Frustrating week in a C

[Lippy 0]

Hello,

 

The past week has been frustrating in my car, it has been running quite rough all week exhibiting the following symptoms:

 

- From cold start losing revs whilst going over speed humps in second seems keen to stall - a prod of the accelerator seems sluggish to pickup revs

 

- After a drive of 10 miles or so, revs (intermittently) drop progressively 500, with my car stalling on several occasions with the clutch fully depressed. Sometimes power steering has felt heavy whilst the revs are

 

- re starting the car after work, the car seems reluctant to "catch" with but idles at 1000rpm or so

 

- this morning, after being left for 1 day VERY sluggish to start

 

- consumption seems to be high, around £15 gets me about 80/90 miles which is worse than usual (could be a coincidence)

 

I have experience similar problems before, an adjustment to the ISV about 5 months ago has meant that the idle was more stable and it had been running much better, with no sign of the above - until this week.

 

Can anyone link these symptoms together with a common cause (causes?)

 

Inital thoughts would be ISV, MAF, lambda, starter motor, alternator. Are these likely? What is the best way of eliminating any of these?

 

Also, would this post be related?

 

Cheers for your help

 

Lippy

[Henny 0]

coolant temp sensor and Lambda would be my first things to check... ;)

 

Starter and alternator are rather unlikely culprits for what you describe... 8)

[Jim 2]

Don't know much about these, but judging by many many posts on similar subjects in the past, i'd say Henny has said basically what I was going to suggest you checked as well.

 

The ISV also sounds like it could do with a good clean out if you haven't already..

[Lippy 0]

cheers guys,

 

what is the best way to test the coolant sensor and lambda sensor? can you DIY? what equipment do you need?

 

Lippy

[Jim 2]

I believe one of the tests is just to disconnect the blue coolant sensor.. if you see absolutely no change in the way the car is behaving, then its a safe bet that its screwed.

 

Again, I think the same technique applies to the the lambda.. as in you can remove it and if the car still runs poop, its a sure sign its dead. Its also quite common for the wiring to the lambda to crack / break as it gets brittle with age.. so worth checking that out too as the lambda itself might be ok!

 

You should definately search for more info on lambda's and on the blue temp sensor though as both of them have come up so many times - should be able to find loads of threads with discussion on fitting / testing etc :)

[Lippy 0]

search will be my friend after I finish work!

 

Cheers guys

 

Lippy