Xantia throttle adjustment?

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MW
Posts: 159
Joined: 01 Jul 2002, 19:16
Location: United Kingdom
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Xantia throttle adjustment?

Post by MW »

My Xantia (1.8 16v, 1995, 87,000 miles) has been revving very slow on idle and cutting out on idle over the last few days, especially while I'm braking to a standstill. I really don't feel competent to start tinkering with the fuel injection system myself, butI figured that before I take it into my garage I might as well check the obvious things.
First off, I found that there was a terrific amount of slack on the throttle cable - a good inch of pull has to happen before the throttle cable starts to turn the pulley wheel on the injector at all. So, first question - is this amount of slack normal?
Second question - where are the cable adjusters? The only one I could find was a sort of spring circlip arrangement which sits on the ribbed sleeve at the end of the cable itself. I've moved the circlip up so that the cable is now tight enough to raise the idle revs a bit, and this has sorted the cutting-out problem for a while. But I imagine this isn't really a permanent solution. Surely there's another adjuster hidden down there somewhere?
Third question, inevitably - what other causes might there be for the slow idle? I had the whole exhaust, including the cat section, replaced last year (ouch, my wallet!). The car's been garage-serviced from new. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Mike
Mike
reffro
Posts: 127
Joined: 01 Jul 2002, 15:24
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Post by reffro »

I had the exact same problem on my 94 Xantia 2.0i 8v. The throttle cable was slightly slack though not an inch of slack, and the idle was very low and would occasionally cut out when pulling to a stop or if you blipped the throttle.
I adjusted the cable by pulling off the circlip and pulling through enough cable to get that slack and so the car would idle at about 700-750rpm. This is probably a little too high but the stepper motor adjusts that back to a happy 650rpm after a few moments, which is what its there to do. In my case I only needed to pull three ribs of the sleeve through and replace the circlip.
A professional may have another sugestion but in the absense of one I have found my remedy to by ideal. Since I made the adjustment I have had no repeat of the low idle and stalling that I used to get once or twice a week.
MW
Posts: 159
Joined: 01 Jul 2002, 19:16
Location: United Kingdom
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Post by MW »

Any more thoughts, guys? There's also a bit of a flat spot around 3,000 revs, which is supposed to close to max torque on the 1.8 16v. Could the two by any chance be related?
Mike
Niek
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Joined: 18 Sep 2002, 18:09
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Post by Niek »

Hi,
It's a bit of a complicated problem (or could be anyway) on some cars the idle is adjustable (mine's not, '95 xm 2.0i16v) but you shouldn't have to. It's probably a sensor not giving of the right signal (throttle position sensor, coolant temp sensor, MAP sensor, inlet air temp sensor etc...)
On mine, it ran very rough on idle and would sometimes stall, it also had a jojo effect. I thought it would be a sensor but before replacing any I figured I might clean the throttle housing to see if that would change anything (the throttle butterfly couldn't even close anymore!). Well it did, it no longer idles rough and no longer jojo's, it's still not a smooth as I'd like it to be but my recent fuel filter change has made some difference as well. I'll leave it for now (too cold anyway). So I suggest you start there. Take it off (be careful with the gasket) and clean it. I bet you'll find lots of black gum-like stuff in there. I used carb-cleaner and petrol. You can also use this to clean out the stepper motor.
Have fun <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>,
Niek.
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