nickr6 Posted January 4, 2006 Report Posted January 4, 2006 Greetings from a Newbie and I am glad I found the board as I have been looking for a Galaxy board for a while. I have a slight problem with the car that it stalls when dropping down from high revs. This is only after it has warmed up but if you rev to say 3K and then let it return to idle it drops down to 500rpm before returning to 1000rpm. Sometimes it will be ok but most of the time it will stall at 500rpm. It all seemed to start when the battery died when the cold snap came. Replaced the battery and it started to play silly buggers. Quick look thru the Haynes possibly points to the ECM but will it have died or lost its basic settings. Can it be reset or is it a trip to the dealer. Any help would be appreciated as it is causing the wife stress as she can't steer when it dies and it is usually as she approaches a roundabout or similar. Cheers Nick Quote
johnb80 Posted January 4, 2006 Report Posted January 4, 2006 Try cleaning the throttle body and the idle speed valve (air control) with carb cleaner. Regards - JB Quote
nickr6 Posted January 4, 2006 Author Report Posted January 4, 2006 Tried that but made no difference. I also disconnected the ECM and plugged it in again as this is supposed to clear any learnt settings but that made no difference either. Disconnected a few sensors whilst running and they all seem to be functioning as you can hear the engine stutter as they are removed. The Air idler control must be working as the engine dies when unplugged. Any ideas ??? Cheers Quote
Guest marcusheawood Posted January 4, 2006 Report Posted January 4, 2006 You did in fact reset the ECU when you replaced the battery, it is possible that various sensors on your car are no longer 'in spec' due to the age of the vehicle. Modern ECU's are able to interpolate sensor input over time as the sensor output drifts.When you reset the ECU it then has to relearn all the dodgy data. Sometimes the sensor may have drifted outside the original tolerance parameters in which case the ECU goes to the default map (limp mode), The most commonly faulty sensor is the MAF, this can sometimes be partially resurrected by cleaning with a powerful solvent, however it will not be 'like new'. The next commonest is the Lambda probe which helps prevent the mixture over-leaning. Either of these two sensors will produce the lean idle stall symptoms you describe, the fact that you reset the ECU means that in all probability you will need to get a diagnostic reading of your ECU's tiny brain (fault memory). Quote
nickr6 Posted January 4, 2006 Author Report Posted January 4, 2006 Thanks for that excellent diagnosis. It is booked in for a brain scan tomorrow morning. :-) Nick Quote
soptom Posted January 4, 2006 Report Posted January 4, 2006 Can you post a result if/when you get one? Heres hoping it won't be too much of a pain. Quote
nickr6 Posted January 5, 2006 Author Report Posted January 5, 2006 Well its all sorted and it was the Air Bypass Valve what ever that is. Is this the same as the Idler Air Control Valve ??? Thanks for the assistance peeps. Will be back with more problems soon I don't doubt. Cheers Nick Quote
Topbloke Posted January 5, 2006 Report Posted January 5, 2006 one and the same, was it replaced or reset! or cleaned and reset ,or all of the above Quote
johnb80 Posted January 5, 2006 Report Posted January 5, 2006 Well its all sorted and it was the Air Bypass Valve what ever that is. Is this the same as the Idler Air Control Valve ??? Thanks for the assistance peeps. Will be back with more problems soon I don't doubt. Cheers Nick Ahem, thought it might be :ph34r: Quote
nickr6 Posted January 5, 2006 Author Report Posted January 5, 2006 I cleaned it but it made no difference. In the end I bit the bullet and had Ford do a diagnostic and replace it. He said the ECU had so many faults in it that they had to wipe it and then run the vehicle so it generated a new fault. It had faults for low battery voltage and alarm activations or so they said :ph34r: . Cheers guys Nick Quote
johnb80 Posted January 6, 2006 Report Posted January 6, 2006 Well done, at least you should still have one arm and one leg left :blink: The carb cleaner sometimes does the trick, I have the luxury of having an ultrasonic cleaner which really helps, wifeys 2.3 has been done twice in four years and so far it's sorted it every time. Regards - JB Quote
JonathanE Posted March 6, 2008 Report Posted March 6, 2008 Hi - I have a similar problem on my Ford Galaxy - any chance of directions as to where to find the Idle Speed Control Valve so I can give it a clean? Quote
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