st220 high idle... back again

Amleto · 3 Sep 2016 at 02:00

I had throttle body/idle valve cleaned twice last year, July & Sept. because of high idle problem. The problem would semi-regularly show up and normally go away after turning car off and on again. After the second clean, problem disappeared until July, but now its back and occurring more often.

Any ideas on root cause? Would like to get it fixed rather than just spending ~£80 to get it covered up for another year.

Found this. Says to check various pipes.

HoneyBadger · 3 Sep 2016 at 07:14

Do you have a performance air filter?

AtreuS · 3 Sep 2016 at 09:34

Is it moosing ( making a foghorn type drone ) at all? If it is then its a breather hose.

To check all hoses you are going to have to take the inlet manifold off sadly.... not too fiddly but makes you able to reach down the back and have a good look/feel for splits in the breather pipes.

If you are using a garage its worth it to find a garage that knows these cars, they are lovely but are a bit finicky and i have found some garages treat them like a bog standard mondeo and give up quickly.

You can order most parts from your local ford dealer however some parts are no longer listed.... i needed a clutch pipe from the master to gearbox and in the end we had to fix the pipe ( had a hole in it prob from a well aimed stone pinging up ).

The usual reason for engine lights and over revving is a split hose somewhere..... the hard part is finding it!

phil675 · 3 Sep 2016 at 09:50

On my 2.5 V6 Mondeo I had all kinds of problems with the idle valve, cleaning it would last about a week and it would be all over the place again, eventually I replaced it and it was fine ever since.

I also had to change the small pipe from the throttle body to the idle valve with one 4 times longer to get rid of the moosing. HONK HONK HONK HONK

Amleto · 4 Sep 2016 at 00:27

No, I don't have any moosing or other funny noises. I did already change the breather pipe when it split a few years ago. That resulted in hunting up/down. What I'm getting now is slightly different... constant but increased idle rpm. I have no idea exactly what filter is in... whatever was put in at a recent service.

AtreuS · 4 Sep 2016 at 12:39

I would say get a new idle valve then.... at this point its sadly a case of changing parts until it fixes the problem.

Finglonga · 4 Sep 2016 at 16:51

I would say clean the Idle Control Valve first before buying one to see if it fixes it for a few days. It was a very common problem with Fords and mine was off on the Sapphire to be cleaned every other week.