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[theowletman]

Need a new ICV for my 1995 2.0 CD, done all the usual cleaning of breathers etc. The trade club price is about £75, I have seen new ones on e-bay for £18.90, quite a difference, has anybody used one of these cheap ones and do they do the job?  

[vauxsull]

hard to tell if the're all the same or not. i bought one of these for a 2.0 ltr Omega in the past from LMFVAUXHALL and its a genuine vauxhall part for around £80. buying cheap does'nt always pay off.

    Keith...

[theowletman]

Thanks for the reply.

[Grumpy]

done all the usual cleaning of breathers etc

Did you take out and clean the breather jet, just below the Throttle
Body, that the smaller black breather pipe from your cam cover
connects to?

The blocking of this Jet is what causes your IACV to oil up. If it isn't
clear, you'll just be throwing your money away on a new IACV, as it
will start oiling up again the first time your engine is at idle.

Cure the cause, not the symptom.

[theowletman]

Yes Grumpy I did all that. The car was running ok before I did the routine cleaning, the fast idle started after the cleaning, took it all apart and did it again, made no difference. the idle will settle as normal when the car is hot but takes a couple of minutes to drop to 800rpm. Used a full tin of carburettor cleaner as well. tried an ICV off the neighbours Vectra and it did the trick, miserable sod wanted it back though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Many thanks

[magnul]

Did you oil the valve prior to reassembly? Is the gasket in good nick?

[theowletman]

No and can't remember!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Grumpy]

Ok, Theowletman, a couple of points.

Take off your IACV again.
Undo the 2 screws that secure the electric motor to the valve,
and slide the motor off the valve stem.

Push the valve stem back and check that the return spring in the
flat end of the valve is pushing the valve back again when you
release the pressure on the valve stem, and check that it is central
as they sometimes cock over and get the spring out of position.
If ok then go onto the next bit, if not, buy a new valve.

Put a little electric lube or vaseline on the shiny bit of the valve stem
that protrudes into the motor. Do not lube any other part of the valve!!
The only contact point on the valve is the stem that protrudes into the
motor. Any lubing anywhere else is not only pointless, but will dry onto
the valve body and act like sticky flypaper that will attract crud like ****
to a blanket.

Reassemble the valve. Spin the valve stem until you can see a small hole
in the valve plastic coating in the hole nearest the flat end of the valve.
Put a thin 'Podger' in the hole and draw the valve back towards the flat end
against the spring pressure.
When you release the 'Podger' from the small hole in the valve stem check
that the spring pressure returns the valve fully back towards the motor end.
Check this by trying to move the valve towards the motor end. There shouldn't
be any movement.

If it doesn't return, repeat by cleaning and lubing the valve stem inside
the motor bit until it does.

[Grumpy]

Had another thought, as well. Seeing as the valve was ok prior to cleaning,
you may have washed the crud into the second valve area that, you can't see,
down by the flat end of the valve. If partially blocked, this would mean that
at idle that you would have the lower post butterfly air pressure between
the 2 valve seats, but only the higher ambient pre butterfly air pressure
to the valve seat nearest the motor end. This would cause the differing air
pressures across the twin valve seats to fight the spring return pressure
and give you an idle speed that was slow to return to normal.

So when you have the valve off, stand it on its flat end and fill the
second valve seat area, near the flat end of the valve, with fuel or carb
cleaner and allow it to soak.

When emptying the cleaner, face the valve with the 2 holes towards you still
standing on its flat end. Tilt the valve away from you and rotate it slowly 180 degrees
so that the cleaner empties out of the hole nearest the motor end of the valve.
(With motor still removed). This will ensure that you wash any crud away from
the valve seat in the flat end.

[Abiton]

I gave mine the mother of all clean-ups, taking into account all of the above, but still had trouble with uncontrolled revs, so I bought a cheap e-bay one (£25 IIRC, but might have been a bit more).  Apart from the absence of a part number on the flat end-cap they really are indistinguishable to look at.  It didn't cure my problem, which turned out (eventually) to be CTS-related; however, once that was sorted this cheap-and-cheerful IACV has been operating without trouble for the past 4 months or so.

Whether it will last the remaining life of the car I don't know, but I plan to do another throttle-body (etc.) clean up including a thorough go at the small breather jet this weekend, to give it the best possible chance.  I would imagine that revisiting this jet annually will be a good plan.
 
Pete

[theowletman]

Many thanks to Grumpy and Abiton for their detailed replies. Have printed them off and will give it a go on Sunday if I am still awake after the Grand Prix early start.
Ta lads.