Hi,

I wonder if you could give me some advice. My car details are the following

Vauxhall Corsa B (1999)
1.2 16V
Mileage is around 75,000

The other day my engine management light come on, and my revs started playing up. When I’m stationary my revs are sporadic, rather than staying around 1000 they move up and down, making my engine sound a little crazy. If I put a little revs on and off this goes away, until I set off again and then it’s the same problem again.

Also, when slowing down, my car starts to stall forcing me to put the clutch down, and I basically can’t drive in high gears at slowish speeds, where before I used to drive in 4th its now 3rd and 5th 4th if that makes sense, or the car starts jumping about.

I put my car on one of those computers (don’t know what it’s called) and it came up with “idle speed control valve”, so I went and got a new throttle bay from a motor spares place (wasn’t new). I fitted this, but the problem is still there. When a guy put it back on the computer it come up with 2 faults found. Both the same thing, Idle Speed Control Valve, however 1 was not present 1 present. He said its running in “safe mode”? not sure what this is so he switched it off, and it seemed to fix it for a second but then it went straight back to how it was and when we tested it again it was back to this.

Now I’ve been told it could be the air flow sensor, but wouldn’t this come up as its own individual fault? I’ve been told mixed things about that, I was going to get one later to see if that fix’s it but I am very sceptical. I think it could also be the throttle bay I got also had the same fault but is that very likely?

Any help would be greatly, greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Dan

Dan, May 2010

Hello I have a problem with my 2000 Corsa.it drives fine but when I'm sitting at the traffic lights and the car idling it goes into get me home mode and is really getting on my nerves.if I sit at the lights with my foot on the accelerator and rev it so it's off 0 on the clocks it's fine but I have a big tail end pipe so is noisy as hell...please help!!

Lee, May 2014

ICV is the main culprit. Remove and clean with carb or electronic cleaner. Also clean out the throttle body where the valve fits. That tends to gum up. If this does not work then replace ICV. At the same time clean the MAF sensor. That is the first one after the air cleaner. The MAP sensor can also cause problems. This is the black box with the pipe attached. Leave this for last as it is very expensive. While you are at it you may just as well clean out the pipe that connects the throttle body to the tappet cover.I learnt all this the hard and expensive way. Good Luck.

Casper. Jeffreys Bay., April 2014

i am having prob just like yours my revs up and down with a slight miss and lack of power but when i drive over 50 all is fine i have changed my air flow meter cleaned e.g.r valve changed lamber sensor had in on a computer fault reader but came up with no faults still running rough help would be great

wayne, November 2011

hey did you found the answer for that? same here, i hade thet problem, i changed air flow sensor - didnt worked, brought it back to shop, got brand new idle control valve had everythig for 2 -3 days and then everything back to normal, whats above, any help u got anything figured out???????????????????????

AL, April 2011

I replaced the whole throttle bay, including the black box thats attached. I'm going to try cleaning it, i was just puzzled as to wether its likely the exact same fault was on the 2nd one too

Dan, May 2010

Are you sure you've replaced the idle speed valve as you have said you only replaced the throttle housing??The valve is located with three torx screws an is made of plastic. Incidently just because a fault code relates to an item doesn't mean THAT item is faulty.It could be a wiring fault or another sensor causing the idle valve to go outside its mapped paramatars.It may also take about half hour of driving to 'programme' new unit as it has to learn....

Ralph, May 2010

Do Not use WD40 as the oils in it will gum up the valve even quicker ONLY use a spray carb cleaner

nigel, May 2010

remove the idle control valve,i have not done one on a corsa but a few vectras.usually a cylinder shape attached to the throttle housing with 2 screws.spray wd40 into it ,use plenty and give it a little shake to get the part moving,put back on and should sort your problem.check the piping to the air mass meter aswell for leaks.(the big pipe and any little pipes for leaks.

*, May 2010