SEAT Ibiza [1997] cutting out when off-throttle

[davyboy888]

I've had this problem for a while now. When driving my 1997 SEAT Ibiza, the engine cuts out fairly regularly when I come all the way off the throttle. It doesn't happen all the time and I've got into the bad habit of bump starting it while still rolling... can't imagine I'm doing the clutch a lot of good there...

I can't seem to isolate it to the engine temperature [i.e. happens whether hot or cold], the engine rpm at the time I leave off [it can be high or moderate] or anything else. The battery's pretty new and the engine's never had anything replaced other than a set of HT leads which were done as a factory recall [I've had the car since brand new] years ago. Its got just 50K miles and has never been abused.

Anybody got any ideas ? Just hate to pay SEAT GBP300 for them to plug in a diagnostic computer and tell me its a 50p sensor.

 

[^neo^]

First things i'd clean are the throttle body and the idle stabilisation valve.
A can of carburettor cleaner from halfrauds will do it (or help things at least)

The ISV is (usually!) on top of the valve cover. Its an aluminium cylinder with a couple of black hoses and a 2 or 3 pin plug. Take it off and give it a good clean inside, and check the pipes going to it aren't caked up with gunk.

Throttle body can be cleaned by taking off the air intake pipe.

This should solve things, but if not come back and we'll go to the next step!

By the way, can get a fault code reader off ebay for under £30 which will tell you your problem (or point you in the right direction anyway!)

 

[davyboy888]

Cheers for that Neo, that's very helpful and makes a lot of sense... I'll check it out in the next two weeks [I'm on a trip to Japan at the moment and returning to the UK Friday week].

By the way, having not done vehicle electronic diagnostics before, is there any specific fault code reader I need to get for my SEAT ? I think I'll go and get one in any case because I'm sure I'll need it going forward.

 

[^neo^]

Pretty much anything that covers the VW/Audi/Seat range will be fine.

something like this will be perfect.

Do an ebay search for "VW code reader" and you'll get loads pop up.......... and if you're in japan at the mo can save yourself some money on postage as most of them come from there!

 

[VWFreak]

did you get this sorted?? i have the exact same problem on mine stalling at junctions all the time ... i think i have traced the fault to the ISV (idle stabelisation valve) but i havent replaced it yet...

 

[davyboy888]

No I haven't. I did buy the diagnostic kit as Neo suggested but have been out of the country so much in the last weeks I've not had time to do anything with it yet. Would a failed ISV exhibit a fault code for the fault code reader ?

 

[^neo^]

Would a failed ISV exhibit a fault code for the fault code reader ?

Could pick up on 00282 or 00670 (codes for your reader may be different, but the same problem) which is dodgy wiring to ISV or a duff ISV (or ISC as they sometimes call them!)

 

[^neo^]

did you get this sorted?? i have the exact same problem on mine stalling at junctions all the time ... i think i have traced the fault to the ISV (idle stabelisation valve) but i havent replaced it yet...

You'll probably get away with just cleaning it. They get full of oil and crap which needs flushing out with some carb cleaner or petrol

 

[davyboy888]

Many thanks for all your help with this. I'll have to get you back Neo if this solves it.