to no experience with the mpi engine sadly. But if it were me i'd be inclined to try running it without lambda disconnected to see if it will then idle when hot (even if badly), works on spi engines but not sure about mpi.. someone?

Unplug the temp sensor and warm up the car to see what happens.

I have taken cc1 advice. Ran car with temp sensor unplugged. Bottom hose gets hot, rad fan cuts in very early and stays on. When I then plug in the temp sensor the car immediately cuts out.

I'm guessing this indicates a faulty sensor?

I have a new one to fit ready and waiting.

Normal rules said:

I have taken cc1 advice. Ran car with temp sensor unplugged. Bottom hose gets hot, rad fan cuts in very early and stays on. When I then plug in the temp sensor the car immediately cuts out.

I'm guessing this indicates a faulty sensor?

I have a new one to fit ready and waiting.

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Get it fitted!!

Fitted brand new temp sensor. Ran engine up to temp.

No bloody change. Gutted!

Getting very frustrated. Still no eml showing. Disconnect sensor and fan comes on but runs fine.

There is clearly something else causing the cut outs. It will re start of course but cuts out soon after with no throttle applied.

Which Ecu type is fitted and which area do you live? It sort of sounds like the problem is when the Ecu goes into closed loop control when engine gets to operating temperature. Could be the pre Cat Oxygen sensor? You could try swapping the two sensors around. If the car was stood for a long time, then corrosion seems a likely cause.

Normal rules said:

....I'm guessing this indicates a faulty sensor?....

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OR a wiring or connector fault.
Check for damaged wires, if you can't test them then visual inspection & usual routine of night-time, head under bonnet & check for tiny blue sparks (the edge of the eyes are more light sensitive than the centre).
Unplug ECU connectors & a good squirt out with GT85.
Costs virtually nothing & you might be lucky.