Lupo 1.4 16V - oil deposits and idle.

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Fri 19 Sep 2003 11:02
Lupo 1.4 16V - oil deposits and idle. - Bob-A-Job-Rob
Hi all,

My 2000 Lupo 1.4 16V has just been in for a new clutch - turns out that the actuating arm had snapped! yes, really.
I thought the cable had snapped so fitted a new one, and this involved removing the top of the airbox and filter to gain access to the clutch cable.
I noticed that there is quite a bit of oil on the \'downstream\' side of the air filter, especially around the edges and leading toward the throttle body. Is this usual, or does it indicate a problem? There is a rubber pipe leading from this section of the airbox which I had assumed was the brake servo vacuum, but could it be an oil breather?

Anyway...Got the car back from the place that did the clutch, and the idle speed now fluctuates between 800 and 1200 rpm. I\'ve read previous posts here which suggest it might be due to carp building up in a sensor somewhere, but I wondered if it might have been caused by disconnecting the battery when the clutch was changed. It seems a bit of a concidence that it\'s just started happening now.
Does the engine management system lose and then re-learn settings such as this if it has been disconnected? I\'ve done about 30 miles since the work was done.

Any ideas?

Cheers
Rob
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Fri 19 Sep 2003 11:44
Lupo 1.4 16V - oil deposits and idle. - Aprilia
You don't give mileage - however it is normal for a 'little' oil to be found in the throttle body, but it should be more in the way of 'staining' rather than liquid oil (not explained it well, but I hope you know what I mean).
If it is wet/sticky with oil than that could indicate that your engine is breathing a bit heavily - i.e. bit of blowby. You could clean it out with some carb cleaner and check again in a month's time. I assume its serviced regularly?

Brake servo connection comes off inlet manifold (downstream of the throttle body) so the hose you mention is some form of breather pipe.
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Fri 19 Sep 2003 11:55
Lupo 1.4 16V - oil deposits and idle. - Bob-A-Job-Rob
Thanks Aprilia,

Mileage is 56k, and it is serviced by the main dealer (or was until it came out of warranty a couple of moths ago, anyway...).

The oil in the airbox is a little more than staining, and seems to be collecting on the orange rubber edging of the air filter. There is enough to be wet when you touch it, but not enough to flow under its own weight - if you see what I mean!

I was wondering whether the erratic idling might be related to this, but I think it's more likely to do with the work that was done when fitting the new clutch. Can't really see how, but the problem occurred as soon as I picked the car up from the garage, and hadn't happened before that.

Cheers

Rob

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Fri 19 Sep 2003 12:20
Lupo 1.4 16V - oil deposits and idle. - Aprilia
Doesn't sound too bad. Result of some 'oil mist' coming through the breather. Should be OK - it would have to be a lot worse than that to affect the idle.
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Fri 19 Sep 2003 17:13
Lupo 1.4 16V - oil deposits and idle. - Kingpin
Erratic idle sounds like an air leak or a loose hose not connected properly after the clutch work was done. Check that all the connections are right on the inlet side of the throttle body. If it is drawing in air from somewhere it may upset the idle speed.
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