Got a problem that I might as well sort ASAP, the car will not do the 30 second high idle sequence you normally get on one of these. (confirm for me that is correct!) It starts and just dies, hold the throttle and keep the revs at 1500 or so for a while until its a little warmer and it idles fine, no problems! Any idea\'s? Could it be a stuck autochoke or what? I\'ve no idea whats on these engines (yet), so don\'t know what could cause it. Is there an equivalent of the haynes manuals of lies for the FC? They\'re crap, but they give me a good idea on how to work on each car!
FC defo does the warm up cycle (unless you touch the accelerator then will stop), not sure if you need the handbrake on like the cabs roof does to work.
there is a haynes got 1 off fleabay a couple of years ago
Perhaps check the BAC valve on the turbo side of the car, sometimes this fails and messes up the idle lol the warmup cycle when you start up - the dangerously damaging 4k rev when cold is linked to a solinoid that might have gone. You best bet is to check for air leaks first though :)
There are 2 \'warm up\' features, and one \'warm\' feature by default on these cars.
The AWS (Automatic Warmup Solenoid) warmup is the killer one - it will rev the engine to between 3000-4000 rpm for about 30 seconds or so on a cold start to heat the cat up (allegedly). You can defeat this taking the car out of Neutral and holding the clutch down, or permanently be disconnecting the solenoids concerned (one is on top of the UIM near the BAC valve, the other one is on the back of the throttle body). A chipped ecu will normally defeat this one as well.
The other warmup - which will always happen on a cold car is the wax thermo pellet - which takes coolant feed from the engine and passes it through a wax pellet valve that operates a cam on the back of the throttles - this starts between 1500-2000 rpm and gradually reduces to normal idle once the cam is fully disengaged. If the water isn\'t getting around, the valve is duff or the cam linkage not working or removed then this will not happen and you have to compensate manually as you are doing.
Final \'warm\' item is the PRC valve - it cuts vacuum to the Fuel Pressure Reg (using a solenoid) for about 30 seconds if the coolant temp is warm to reduce percolcation in the fuel line and give more reliable warm starting - again you can compensate manually if you remove it by holding revs till it\'s stable.
Mitch - no abbreviations please, whats the BAC valve? Lol, abbreviations can come after I know what the part is :D There can\'t be an air leak though can there, or it wouldn\'t idle properly - I\'ve fixed stuff like that on my BMW, and when there\'s an air leak the car won\'t idle at all. This does. It\'d just be nice not to hold the throttle in while it warms is all! I\'ll look for a haynes, thanks guys! You don\'t need the handbrake on as far as I know - the car is left with it off and starts ok!
BAC = Bypass Air Control - it\'s the cylindrical valve on the side of the upper inlet manifold (UIM) that normally regulates idle speed for electrical load and power steering. It receives a pulsed duty signal from the ECU (can I get away with that one ? :Giggle). Similar to the idle control valve on most piston engined fuel injected cars
Ok, so I\'ll avoid trying th fix the dangerous 4K solenoid then :D Focus on the wax thermo pellet thang. Hmm, hope I can get it sorted before the car goes for the MOT! And thanks for that prof, but whats ECU for - emu crawls underground? lol