[devsoftech]

Problem was resolved - The mechanic used a 3M carburetter and choke spray and the car is young again. Even with the A/C on/off - no more fluctuations. He said the idling sensor had got "jammed". btw, if the car fails to start, you should try pulling out the oxygen sensor cable and drive to the closest mechanic.

[ptaneja]

Originally Posted by devsoftech

Problem was resolved - The mechanic used a 3M carburetter and choke spray and the car is young again. Even with the A/C on/off - no more fluctuations. He said the idling sensor had got "jammed". btw, if the car fails to start, you should try pulling out the oxygen sensor cable and drive to the closest mechanic.

What is this 3M Carburetter and Choke Spray ?

[devsoftech]

3M India: Choke and Carb Cleaner

Unique through-the-engine formula can be used while the car is running Can be used on cold, warm and running engines Oxygen sensor safe Low-odour, fast-drying, high-delivery rate with quick cleaning action Excellent solvency will attack painted surface (avoid spraying on painted area)
It was used on my system as the throttle body was clogged due to K&N filter's oil getting into the system.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by devsoftech

3M India: Choke and Carb Cleaner

Unique through-the-engine formula can be used while the car is running Can be used on cold, warm and running engines Oxygen sensor safe Low-odour, fast-drying, high-delivery rate with quick cleaning action Excellent solvency will attack painted surface (avoid spraying on painted area)
It was used on my system as the throttle body was clogged due to K&N filter's oil getting into the system.

Interesting product, thanks for posting. But how does one apply it? Do we need to open the throttle body and then spray this while the engine is running? Is there any other way? How much did it cost?

[devsoftech]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Interesting product, thanks for posting. But how does one apply it? Do we need to open the throttle body and then spray this while the engine is running? Is there any other way? How much did it cost?

The air intake feeder hose was removed (That connects to throttle body) and when the engine was idling, and 2 sprays were applied directly on the air intake section that goes into throttle body.
This spray should never be applied on any rubber part as it is very corrosive.

There's an alternate cheaper product by Abro (TM) retailing at 260 bucks. I have no idea of pricing by 3M's. If I get lucky, I will photograph the application area and definitely enquire the product's cost

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by devsoftech

The air intake feeder hose was removed (That connects to throttle body) and when the engine was idling, and 2 sprays were applied directly on the air intake section that goes into throttle body.
This spray should never be applied on any rubber part as it is very corrosive.

There's an alternate cheaper product by Abro (TM) retailing at 260 bucks. I have no idea of pricing by 3M's. If I get lucky, I will photograph the application area and definitely enquire the product's cost

Thanks for the information. Please do get back on the cost. I think I'll give it a shot for my Fiesta, as it is completing 5 years in March. I did have some instances where the engine/ drive train warning light would come on during cold starts, but that seems to have vanished now. Experts on this forum said that throttle body cleaning was the remedy.

[ptaneja]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Thanks for the information. Please do get back on the cost. I think I'll give it a shot for my Fiesta, as it is completing 5 years in March. I did have some instances where the engine/ drive train warning light would come on during cold starts, but that seems to have vanished now. Experts on this forum said that throttle body cleaning was the remedy.

Yup, engine light is for either throttle body or if you have CNG installed or if you have a faulty O2 sensor - but frankly I have never seen an O2 sensor going bad.

[Born2Slow]

Throttle body cleaning seems to be the best solution. But leaving the car in idle without AC and any other load for 10-15 mins did the trick for me recently when I had almost given up and was about to take the car to the A.S.S. As usual it started after I had disconnected the battery for a while.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by Born2Slow

Throttle body cleaning seems to be the best solution. But leaving the car in idle without AC and any other load for 10-15 mins did the trick for me recently when I had almost given up and was about to take the car to the A.S.S. As usual it started after I had disconnected the battery for a while.

In case you are referring to my problem (and not the one you started the thread for), I simply used to switch off the engine in a few seconds and re-start. The engine/ drive train warning never came on during second start.

It surfaced only in December, during early morning cold starts, when the outside temperature was around 20 degrees. The issue stopped on its own from this week. I'm not sure if the increase in temperature in the weather caused this to dis-appear, but I will give 3M a shot certainly.

[Amey]

Originally Posted by devsoftech

btw, if the car fails to start, you should try pulling out the oxygen sensor cable and drive to the closest mechanic.

And how will that happen ?

[devsoftech]

Originally Posted by Amey

And how will that happen ?

The ECU chooses fail safe values when O2 sensor is not responding. However, this is not a limp home mode, as OBD diagnostics does not register this as a failure and you can still drive. I was also surprised to see that there were no repercussions on detaching the O2 sensor cables, and idling was balancing out and not stalling.

[devsoftech]

MVI_1334.MOV - YouTube

(Video demonstrating removal of O2 sensor wiring and cranking up. Also shows that ECU lights go off, so its not a limp mode. Sorry about the bad picture quality of video. Still learning the basics

[sreenidhibr]

Originally Posted by sureshkishore

Disconnect Negative Terminal for some time
Reconnect the terminal.
Switch on the ignition, do not crank the engine. Leave it for a minute. You can hear a motor work intermittently within the engine room (upon keen observation) i guess it is the throttle actuator.
Crank the engine and voila its done.

One fine day, after 5 years and a bit of ownership, after 65k kms of running, the sx4 would not start. The battery seems to be completely dead. Ordered new battery from batterybhai.com (Amaron AAM-PR-00050B20R). They came over and installed within 2 hours, even though it was a Sunday.

After that, I faced the low idle and stalling problem. Came across this thread and I followed the procedure given above. The idle problem seems to have been resolved (not seen from past one month). The engine seems to idle at around 700 rpm now.

The 70k service is coming up shortly. Anything specifically I should get checked, particularly with respect to this idle rpm problem ?

[sudev]

If the problem surfaced only after battery change and git resolved then no need for anything else really.

[Sinner666]

Sorry for bumping an old thread, but I am facing a very similar problem in my new gen i20 1.2 VVT petrol. Have been noticing this since the last 2-3 weeks, ever since the winters retreated and the AC has been brought back into use.

Have noticed this while the car is in idle (traffic lights etc.) only when the AC is ON. The rpm keeps dropping and then bounces back up. The engine never stalls though even though the rpm falls.

The car is fairly new (a little more than an year old), run around 9500kms, and no electrical or any other work had been carried out on it in the recent past. Others who reported the problem mentioned dirty injectors, ECU errors etc. What could this be?