My car stalls when I slow to a stop

Soldato
Joined
29 Jun 2004
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Recently my car has been stalling when I slow to a stop. This doesn't happen all the time but it does happen all the time when I slow to a stop going down a hill.

I don't know if this is a related problem but when the car is idling, it seems to "struggle" to idle. As in, it dips below the 800 rpm mark for a second then comes back up - as opposed to just sitting at 800 rpm with no problem.

Now, recently I serviced the car myself. I did the usual oil change, filters changed including a fuel filter change, spark plugs etc. Could the servicing be related to this problem?

At a guess I'd say the Idle Control Valve would need cleaning/replacing but I'm up for suggestions. My car is an x reg Ford Focus.

Ta :)
 
Lets say it is the idle air valve, how much is the valve and could a novice like me be able to change it? How much shall I expect to pay for a new valve, and is it worth buying a Ford part or will OEM do?
 
You haven't knocked a pipe or anything off anywhere when changing the filters? Could be something as simple as that, if its only happened since the service.
 
Well specifically, it did happen before the service, but it wasn't as much as it has been recently. I checked the pipes and connections and everything seems fine.
 
I had this on my old focus years ago when I had it. From memory, I replaced the ICV and the problem persisted. In the end it turned out to be a vacuum pipe that had gone soft so was no longer rigid.
 
I had this on my old focus years ago when I had it. From memory, I replaced the ICV and the problem persisted. In the end it turned out to be a vacuum pipe that had gone soft so was no longer rigid.

On a mates Focus one of the hoses for the PCV behind the inlet manifold was very soft and mushy, would collapse under vacuum. That had a great big split in it leaking vac big time and tbh it didn't have much if any effect after fixing it. Of course, YMMV and vac leaks can cause a host of problems, but I still say ICV.
I did a bit of reading and it seems to me like the idle control system on the Zetec engines is very fickle, and even things like a dodgy switch on the PAS rack can cause idle problems and hanging revs when shifting up.
 
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