Arosa/Lupo engine tickover query.

We've put 1500 miles on it before the problem showed up, so it would have been a hell of a test drive. And you can't really judge fuel economy until you've covered some distance.
 
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Have you changed spark plugs and HT leads? That would have been my first stop before the coil pack to be honest.

BTW there is no way of adjusting idle speed on a modern fuel injected car, it's controlled purely by the ECU using a bypass valve. If you somehow adjusted the throttle stop, this would cause problems elsewhere as the ECU would never see the throttle return to the idle position so features like over-run fuel cut-off and the idle control itself may stop working.
 
disconnect your battery and leave for 10 mins then reconnect and let the car idle for around 5 mins so the throttle body re-calibrates. dont hit the accelerator pedal in this time. You might as well give the throttle body a clean before doing this, carb cleaner is good for that
 
Toker said:
disconnect your battery and leave for 10 mins then reconnect and let the car idle for around 5 mins so the throttle body re-calibrates. dont hit the accelerator pedal in this time. You might as well give the throttle body a clean before doing this, carb cleaner is good for that
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Mine doesn't work like that, you have to perform a manual throttle adaption, with this also being VAG i'd imagine it to be the same.

Infact if you disconnect the battery the ecu with lose its adaption settings forcing a manual adaption, easy to spot since you usually get starting issues.
 
Dogbreath said:
Have you changed spark plugs and HT leads? That would have been my first stop before the coil pack to be honest.
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I checked the plugs and they were fine, pulled each HT lead while it was running and the tickover went to hell so each cylinder is doing something. Next step was the coil, after that it's the BFH.

Toker said:
disconnect your battery and leave for 10 mins then reconnect and let the car idle for around 5 mins so the throttle body re-calibrates. dont hit the accelerator pedal in this time. You might as well give the throttle body a clean before doing this, carb cleaner is good for that
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That is this mornings plan, just having the caffine boost to help me concentrate :D

The EPC light stays on for a few seconds after starting the car now, sure it used to go off with the other check lights. :o
 
Firestar_3x said:
Mine doesn't work like that, you have to perform a manual throttle adaption, with this also being VAG i'd imagine it to be the same.

Infact if you disconnect the battery the ecu with lose its adaption settings forcing a manual adaption, easy to spot since you usually get starting issues.
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it depends on the motor, some vags have to have a throttle body alignment performed via VAGCOM

re-calibrating the throttle body via a battery disconnect sorted out the lumpy idle on my old 6N2 polo after I cleaned the throttle body, it's just a quick way of doing it - some people drove with a dodgy idle for 100miles or so and it sorted itself out after that
 
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SB118 said:
pulled each HT lead while it was running and the tickover went to hell so each cylinder is doing something.
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Not necessarily! The engine uses a wasted spark system, so pulling the HT lead off one cylinder will stop it sparking on another, hence the idle going to hell. If one of the HT leads insulation is breaking down it will affect only one cylinder however. Problems with the HT leads on these are not uncommon as they get older...

If you can find a way to ground the HT cable you pull off (e.g. wedge a screwdriver somewhere on the engine and plug the HT cable onto the end of it) it's paired cylinder will start firing again

Toker said:
disconnect your battery and leave for 10 mins then reconnect and let the car idle for around 5 mins so the throttle body re-calibrates. dont hit the accelerator pedal in this time. You might as well give the throttle body a clean before doing this, carb cleaner is good for that
Click to expand...

That would sort the idle calibration if it was the problem, but it doesn't explain the complete lack of power that SB is experiencing.
 
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Disconnecting the battery hasn't worked and neither of the timed hold down/release methods worked. Cleaned the throttle body off, only had a light coat of road grime nothing serious. Need a couple hours kip now though, bleedin engine is a bit low down for my liking!

Wasted spark? argh! why do they have to make these new engines some damned complicated. (apart from the obvious dealer repair side :mad: )
 
bugger bugger bugger that hurts! and if you're really skilled you can drop the firing lead so that it ignites the hydrogen in the battery! Thankfully it only popped out of the vent, not burst the battery.

Pulled each plug, put it into it's HT lead, pressed it against an earth and got a spark from each one. One was a bit wet, but it was firing fine.

Running out of ideas now.
 
Finally got hold of a mate with a Snapon engine computer, wiped the 30 or so errors, went for a drive and a misfire on no2 showed up. Odd.

Got a replacement plug, which didn't fit. Book lists the wrong type, has to be a Denso unit which costs 7 quid a throw.

Which didn't cure it.

Next it's a set of leads for 20 quid. Which didn't fit. Turns out the small plugs need funny metal ended leads. At 45 quid a set :eek:
 
SB118 said:
Next it's a set of leads for 20 quid. Which didn't fit. Turns out the small plugs need funny metal ended leads. At 45 quid a set :eek:
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Those are the ones that are prone to breaking down...

A set of genuine HT leads for my old Astra GTE were almost £150 from Poxhaull when I priced them up, and that was many years ago. :eek:
 
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