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Citroen Saxo - broken idle stepper motor?

Howdy.

My car just went in for a service and an analysis to see why it's been running so poorly - it has one main problem: the engine idles at very low revs from cold and either makes the car shake like crazy or stalls instantly. The car starts fine if you apply a few revs while turning the key in the ignition, though.

Another (minor) problem is that it revs a little too high on idle - anywhere between 1200-1500rpm, it never stalls at traffic lights or anyhting like that, though!

The garage I went to said that the idle stepper motor needs replacing to fix this problem - although I just wanted to see if you mechanics out there would agree with this diagnosis - the price they want to fix it is nearly three times the cost of buying the already pricey stepper motor myself before they've even added VAT on top - but it looks like such a simple job in the Haynes - something that would take 20 mins at most.

So does the stepper motor diagnosis sound right or should I be looking at other things like a broken coil pack or a dodgy sensor somewhere?

All the best, Rich

Reply to
rich a
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Stepper motor is a known problem on some Peugeot and Citroen group cars. I honestly don't know whether the Saxo range has any of these engines fitted but if it is the stepper motor, there is a chance that it can be cleaned and made to work without replacing it.

Personally, I would get a disgnosis from a few garages if I was in any doubt as to whether or not I was being told porkies by one.

I don't think it is a very difficult or time consuming job to replace, but the part isn't usually very cheap.

Douglas

Reply to
Douglas Payne

Hi Group, You do not state the year or model of your vehicle so it is difficult to be precise but most later systems have the idle settings stored in the engine management computer (ECU). These values are 'adaptive' and are intended to automatically adjust themselves during the life of the vehicle. It is sometimes neccesary however to reset these adaptive vlues using a piece of diagnostic equipment , this may be all that is required. You would need to find a garage suitably equiped to perform this job , it only takes a couple of minutes if it is possible. Mike

Reply to
Mike

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