Low idle and stall



  • Hi all, my other half has a 1.6 mx3 which is suffering from low idle and a subsequent occasional stall. There is also a squeal from an auxiliary belt on cold startup.

    Has anyone encountered anything like this before? Is the belt issue related? Possible sparking issue?

    Any help appreciated



  • It might have an air leak from a split in the accordian syle hose that leads from the airbox to the inlet manifold, very common for them to degrade over time.

    Belt squeal is a sign the belt is slipping so needs more tension put on it, or it may just be old and worn.

    Sam.



  • Thanks Sam, I'll be sure to check that first. I think the belt squeal is likely from the alternator is this possibly related to the issue?



  • No problem. Unlikely in my opinion, if the alternator was not working properly the car would fail to start after it stalled as it only charges the battery.



  • There doesn't appear to be a crack in the intake piping. Got any further suggestions?



  • The belt squeal is because the belt is either too tight or too loose.
    Just adjust the tensioner, a rough guide is that you should be able to twist it 90 in the middle of its longest length.

    Very very occasionaly you will get a problem with too much resistance in a pully causing issues but thats uber rare.

    I doubt the squeeling belt has anything to do with your other problems.

    Idle problems are usually..
    1.) an air leak on the intake
    2.) a vacume leak from one of the pipes (you usually get hunting revs, ie going up and down)
    3.) the stepper motor (attaches to the throttle body and can be cleaned out on alot of cars)

    but if you have a misfire aswell…
    Then it could be a spark or fuel issue, but you would know it would have to be really bad for it to stall and would sound terrible.

    Describe all your symptoms and perhaps I can help more.



  • lift the bonnet at night and if you see blue sparks dancing around then the leads are shot, also take one lead out a a time and look at the plastic going to the spark plug, a crack in here will earth out and causing the same problem


 

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