rover 216 cutting out & erratic idling

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Thu 9 Dec 2004 12:29
rover 216 cutting out & erratic idling - Mister T
Couple of months ago my rover started misbehaving. It would often idle steadily at 2000 or 3000 rpm and kept cutting out when pulling away. when idling like this it will often correct itself after a while or if I blip the trotle the revs will rise then drop back to normal.

It went in for its MOT and they looked at the ECU which reported that the temperature sensor was faulty. They claimed that this is a common false reading so voided the error. They found that the stepper settings were wrong so adjusted them.

All seemed fine for about a month when it started playing up again with the same problems. Below are some examples of the things it does.

On the motorway this morning it was holding a steady 60-65mph with my foot off the throtle, pressing the clutch pedal revealed that it was idling at just below 3000 rpm. Often when driving at 30 in 5th I can feel the car trying to accelerate as it is idling too fast.

On a damp misty morning the other day it cut out about 5 times during a journey of about 40 mins. One of these was when I was driving down a hill. Once it stalls it normally takes quite a few minutes of turning it over to restart it.

The symptoms don't tend to present themselves until after driving for 5 or so minutes and some days it can behave normally.

When it is misbehaving if you blip the throtle the revs will just die then recover or stall.

I am after some ideas of what could be the problem. I am sure that if I take it back to the garage they will not be able to re-create the problem and may not find the cause. It has been suggested to me that it might be moisture getting into the HT leads. The car c1997 with 82k miles.

Sorry for the long post. I look forward to your thoughts.

cheers

Andy
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 12 Dec 2004 14:41
rover 216 cutting out & erratic idling - GrahamF1
New plugs, new HT leads, new dizzy cap if it has one.

As a quick fix, pull off the plug leads and spray WD-40 everywhere, also inside the dizzy cap (if it has one).
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 12 Dec 2004 17:09
rover 216 cutting out & erratic idling - Civic8
It may well be temp/sensor..The ecu will only report a fault if it occurs during test. It has no memmory for recording past faults.It has been known for them to give false readings.though
I would replace it anyway as nothing else found.There are other possible points to look at. But I dont think would cause such severe rev problems?
--
Steve
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 12 Dec 2004 17:52
rover 216 cutting out & erratic idling - Stuartli
Could be fuel supply, perhaps due to dirt in the tank or a fuel filter requiring replacement.

We used to clear such faults by coasting, revving the engine hard and then letting in the clutch sharply whilst in a low gear.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Looking for a garage you can trust? Honest John's Good Garage Guide has thousands of reader recommended garages, plus how-to guides and tips on servicing.

The Good Garage Guide