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[Abiton]

...  Their purpose in life appears to be to superheat the metal port so that the crud that builds up inside it gets baked into the hardest substance known to man..  you know what I mean having cleaned it out

LOL, I know exactly what you mean, And very amusingly put. Cheers Ian.

That's kinda good news though, 'cos now I don't have to be concerned that they're blocked air/vac hoses.

I don't know what size that little hole is meant to be, but I did have an idea about cleaning it out thoroughly, once an initial clear path has been achieved. How about getting a long, fine needle, with some strong thread soaked in carb cleaner, and 'flossing' it? Not sure whether the diameter of the hole vs the dia of the thinnest long-enough needle would make this possible...

mrgaffney: no misfires on mine, nor blue smoke at start-up, so I hope I don't have the same 'issue' as you did!

[ians]

I removed mine from the car to get better access (also to avoid dropping anything where it shouldn't go ).  Then cleaned it out with a small twist drill (per suggestion on here I think).

I'm sure the car goes better now but I haven't conquered the idling problems - sometimes its fine, idling around 6-700 rpm, other time more like 1500+ and sometimes hunts (goes up and down).   I suspect something sticking as I think if a hose was leaking etc I would get a consistent fault.

...actually I lied.  as is well known the hardest known substance known to man is the what gets left on the bowl after eating weetabix if you leave it in a sunny kitchen all day without doing the washing up..

[Abiton]

Pretty sure porridge goes harder still  

Don't s'pose you can remember what the biggest drill you got through was? (P.S. I understand that it wouldn't be a great idea to experiment along these lines with it in-situ).

[ians]

I don't I'm afraid - I started off small and used slightly bigger ones until I was pretty sure it was clean.  

[gizza]

if your still having problems with the small breather pipe where it mounts to the throttle body this can be removed with a 19mm spanner just take the throttle body off, mine was blocked solid and no amount of injenious ideas would solve it, if you live near essex then drop me a pm and i can show you, but its not to diffucult

[Abiton]

[size=18]DOH[/size]

[size=11]Just had a call from Vauxhall. They've changed the CTS, but still have code 14 showing "Coolant temperature sensor voltage too low" (was previously codes 14 and 15).

Does this mean anything to anyone? Has the duff sensor killed a voltage-rail o/p in this circuit? I'm naively hoping this is just the ECU 'getting used to' the new sensor and will go away over the next few minutes/hours of running.

They want an hour's labour just to 'further investigate'.

I'm gonna take it away as-is and hope/pray that someone on here's had a similar experience and can advise...[/size]

[TheBoy]

[size=18]DOH[/size]

[size=11]Just had a call from Vauxhall. They've changed the CTS, but still have code 14 showing "Coolant temperature sensor voltage too low" (was previously codes 14 and 15).

Does this mean anything to anyone? Has the duff sensor killed a voltage-rail o/p in this circuit? I'm naively hoping this is just the ECU 'getting used to' the new sensor and will go away over the next few minutes/hours of running.

They want an hour's labour just to 'further investigate'.

I'm gonna take it away as-is and hope/pray that someone on here's had a similar experience and can advise...[/size]

Its not the new sensor 'bedding in' - so looking at a 2nd faulty sensor, wiring issue, or ECU knack'd

[Abiton]

  Puts me in mind of a phrase a pal of mine used to say...

I've had a great day,                                           but this wasn't it!

Next numptie question then, where's the ECU? Down by the battery in that triangularish box?

 

[TheBoy]

Puts me in mind of a phrase a pal of mine used to say...

I've had a great day,                                           but this wasn't it!

Next numptie question then, where's the ECU? Down by the battery in that triangularish box?

 

Yes.

[Abiton]

Thanks again TheBoy.

Note to self: Grease bonnet catch to reduce wear and tear in the forthcoming days...

Just measured the old sensor, 4K7 at RT, quite healthy probably  

(Thorough) wiring check next...

[Abiton]

Sorry to keep bringing this up, but progress again, unfortunately not all good.

Tracked down the residual sensor problem to a short in the wiring. The 'live' side of the sensor being just as grounded as the ground side...

Scratched head for a while, then decided to run a new bit of ptfe-insulated wire all the way from ECU connector to sensor connector. Measured OK, short gone, started up and no more EML!

Test drive went Ok-ish, but now the over-revving with foot off pedal is worse. Guess the ECU's now saying "no need for the limp home mode, all systems go". Was disconnected for about an hour while I did the re-wire, so would have reset? Now blaming really bad ICV gasket (bits missing) for the rev problem...Maybe the ECU was working round this before the reset?

Decided it was time to drop in the new gasket I'd got for the ICV; went well until I tried to start 'her' up again. Cranking, cranking, cranking, no starting. Harumph. Guess I've broken sth else  .

What a day.

[TheBoy]

The high revving will likely be an air leak.

[JamesV6CDX]

The high revving will likely be an air leak.

Almost definately.. or a vaccum hose off...

[JamesV6CDX]

I've not read this thread, so forgive me if I'm off the mark here..

So you're saying that Vx changed the CTS, and charged you for it, when they had not even checked for a short to 0v at it's loom connector, or ECU end?

Auto electronics is my weak point, but even I could tell them to do that.

Muppets. I would demand a refund, on the basis they were "replacing and hoping"

[Abiton]

And it goes on...

Let it cool down for hour and a half or so, disconnected batt for ten minutes, then finally got it to start. I'm wondering whether fixing the sensor wiring problem while the engine was warm has confused the heck out of the ECU w.r.t. what's hot and what's cold. Should one ensure that the engine's quite cold before resetting an ECU by disconnnecting batt? Especially if the fault was a temperature sensor? I'm wondering if I've been a bit (!?) daft here.

Anyway, decided it needed a decent run to make up for all the cranking, and this went OK. Still some funny revving stuff at traffic lights, feels like ICV sticking, TPS problem, or an unfortunate combination of the two :-/.  30 miles later decided to head back home, 2 miles from my front door I stopped at a roundabout whereupon the revs died and it cut out totally.
Put the emergency lights on, cranking, cranking, cranking, oh my poor starter motor/engine; started again eventually and got me home.

Can't let my girlfriend attempt to use it in this state. I'll just have to try to get it the 4 miles to my work tomorrow, and try to sort it out there.

If I take the motor part of the ICV off, would it be OK to ultrasonic the valve part in carb-cleaner or equivalent? I'm wondering if there's anything in there that might not appreciate this treatment?

And does anyone know if the throttle position sensor is take-apartable?  I saw one off a golf once with it's lid off, but haven't looked closely at the one on this car.

Thanks, I'll stop whining soon, I promise.