Ford Fiesta (1995 - 1999) - 1996 1.3 Idler Valve/revving problems

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Wed 9 Jul 2008 14:24
1996 1.3 Idler Valve/revving problems - fillyfoo
First time posting and no technical knowledge so please forgive me (not a very good advert for women drivers I'm afraid!).

A few months ago my Fiesta started to rev wildly whenever I changed up a gear - no additional acceleration but huge revving sounds. Fortunately it was due in for its MOT and my garage assured me it wasn't the clutch going, the idler valve simply needed replacing.

This was all replaced at the beginning of May but it has now been doing the revving again for a couple of weeks intemittantly. Also, when driving to work this morning when I was in 1st but stationery the engine was revving as if I had the accelerator down (it wasn't - I had the handbrake on). Revved upon moving off and changing up gears but when I came into the office carpark and was crawling along and parking the engine was again revving horribly and seemed to be giving me more power so throwing the car forwards a little.

This has scared me somewhat and I am nervous of trying to drive home tonight in case this all means the accelerator is getting stuck, not just the idler valve faulty again.

Any thoughts from anyone? Apologies for the lack of techno speak! Do I need to get this to a garage and should I even be driving it?!

Maybe its time I gave up (having spent £500 on the blooming thing in the past few months alone!).

Thanks for any help :-)
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Wed 9 Jul 2008 15:31
1996 1.3 Idler Valve/revving problems - Screwloose
ff

Doesn't sound like a stuck throttle - just the idle system getting it's knickers in a twist again.

Idle flare is a common complaint on these and Ford had countless sevice bulletins on it. Use the Forum Search for "idle flare" or "Fiesta idle" and you'll see all the threads about it on here - and the cure.
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Thu 10 Jul 2008 21:45
1996 1.3 Idler Valve/revving problems - punkhead
this will be the throttle position sensor (TPS) wiring loom problem. there is a wiring loom available with a new terminal on it. The old terminal needs cutting off and the new one needs to be soldered directly into the wiring loom running across the plastic bulkhead because it picks up engine interference which is why it revs on its own. The only problem is there are loads of wires in that loom so you need to get the right ones.
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