Hi

I have a 96 EF and a few months ago I had a problem with my car shaking at idle.... thinking it was idling too low i played with the idle adjustment screw (bad mistake) anywyas this didnt help matters so i took it into work (mechanic) and had one of the mechanics have a look. Turned out to be engine mount. He then did sumfin with the idle adjustment screw and fixed the problem i had caused by playing with it. He fixed it so it idled at 650-750 revs in D and bout 900 in P.... So all problems were fixed... When i played with the idle screw i was reading from gregories manual which sais to put car into diagnostic mode and disconnect ISC thus the reason i made mess of things. But as i said the mechanic fixed it.

Now i have had problems with smartlock system and have posted question bout this before on the forums (still dealing with it) But i have had to disconnect the battery. Ever since i disconnected the battery the car has been idling really weird. like it sits on 1100 revs in N and when u tap the acclerator it jumps all the way up to 1900 revs and holds there for a bit then drops to 1100 again.... In drive it idles at 900 and when im driving the car and take my foot of accelerator whilst driving at slow speed the car increases revs by itself and gos faster and faster. It also clunks when coming to a stiop at lights as revs are so high.
I have left car in D and N with air con on and off for 2 mins at a time as reccommended here but makes no difference... When i leave it in D and wait long enough the idle sits on 900 and then after a while of waiting slowly drops down to 650 but u have to wait ages and does it every time. I have been driving it for a couple of weeks now so ECU should have learnt by now.

My guess is idle is out???? if so how do i adjust idle PROPERLY???

any help would be great

Well, if it is revving to high, its either the adjusting screw... but if you said that your mechanic fixed it, then it sounds like an air leak to me.... listen under the bonnet for where it is, fix it up.. check all the hoses running off the inlet manifold...


Good luck

Could be a faulty MAP or O2 sensor if it isnt an Air leak or hose fallen off.
Failing all that take it into Ford and get them to run a diagnostics report to locate the fault.

Thanx for replies

Today i marked the position of the idle adjustment screw with a marker pen and began to try adjusting the idle becasue the mechanic i took it to isnt the one that normally works on it and i dont find trustworthy.... I marked the position of the idle screw so even if i do change it i know exactly where it was.

I took the car for a drive and warmed it up, left it at idle and reffered the the placard on the underside of the bonnet for the idle specifications. It said idle should be at 675RPM-725RPM in Neautral. Using this as a guide i slowly turned the idle screw in small incriments until i reached the desired idle speed.

The car idles much MUCH better now, it idles at 725RPM in Neautral and 650RPM in D. The car no longer surges when braking hard and no longer clunks into 1st when comming to a stop at lights. Neither does it accelerate faster with your foot off the accelerator pedal!!!!

However when it is at idle and u rev it the revs dont drop all the way to idle speed. if i rev it to 1900 RPM it will drop to 1000RPM hold there for a bit then drop back to idle speed......

This leads me to believe there is some sort of vacuum leak everyone reccomended. I checked all hoses and sprayed the inlet manifold with throttle body cleaner to check for leaks... i have found none both visually or by listening.

Is this normal??? id the car meant to go straight back to idle speed when u rev it or is meant to stop at at 1000RPM for a bit before returning to idle speed??? Could it be the ecu adjusting???

Is the method i used to set the idle speed correct???

Any help would be great!

my EF does same sort of thing.
I assumed it was normal.
I'd be interested to know if it is.

A lot of 80's carby engines had a vacuum solenoid operated throttle stop to achieve the same sort of thing.
I think it had something to do with the emission control crap.

cheers

My car does the same thing... I don't know if its normal, but I know for a fact its more noticeable when the ECU is adjusting. give it some time, and see what happens.


Cheers

thanx for such quick responses!

yeh sounds like it might be normal... ECU is definately still learning so is prolly why its so noticable as you said.

Is the idle setting procedure i carried out correct??? or was this the wrong way or a bad idea considering the ECU is still learning......

Is idling fine now