Cutting out and hunting at Idle

[Matts406]

Hi 406OC,

I'm the owner of a 1998, R Reg, 2.0l petrol GLX.

I bought this car 2 months ago and it's not missed a beat, however, on Tuesday morning the car was hard to start, I got about 200 yards and then the engine cut out flashed the Engine check light and stopped.
The light went out so I restarted and the car was running fine again.

It was a foggy morning so I thought it was just the damp.

However it kept doing this even down a long road doing 40 the engine seemed to miss a beat, flash the ECU light up but the momentum of the car kept the engine turning over and the light would go out.

So I try it this morning, thinking that with there being no fog it's not going to be damp but it's doing the same thing.

Engine starts, runs fine, but then it feels like the whole engine just dies for a second, but then continues on no trouble,
but I have noticed at idle it's now hunting 250rpm, 1000, 1500, 1000, 1000, 1000, 250, 1000, 1500..... when running idle.

I'm out in the countryside and my local dealer is 20 miles away
I also understand that the ECU can't be read by those ebay ones because of it's non-standard protocals.
and I dont know where the port is either.

I liked my honda and my motorbike as the ECU gives you the codes! (little flashing light on the Honda ECU, and the actual code C41 etc on the dash of the bike)

Matt.

[mjb]

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3489

[Matts406]

Thanks MJB,

I've tried to follow that to clean the stepper motor. But all the pictures have gone
The thing I removed was clean, its located behind a little pipe from the engine body (not the air box).

It had the torx screws on and had a plunger on it with a little rubber stopper on the end... I took a photo.. but I can't upload it (Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached.).

But before I did that, the car wont start.

There is a little black box next to the ECU.
When I turn the car on (normal run position) it clicks once.
When I try to start the car the starter motor works normal but the engine just doesn't want to fire up
When I stop trying to start the car, the little black box is buzzing. (return the key to the run position)
When I turn the car off it clicks and is quiet.

Sometimes if I whack it with a hammer it stops buzzing, and then the car starts (worked twice now)

• What is it called?
• What does it do?
• Is it supposed to buzz?
• Is this likely to be the problem with my starting?

[Matts406]

Turned out to be a corroded connector between the ECU and the ignition control unit

[teamster1975]

Good job Matt! Can you post a photo of the connector and I'll stick this in the knowledge base!

[Doggy]

Hi Matt & Welcome

I can't upload it (Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached.).

Get yourself an account on http://www.photobucket.com, upload the pics to there then display them here using "img" tags.

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