Ford Focus 'ghost' revving...

Soldato
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I drive a '99 Focus 1.8 Zetec.

Having just started the car and lets say am reversing out of a space or moving in slow traffic, the revs stay at a more or less constant 2000rpm even when I'm on the brake, and sometimes in neutral too. Once the engine has been on for a minute or two, this stops and the engine behaves normally again.

Is this to be expected?
 
Soldato
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The engine is cold so it will rev more to warm itself up. Once the engine is warmed up it will idle at much less.

Although 2000 does seem a little high.

edit: Do you mean it will stay at 2000 even when you apply the *go faster* pedal?
 
Soldato
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It's normal to rev higher when cold to warm the engine, but 2000RPM does sound a little high, especially as the weather at the moment is pretty warm as it is. I think mine revs to about 1500RPM when idling from cold.
 
Soldato
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It's up at around 2000rmp, sometimes slightly lower at say 1800rpm.

Once I hit the juice pedal it goes up as normal.

Makes sense that it would do it when cold though, cheers guys :)
 
Soldato
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I had exactly the same car until recently and mine did that too.
Mine only did it when the clutch was down, so you could be going along on tick over at 1,000 rpm or so and as soon as the clutch pedal went down the revs went up to around 2,000.

As others have said it's just because the engine is cold, but mine certainly seemed more noticeable than other cars I've driven.
 
Soldato
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my 2002 focus does exactly the same but rev at 1400rpm ish first thing in the morning, after few mins later, it goes back to 800rpm ish
 
Soldato
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Ive never had the clutch pedal down thing with mine. Clutch down, or clutch up in neutral, it idles at 750RPM at operating temperature as far as I know... :confused:
 

Xez

Xez

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If it's going up to 2000rpm its not normal its atleast twice what it should be. Most cars should idle at around 1200rpm when cold and then 900 and below when warm.
 
Soldato
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Defo too high, my St170 sat max 1200 cold, you could adjust the linkage easy but reving too high would mean a tight cable which can only happen if it's adjusted and would sit high all the time. Maybe the Maf/idle control valve is faulty/needs cleaning.
 

Ev0

Ev0

Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
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14,152
check the throttle cable, make sure it's moving freely and not frayed at all. Sometimes this can cause them to stick a bit.

Otherwise yeah it's probably just the car compensating for the cold start, but agree it does seem a little high.
 
Soldato
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I'll double check the revs over the next day or two, it's certainly not far shy of 2000rpm when it happens.

As for the throttle cable, I'm not very well versed under the bonnet of a car (really should learn) but I've got some mates who like to get their hands dirty so I'll get them involved.
 
Associate
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The 1.8 Mondeo from that era would rev at approx 1000rpm when cold. I say the Focus is broken. The Idle Control Valve is a likely candidate.
 
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