Technical Brava - Stalls when idling

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Technical Brava - Stalls when idling

wspxk01

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hi, i have an X-reg brava with 43,000 miles on the clock and I am having the seemingly commmon problem of poor idling. The car often stalls at a junction if I dont keep revving it up which is a bit of a pain to say the least.

I dont have a great deal of mechanical knowledge but having checked under the bonnet it would appear a possible solution could be to adjust the accelerator cable to increase the idling revs. The screw to make the adjustment however is painted (factory set?) which put me off.

Is making this adjustment advisabe?? I would need to keep the revs above 1000. If not any other suggestions on how to fix this problem?

Cheers!
 
Alex-R said:
you can't adjust accelerators these days, its all electronics.

Pushing the accelerator causes a wire to tension which in turn pulls an egg shaped wheel which controls the revs. Its in clear view at the front of the engine...

The adjustment i'm talking about is to adjust the tension of the wire so that it never drops below 1k revs when idling.
 
adjusting the accelerator cable should not be used to adjust the idle, if you do that the ecu will think it is constantly at part throttle rather than idle. then if you stamp on the accelerator pedal you will snap the cable.

the idle speed control valve probably just needs cleaning, its on the throttle body. or if that doesnt work and you have a 1.2 the throttle positon sensor may need to have its range re-learnt by the ecu.

in future posts, the model and engine size is very useful
 
Thanks for your help i'll check it out tonight.

jug said:
in future posts, the model and engine size is very useful

I have the 1.2l SX 80.

jug said:
the throttle positon sensor may need to have its range re-learnt by the ecu

How would I go about doing this? Does it require an examiner machine?

Also the problem get significantly worse when other electrical devices (lights in particular) are on. Would having the range re-learnt prevent this?

Cheers!
 
Last edited:
yes the examiner is needed to do it.

generally if idle gets worse when electrics are used it means the alternator output isnt sufficient. i'd get a multimeter on the battery at idle, expect 14.4v. then turn on everything electrical, it shouldn't drop below 13.9v, if it does the alternator is to blame (usually voltage regulator or worn bushes).

if the alternator tests ok then try cleaning the idle speed control valve.

if thats doesnt fix it i'd get the car on a fiat examiner. has the battery been disconnected for flat for some time? that often causes the throttle position sensor problem.
 
the worse idling when the lights etc are on means the alternator is probably ok, and its actually loading the engine to the point where it cant control the idle. It would do no harm to check the output anyway. check also for vacuum leaks (loose / cracked pipes)..

Owen.
 
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