Technical Odd electronics/engine idle issue....Any Ideas?!

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Technical Odd electronics/engine idle issue....Any Ideas?!

El Punto Kid

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For the past year my lovely punto has randomly being giving me trouble! It has got quite annoying so any advice would be very appreciated!

I have a 2003 reg 1.2 8V Active Sport and every so often I return to find it has a flat battery. With a jump start all is fine again - have cleaned the battery leads, put a voltmeter accross it which indicates the battery is healthy and after a drive round the block charged up so am guessing the alternator is fine. What happened recently is that the engine wouldnt idle properly and without my foot on the accelerator the revs would continue to drop past 900rpm (where it normally idles) till the engine stalled without much fight. would this be due the the battery being completely flat as the problem disappeared after allowing the engine to rev and charge the battery? (am aware it sounds like I flooded the engine but am certain I didnt)

Whats weird is sometime the revs would stumble around the 900 mark in traffic etc even tho the battery seemed fine. Is it possible the problems are linkeed? ie if i sort out what is draining the battery, it wont be constantly low on charge and this idle issue will go away?

The car was serviced and MOT'd within the last 6 months and both times the mechanics working on the car found nothing despite looking for a fault. I did replace the exhaust not too long ago (due to it rusting through) and that seemed to stop the 'hunting' around when idle for a while... also I do notice a knocking sound when the back of the car is loaded up but think thats due to the handbrake cable knocking about (read a post on the forum which related to this)... the car engine does sound a little ragged but I think thats mostly me being paranoid! the engine performance seems fine and as it has always been before this problem.

I think the drain maybe due to the hazards staying on when I lock the car... it doesnt happen often and normally I notice so unlock the car turn the hazards off and try again but sometime I guess I dont notice and over the course of a working day, maybe its enough to drain the battery such that there isnt enough juice to get the starter motor going? Anyone come acroos this problem before?

Sorry for the long boring post! Like I said any advice would be much appreciated, even if its just telling me how wrong I am, and I have a much bigger problem!
 
Sorry for not reading all your post but the idle sounds like the ICV, remove air filter and spray carb/brake cleaner into the little hole.

The other problem of the flat battery - if you have replacen't replaced the battery do so.

Also if you have aftermarket stereos make sure they are turning themselves off.
 
I dunno.. if the hazard lights are staying on (I presume they flash when the alarm arms) then the battery charge-drain problem Chief Suspect has to be the alarm.

Lock the car using just the key (i.e. don't set the alarm) for a few days and see if that stops the battery charge from draining.

The battery could be draining due to being old ... but I'm guessing that if you don't set the alarm it'll be fine. Normally a duff battery fades away pretty quickly, even if you bench-charge it. Your battery sounds okay.

The battery voltage does not affect the idle. The alternator provides enough amps to take care of the injection and ignition, while the regulator sorts out any unwanted current... mainly by running it into the battery (and yours accepts a charge).

If it's not the Idle Control Valve, then a (high!) emissions test could indicate that the Lambda sensor is worn out.


Ralf S.

The hesitation in the engine idle could be the
 
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