Surging Idle....dam you

[vaderboyo]

I've had this idle surge issue with Rebel Ship since ownership, not that annoying, but not right. It would idle OK in Drive but would surge between 500 and 1300 revs in N and P, and would also surge when changing down say when coming up to a junction quickly......so thought Id have a nosey around the VVT and MAF (I had checked all other pipes for splits etc)....oh yes and engine management light that came on everytime I started up. Also, my mpg had dropped from an acceptable (for AWD!) 28mpg to a rather crappy 24mpg even with careful driving.

ECU code pointed to the CVVT sensor so plan was to remove and clean and see how this effected the surging, but I didn't like what was under the plastic cover..



Although the wiring to the coils are intact the protective covering was brittle and non existent. Also, there was a lot of oil in there and I noticed that a lot was coming from the left hand side of the engine, there was a small pool under the CVVT valve sensor, maybe the gasket had seen better days...



yes it had lol....noticed that some of the bolts weren't torqued properly either. Anyway took it off, sprayed the connector with magic connector spray, and wd40'd the inners of the VVT sensor and left it to stew for a while in the rare Welsh sun...



While this was happening I had a nosey around the back of the engine as it was bleeding ...the type that requires you to wash your alloys on a reg' basis, cos of my back I cant get round the back of the engine to look properly but managed to grab this shot..no idea...



One cup of tea later and still no idea (I am new to this engine and still trying to work out what does what etc etc ) Then as I was slowly burning in the sun and getting very sweaty in the black suit, I thought I'd had a look at the air filter and MAF. Air filter wasn't to bad to be fair, but there was the remians of the straw man that I knocked over last week when testing the boost function on the back roads (which I might add still makes no sense to me as it says I have 16psi boost???? lol) on my torque app



Ive never seen that much crap in an air box before lol....a few blue tits flied out and that prompted me to look into the MAF which looked OK to me.

Didnt have time to check the plugs for condition/gaps but put it all back together and made a note of the VVT part number for future reference.

Ran torque and cleared the VVT code then started the engine......perfect idle......nice one well chuffed.....but then after about 2 miles it starts to surge again, not half as bad as before, 75% improvement Id say, but not perfect like it was when it was first cleaned /started. On the plus side the EML has not come back...yet lol

So Ive come to the conclusion that the VVT is knackerdo, was going to poke it with my amber light saber, but thats out of action and I have the green one as everyone thinks YODAYS arrived when I switch that on.........so Im after a working replacement if anyone has one to sell. I'm sure that as the engine temp rises the oil seaps through the innards of the sensor and something goes wrong and hence the crap idle....thats my theory anyway.

Also can I ask, can anyone please point out where the idle control valve is on my 2.4t engine, I cant find it at the front right (looking for that fat T shaped cylinder and cant find it under all of that piping)

Also, if anyone has any ideas re the oil leak surrounding the back pipe.....would be gratefuly received.

Oh yes, also had a look at the cam belt which looked like it has at least 20k left in it....cool




Cheers all

Vader

[vaderboyo]

just noticed the pics are small cant get the hang of this album thingy sorry, but the pics open up big in my album...

http://www.vpcuk.org/forums/album.php?albumid=353

[M-R-P]

yours is ME7 dude, no idle control valve - it's all electronic - which could explain the idle problem - take the throttle module off and give it a bloody good clean
The oil on the head is probably from clumsy refilling...

[Dangerous Dave]

With that amount of oil around the turbo outlet pipe, the PCV system might need doing (or the turbo oil seals have gone). Oil in the intake system will eventually clog up the throttle flap. Might be worth fetching it off and giving it a clean.

[vaderboyo]

yours is ME7 dude, no idle control valve - it's all electronic - which could explain the idle problem - take the throttle module off and give it a bloody good clean
The oil on the head is probably from clumsy refilling...

cheers for thjs...that makes sense now ....is this the one which is located under the intake manifiold?

Cheers

[M-R-P]

Probably - have it off, clean the paddle and surrounding bits and bobs but it's best not to dismantle it

[glock19]

It's a mess to remove the ETM and messier to have it back on due to space constraints behind the fan. Don't do it when you are in a hurry. Apart from the ETM, there's a pipe from the manifold (near cylinder 1) that needs clearing as it bleeds off the pressure in the manifold when the ETM shuts. Many people dont do this when they changed their ETM and lifespan of the new ETM will decrease.

Lastly, be careful when you try to put back the intercooler hose to the ETM. You need to be ultra careful of the fitment or you'll ruin the intercooler hose (plastic)