ok, so i sorted out the problems i had by fitting a new pre cat lambda sensor and a 2nd hand known working map sensor aswell as the breather pipe that i had split and all seems to be ok (touches wood).
old pipe was shot to hell so binned it but kept the map sensor just in case, however i did notice that there was a film of oil around the actual sensor, is this normal? my revs are still fluctuating a little bit though (hence keeping the other map sensor, possibility of it being problem free) and my vacuum pipe appears to be ok, apart from a possible air leak at the TB which would cause erratic idling could it be anything else? I doubt it would be inlet manifold as when i had this off not long back aswell as gaskets i also applied a bead of sealant around everything.

Sqwidge said:

and my vacuum pipe appears to be ok, apart from a possible air leak at the TB which would cause erratic idling could it be anything else?

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I would start at the vacuum leaks. Take care of all that simple stuff first. That is the best way to attack this one.

Nadeem

any ideas on how to test for an air leak as my fookin eml came on again last night, getting severly p*ssed off with it now.
Just outta curiosity is there anyone near me that has a 1.2 16v so I borrow your ecu for an hour to eliminate that as a problem?
What annoys me most is that I went to Doncaster Tuesday some 50 miles away and the light never showed, got there, sat in the services, did my dodgy dealings in the carpark and then as turned the key the light comes on and stayed on for the journey home, extinguished light after 3 iggy cycles but then last night its back on after doing less than 10 miles around town.

So far have removed, refitted and/or replaced:

Inlet Manifold - removed, gaskets refitted, silicone bead applied and then refitted.
TB - removed, cleaned, rubber 'o' ring fitted and then TB refitted.
Breather pipe - main breather to air intake/rocker cover/inlet manifold - renewed after a split.
Map sensor - Changed for known working 2nd hand replacement after Diagnostic diagnosis.
PreCat Lambda - Changed for new at suggestion of forum and Diagnostic diagnosis.

Really have run out of money now and I need the car for family reasons and some backhand jobs to make ends meet so any help is much greatly appreciated, if your able to help me in person I can't afford to pay you, however before I was made redundant I used to/still do fly 4 Channel RC planes and 6 channel RC helicopters I have a 3ft span electric balsa stunt '3d' plane on top of the wardrobe which your welcome to as payment, its not been used much although has some signs of flight and is worth about £220 by todays prices, its 100% complete and you will only need a 2.4ghz transmitter to fly it.

You can't just swap ecus, they are coded to the immobilser.

Why not get the code read.

Mist water around the induction area, including inlet manifold to head face, and listen for a change of noise.

Cheers

D

got it read at 12.40 by my mate and only code logged was PO105 Manifold Absolute Pressure/Barometric Pressure Circuit, Diag machine shows map sensor working so any ideas what the hell this means? Could this be the reason my revs are hunting?
spoke to 4 different ppl before it was read and and this was their answers based on their experience as mechanics and from the exact same description given to all 4:

1. TB knacked and/or Air leak
2. Post cat lambda
3. IAC valve - pretty sure I dont have one but I could be wrong
4. Cat fubar'd

And they wonder why i'm not getting anywhere.

The cat should hotter at the back end than at the front as it burns off the excess pollution. If its not hotter at its outlet the cat may be US. Unfortunately the cat/manifolds are hard to check for this.

An air leak in the exhaust between engine and cat can muddle up the ECU readings.

There are other pipes other than the engine breather going into the inlet manifold. Check them all end to end including the brake servo and its pipe.

I'd go air leak.

Cheers

D

Been told again today that i need to try find a TB what a ballache, my car cut out on me quite a few times last night, at least 7 - 8 times in the space of 3 hours and it was whenever I dipped the clutch ie coming to lights or after reversing and then gearing to first, as all the idle control is built into the TB could this be a viable option?

EDIT: Off to the car shop to buy some carb cleaner then im gonna rip my TB to bits and see what happens.

Bought CarbCleaner (CC) and stripped out the TB from the engine bay and took it indoors, Removed the butterfly and soaked it in a pot of cc as it had a nice layer of something that I can only describe as black concrete on it and whilst waiting ten mins or so I busied myself cleaning up the main body which was also in the same state, I guess 7 years of neglect (previous owner was a bit slack) and 80k miles of carbon will do that to you lol, needless to say I cleaned it up till it shined using rags, cc and a toothbrush.

fast forward to later........

reassembled everything and then reinstalled into the car in the exact order it came out in but obviously in reverse, started car and it ran and idled but no throttle response, stripped out the tb to be sure i had mounted everything properly and tried again, this time car starts and revs go up and down like a yoyo, so stripped it again checked butterfly and mounted it the right way round, then tried again, runs better but not how it should be, checked Haynes manual and realised tb was mounted 90 degrees too far anti clockwise, refitted it the proper way and hey presto the car runs and revs.
Ran the car whilst the airbox was off and covered the tb with my palm causing it to stall out which shows I dont have a huge airleak as I thought but I will monitor that closely just incase.
Im out in the car later on for quite a while so will post testing results when I get back.
All sorted (if it works) for less than a tenner and half hour of elbow grease! Not including the Lambda etc as diagnostics showed I needed these anyway.

Moral of the story?, Seek advice with details as accurate as possible from both this forum and a reputable garage, get your codes read, buy a Haynes manual and do it yourself instead of taking it to a garage that you think is ok and doesn't have a Haynes manual and mounts your components wrongly and charges you loads.