We have a 1994 Fiesta 1.3, which has served us very well as a second car for many years. In the last 3 months however, the car has started to let us down!
The sympotoms are are follows:
First thing in the morning, and given a bit of gas, the car will start fine, but will stall (or try to!) as soon as you apply the brake when approaching a corner for example.
Just before it stalls, you can see the battery light illuminate on the dash and if you give it some more gas, you can avoid the stall (a little hard when your applying the brakes at the same time!)
Assuming you keep the car running, holding constant pressure on the gas will cause the engine and revs to jump up and down anywhere between 1,500 and 3,000 revs.
After 3-5 minutes, the car will suddenly start working fine, all the above sympotoms gone. Leaving the car at work all day (so the engine gets cold again), and you're in for more of the same in the evening.
Now, the car's just had it's 80,000 mile service (actual mileage around 45K), and I've run a tank or two of engine cleaner through, but the problems still persist.
The local Ford garage wants another £200 to run a series of cold start tests, but this is money I can not really afford to spend (especially given the value of the car!).
Can you give me any pointers as to where to start with this?