Car wont rev! (VTS)

5th October 2006, 14:27

Suies brother has a VTS, which isn't particularly well looked after. Recently the car has started stalling at lights, etc, etc. When the revs drop they sometimes wont pick up again.

Last night he brought the car round for me to have a look. It was wet and dark so couldnt look into everything.

The car was originally not able to idle properly. Ive changed the throttle body, stepper motoe, throttle position sensor and tried again after resetting the ECU.

The car idled a lot better, but when driving it had NO power low down... it picked up above 4000rpm, but didnt pull properly.

When the revs do die, sometimes they will not pick up. Even with your foot fully down on the accelerator, the engine is trying to stall.

Sounds like a sensor problem... but could be something more serious.

Ive changed the spark plugs also, as these were completely sooted!

What are your thoughts?

I'm thinking of something fairly significant like fuel filter, fuel pump, engine speed sensor, timing belt slipped a tooth?

Or could it be something a little less obvious like coil pack, water temp sensor, MAP sensor??

What are your thoughts?

5th October 2006, 14:31

First thing I'd do is replace the earths. Had exactly this issuie with mine and it was just cunted earths. Slipped tooth on the belt I'd have thought would stop it making anything over 4k, let alone running better.

Fuel filter? unlikely with sooted plugs.

I'd honestly change the earths first if the cars a rusty bag of nails, then look at sensors.

5th October 2006, 14:42

could there be an air leak? i had a car (not a saxo) in with a simular problem to this and it had a cracked inlet manifold but you couldnt see it they only way we found it was by spraying brake cleaner around the manifold (no where near the intake) and all of a sudden when it was sprayed in one place the car revs picked up meanign that the brake cleaner was getting into the intake which meant there was unmeatered air going into the engine under normaly running, anyway replaced the intake manifold an hay-presto cured. jsut a though duno if it the case this time but worth a check. Oh and how do u reset the ecu?

5th October 2006, 14:46

Hes had a lot of problems with battery going flat (had to bump start it last night too). He says because it keps stalling its not charging oroperly, but thats not as likely as a knackered battery/alternator I guess.

If its a knackered alternator the sensors can go dicky too, so thats worth a look too.

I'll check the earthing points, etc.. cheers.

Now I just need to dig out my multimeter. God knows where that is

5th October 2006, 14:49

Could be a number of things to be honest
Check the fuel filter and all fuel line as it may have low delivery pressure,Vacum leak at the throttle body or inlet manifold,Blocked injecters,The worst one would be low cylinder pressure or uneven

5th October 2006, 14:52

I think its likely to turn out to be mechanical... as the engine itself is knocking its balls off.

I'll have a better idea when he brings it back in the daylight, as had this sort of thing with my vts over the years

Always useful to have a second, third, fourth opinion, etc though

5th October 2006, 15:02

compression test maybe an idea

8th October 2006, 21:43

Just to let you all know that the fuel filter was exchanged for a Halfords jobbie... and its cured the problem!! The car now idles fine and accelerates normally!

The engine itself is still knocking its balls off... probably due to fuel starvation/lean mix. D'oh!