FTO GR Cutting Out / Not Idiling properly!

[briencrean]

Hi everyone,

My FTO doesn't seem to be idiling properly out of gear and it is now cutting out when I clutch and brake fully when coming to a

stop (very embarassing in traffic!). It seems to be now cutting out almost every time while in traffic when I clutch and brake

fully in 2nd gear.

I just fixed a problem with my starter motor recently which had to be refurbished and I'm not sure if my battery needs to be

replaced as well because it doesn't seem to be holding its charge very well. It was just under 12V when I started it today.

To be honest the car needs a service but, Im just wondering what could be causing this, the timing belt, altenator, sparks, fuel

pump?

The car was supposedly serviced in November by the last owner but I am skeptical!

Thanks

Brien

[Muad_dib77]

Sounds like you need to have a look at the stepper motor - try giving it a clean.. If that doesn't work replace it.

Use the search function and you'll find a ton of posts on it..

[Wildhound]

Sounds a lot like the stepper motor which is a very common problem and nothing to worry about. It doesn't take long to clean it out and that should have it as good as new.

It's located in the throttle body, attached to the intake manifold. As Muad said, there's a rake of threads about it.

[briencrean]

Thanks for your replies guys. I'm gonna take it out and clean it later today. I'll post an update once I test it.

[briencrean]

The problem I had this morning with the car cutting out didn't seem to resurface when I drove home at all, except the idling was a bit weird!

Unfortunately I didn't get the time to take out the stepper motor today but I managed to find some good info at: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jaycom/fto/engine/stepper.htm thanks to the search feature on fto-ireland.

However I'm unsure as to how to locate the stepper.
Do I access it from the top under the bonnet near the air intake for the engine? Here are some pics I took today that I thought might be the motor, which I circled. Am I way off?







Thanks

Brien

[Wildhound]

The circle in the last picture is the culprit. Just take it off, give a good clean, stick it back on and it should be as good as new.

[briencrean]

Thanks Wildhound. I took off the stepper motor today. It had a thin-ish layer of black carbon around the plunger and inside the recess on the throttle body so I cleaned it with WD-40 and a lint free cloth. I also reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery for 45mins.

I put everything back together. It seems to have made a little improvement, but the car is still not idling properly. When I start the car it idles at about 1,100 revs. Before I cleaned the starter motor it was idling at about 1,500 revs. After I start driving for a bit and come to a stop out of gear or fully clutched the revs go randomly between 900 700 and 600 revs sometimes. And now rarley the car will cut out.

Is this a faulty stepper motor?

[CJ]

Is this a faulty stepper motor?

Very likely. It could also be a result of an improperly set throttle position sensor (in first pic, you can see it in the circle, its the black plastic yoke with the red head pointing towards the right) It looks a little too far right to me, there should be white paint on the screws to enable you to match it up correctly.

CJ