Help please: broke down on the way to work... :(

[mft]

This morning, the car started fine, and went through its usual cold-engine low-rev kangarooing nonsense. After it warmed up, it was fine for a while.

Then, it gave a few stutters/hops, which I tried to accelerate through, unsucessfully, and then cut out. I tried to start it a few times, but it didn't even come close to catching,.

After ~30mins standing, it started, just before the RAC arrived (!) and sounded OK. Mr RAC did comment on a big flat spot, though: from idle, if you increase the throttle (we were doing it directly) for the first 10-15 degrees, there is no rev increase, and instead the engine would struggle; past this, it would rev freely.

Then, while we were both watching/listening, something odd happened:

• A wierd noise, (half hiss and half metal-brush-on-cymbal) started, sounding like it was somewhere down below the AFM. We couldn't localise it any better
• It was initally short bursts every couple of seconds, but then got longer and more frequent, until it was constant
• Once it was constant, the engine started to struggle, and then the revs rose, despite us not touching the throttle at all
• Mr RAC tried to rev the engine, and it stalled

It did start again, and I limped home, but it was still very unhappy. The Mr RAC followed, and commented that it was running so rich, it was stinging his eyes to follow me!


I'm thinking AFM. Any other suggestions, please? If I can't get it sorted, I might have to get rid, as I must at least have a car I can depend on to get me to work!

[eltel]

sounds very much like AFM or something inlet..like manifold or splits in the pipe... the wizards like ant and brian moooore will be able to advise you how to test the AFM

[tomm]

I had the AFM off last night, and it seems to check out OK (as far as I can tell with a digital multimeter).
I also re-checked the TPS - works fine.
There're no leaks in the AFM-TB trunk - it looks new, and I think it was replaced for the MOT, just before I got the car.

I'm going to replace the blue temp sensor anyway, just to be on the safe side, as it's quite cheap.
I'll check every other bit of vacuum piping I can find.
I'll also have a look at the multiplug I've read about (on here) that controls the injectors and (IIRC) takes the blue temp sensor feed.


Any other thoughts or suggestions please?


(PS tomm = mft - 'mft' was an old logon that one of my PCs has stored, and I totally forgot about the existence of... so I'll stop using it now)

[rj]

I think the coolant sensor ohmage tolerance should be between 3-4k when cold and between 2-300 when fully warm