High Idle

Snoopstah

Hey guys,

My VX220 2.2L has developed a strange anomaly recently - when coming to a halt, occasionally the revs (which normally stay rock-steady at 900rpm when the engine is idling and warm) instead fluctuate between 900rpm and around 1500rpm.

This doesn't happen all the time, just occasionally. You'll come to a stop at a junction, dipping the clutch, and the revs will drop to 900rpm, then slowly rise to anywhere up to around 1500rpm, and sort of hover somewhere in between the two.

The check engine light isn't on, the car otherwise drives perfectly, it's just this weird idle. It's not causing a problem, but it's slighlty disconcerting, and I'd like to get it fixed. Any ideas what the problem might be?

Cheers!

JohnnyN

Hello mate and welcome to the site. I would be tempted to remove the induction pipe that fits to the throttle body and then clean the trottle body first to see if that helps as they are usually full of oily muck. Other things to look at are the EGR valve??

I'm sure Daz or Vocky could help you out with this one.

;-)

Daz

First thoughts are with john...Give the Tb a good clean and go from there...
Mines doi nthe same at the mo but thats prob down to my enlarging of my Tb and nicking the area by the butterfly...

Whers the vockmeister...

Snoopstah

Righto - will do. To clarify, that's a case of whipping the intake pipe of the TB, and then cleaning it in situ? Or do I need to remove the TB from the engine?

Also, any recommendations as to what I should use to clean it?

Many thanks!

JohnnyN

I reckon for how easy it is to remove the T/B i'd take it off after removing the battery lead first and then clean it out with carb cleaner so its nice and shiny.

Connect the battery back up after about half an hour.

Daz

Four bolts to take it off and one plug....so personal pref says take of....u can use carb cleaner or brake cleaner to clean it with...

Snoopstah

Cheers - I'll keep you posted as to whether that fixes it 😃

vocky

I've had a similar experience, generally it occurs if the engine is about to stall, i.e. the clutch is dipped too late

the ecu doesn't seem to like it and makes the engine tickover quite high, before settling back to 800rpm

certainly worth cleaning the throttle body as they gunge up, also could be a sticky egr valve, remove the 2 x bolts and if the valve is open - it needs replacing

Snoopstah

I know the symptoms you mean where you dip the clutch too late - the engine tries to stop itself stalling but overshoots because the clutch has just dipped. It's not like that, it's a much more gentle fluctuation - the revs raise slowly and it takes a few seconds, and often occurs a few seconds after you've dipped the clutch.

Not sure where the EGR valve is - I'm sure a search on here will reveal all, though!

vocky

egr valve sits next to the dispack and expansion tank

could be a vacuum leak or a dirty tb notsure.gif

Snoopstah

I had wondered if it might have been the temperature sensor as well - the revs raise to a similar point to where the car idles when it's stone cold (if that makes sense). But the temperature display on the Stack doesn't fluctuate, so I'm probably showing my ignorance and have come up with a completely implausible cause 😃

amanda

my boyfriend had the same prob on his red top gsi! The temp sensor had gone causing the engine to idle high and sometimes cut out. He took it to vauxhall to get it changed and the prob never came back!