Questions and Answers

Ford Escort LX Idle Fluctuations Q. Hi, Can you help me with a problem that my local Ford garage can't seem to fix. The car is a: 1997 Ford Escort LX 1.6i 1.6 liter Manual transmission 75,000 miles Fuel Injection

When started from cold, the idle speed varies from 1500 to 500, up and down, until the car gets warm, when there is no problem with it. (This only takes a minute or so). the car drives normally, so I suspect this problem is something in the 'idle speed' control area.

My garage has tried several different 'little filters' (this is what they have called it), but this hasn't solved the problem. What else could be the cause of this annoying variation in idle speed on start up ?

At one point I kept asking my wife not to rev the car up and down when she first got in it, but then she told me that she wasn't touching anything!

Regards,
John

A. There is most likely a problem with the Idle Speed Control Valve (ISCV) or the PCM. Ford should be able to test this with their scan tool. Also there is probably a code stored in the PCM that could help trace the problem.

The two other possibilities are a bad coolant temp sensor and a bad O2 sensor. Both would throw a code and are easily tested with a scan tool. If your Ford dealer can't handle this, I would find another dealer.

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