Stalling & stuttering S2

[Simon_P]

Have you (not the garage) checked the idle? You only need a paperclip.

[KenS]

In case you cannot spot the necessary info in WikiLEC, setting the Idle is found under Tickover ( http://wikilec.com/view/Tickover )

[David_F]

Thanks for your guidance. I haven’t checked tickover myself but the lotus garage did when i took it in and they checked base timing at the same time. This is a video of the car after sitting on the drive for about 8 minutes before the video starts.
https://youtu.be/yejKzZLKPqQ.
If I take the car out without warming it up first if I have to drive a section at slow speed out of the village for example over speed bumps I can be driving down the road at above tickover revs and the car will start to kangaroo and then stall. It will keep doing this until I can get to a bit of open road so I can increase speed and the engine starts to warm up. Probably lasts for about 5 minutes and then runs great with no issues stalling so I’m just wanting to be careful not to start making changes to things I don’t understand in case the running of the car when warm is impacted. I’d like to be able to see whether elanscan can shed any light on what’s happening although I’ve checked for errors and there aren’t any logged.

[Rambo]

So, what is your tickover when the engine is warmed up ?

PS I know what it should be but are you turning the idle adjustment screw down to give idle speed at cold (in service mode)

[Simon_P]

lotus garage did when i took it in and they checked base timing at the same time.

You said earlier, which is why I'm asking if you have checked. If you check it you will know that it is righ and you can confirm to us - it doesn't cost anything, is simple to do, if you stick the paperclip in and there is no change all well and good.

Have you reset the ECU? What effect did it have?

I can only hear the heater fan in the video.

[Simon_P]

Not once in nearly twenty years and now 2 duplicate posts in as many days.

[David_F]

Apologies for the quality of video but this is what happened to the revs when I put the car into service mode. https://youtu.be/3sWVZ3Cwujg There was a slight increase. The rev counter once the car was warm was reading just below 1k and in service mode the revs increased to just over 1k. Am I right that based on the guidance I should lower the tickover as that’s counter intuitive to me if the car is stalling?

[Simon_P]

Hi David,
See the wiki for details of adjustment and basic settings - 1 1/2 turns. The idle is controlled by the ECU moving the idle air control valve (IAC), allowing more or less air iin to maintain the idle at 950rpm.
The base position for the IAC is 20 counts/clicks at which the idle should be 950 rpm.

You aren't adjusting the idle speed you are calibtating by adjusting the amount of air.
In service mode the ECU holds the IAC at 20 clicks and you adjust the screw until the revs are 950 as expected.

This should correspond to the 1 1/2 turns mentioned. If it doesn't it indicates an issue eg vacuum leak.

After you have done the procedure you need to reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery for a few seconds.

Let us known how you get on.

[David_F]

Thanks to everyone for your help particularly simon_p for your detailed support. I reset the tickover in service mode and reset the ecu. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve taken her out from cold and not had any issues, in fact she’s running great so thanks again. Now onto the steering and suspension and the drivers side window that now only opens half way down before getting stuck. Getting there thanks to your support.