Started the car this morning, it ran for 5 seconds, made a really spooky sound and died.
Bit of time later today - car started fine, ran for a while - same kinda screech sound and stopped dead. Checked the main ECU relay - replaced with a spare - same issue.
So I kept starting the car and listening for the strange death strangle sound - and noticed eventually that the ICV was making extra odd little noises with the ignition on. Pulled the cable and whilst the idle was all over the place the engine was clearly stable. Lucky me I have a spare ICV, plugged that in without actually installing it and the car ran fine - pulling the plug and re connecting the old ICV caused instant death.
So problem solved, I guess there's a motor short in the ICV which draws a load of juice and strangles the ECU - certainly a new one on me, I wasn't aware that this little thing was capable of leaving you stranded -obviously pulling the ICV plug will save your life and you can drive all day, but with a lousy tickover or crazy hunting engine - but only if you know to look at this as well as the main relay and the CPS as other possible sources of hard shoulder hell.
Paul
