Help getting integrale 16v running proper

[young olds]

When I bought my car the previous owner had the icv disconnected and the idle screw adjusted to compensate, but you had to hold your foot on the gas while it was cold to keep it running. I plugged the icv back in adjusted the tps and it would idle by itself cold. but many times upon start up it would idle at about 2k, whether it was cold or warm, as well as whenever it did idle at a proper rpm(which would happen randomly) it had an idle surge(rpm up and down a few hundred rpm).I have since replaced the tps, icv and the coolant temp sender in an effort to fix this and it has gotten better but I’m still getting the idle surge and when I’m driving if I let off the gas while the clutch is in it usually dies, sometimes the idle will drop really low and recover, I can keep this from happening if I throw it in neutral so I can brake with one foot and ease the idle down but it’s annoying to have to do.

[Steve Webb]

Hunting at idle is usually down to a vacuum leak somewhere, the old vacuum/boost hoses have a tendancy to split and cause random issues. Get your self some small bore silicon hose, stays in place better, looks better, and might solve your problem.

Do you have any idea why the ICV was removed? Is the car running a standard chip? It is running a bleed valve?

[young olds]

Idk why it was disconnected, and it did not have a standard chip when I got it. What’s a bleed valve?

[Steve Webb]

Bleed valves are a crude method used to fool the turbo into producing more boost, they are usually indicative of a car that has been messed about with and modified badly.

Not sure why the previous owner would disconnect the ICV, was it a Japanese car?

[young olds]

Ok, probably what we call a mechanical boost controller here. It does not but it does have an electronic boost controller. Yes it came from Japan. And I spoke to soon, car idled at 2k after a warm start lastnight, was doing well on that front recently.

[Steve Webb]

Have you taken a look at the website yet? We've got a lot of the workshop manuals for the Q4, the way the ICV on the 16v Integrale is setup should be similar. I'd be looking to put the car pretty much back to standard again before moving it forward. There seem to be a lot of unknowns with the engine, you could end up chasing your tail with lots of annoying little probkems.

[young olds]

I do need to take some time to go through it and make sure everything is hooked up right. I’ve been wanting to clean it up under the hood anyways just been putting it off cause it’s so tight in there.

[AlfaJack]

Mine is a bit odd on startup - it kind of needs to clear its throat before it allows me to move - its a bit annoying as the garage is at the bottom of my driveway which is a pretty steep hill. I'll be pulling the ICV apart soon.

If the ICV was disconnected and you have now replaced it and it's still not right, could it be the wiring is not good?

[young olds]

Are there very many vacuum hoses to sort through? I’ve seen a few but idk if they t off or if there are any under the intake plenum. How involved is it taking the intake manifold off? Can I just buy a new intake gasket or will I end up removing other things getting it off?

[young olds]

Mine is a bit odd on startup - it kind of needs to clear its throat before it allows me to move - its a bit annoying as the garage is at the bottom of my driveway which is a pretty steep hill. I'll be pulling the ICV apart soon.

If the ICV was disconnected and you have now replaced it and it's still not right, could it be the wiring is not good?

I guess it is possible the wiring could be faulty.

[Steve Webb]

Are there very many vacuum hoses to sort through? I’ve seen a few but idk if they t off or if there are any under the intake plenum. How involved is it taking the intake manifold off? Can I just buy a new intake gasket or will I end up removing other things getting it off?

An Integrale inlet plenum is far easier to get off than the Q4 one, but I dare say there will be other bits and pieces that need to come off, or be moved to physically get it out.
There are quite a number of small bore hoses around the engine bay, Map sensor, overboost valve etc etc, any one of these can cause issues with starting and running.

[young olds]

Next time I have some time to sort through things I’ll get in there and see what I can find.

[young olds]

I got the car out today and I could not get the idle to come down below 2k even after it was warmed up. I unplugged the icv and adjusted the air bleed( not sure what it’s called) until it would idle at just below 1k and drive it to work. It ran flawlessly, no weird rpm drop and dying when letting of the gas, no high idle and no idle surge. That leads me to believe that the icv is working incorrectly. I’ve heard of people “tuning” out the icv is that possible on the stock ecu with an eprom emulator?

[Steve Webb]

It does sound as though either the ICV is not functioning correctly or whatever chip you have has altered it behaviour.

First off i'd get the ICV off and give it a good clean and check the electrical connections, check there aren't any splits in any of the pipe work and give it another try.

Beyond that I'd be looking at the ECU.

[young olds]

Icv is new, replaced it when I was first trying to fix the problem. I’m running an ostrich eprom emulator(with what I believe is a stock map) instead of the chip that came in the car. Is there a hose set I can buy to replace all the rubber hoses? I want to replace them cause most are old and the ones that aren’t are miss matched in color(some blue and some red).

[Jan300]

Is your tps set up correct?

[young olds]

I’ve adjusted it but idk if it’s “correct”

[young olds]

What’s the proper way to adjust it? I’ve not found a good write up

[Jan300]

Im not sure about your car but most of Weber Marelli cars its around 0.2volt at idle.If voltage is to high the symtoms can be like your car

[young olds]

I have it set at .3 currently, will try a lower setting and report back

[young olds]

Anyone know where I can get a float for the fuel level sender?

[young olds]

Tried a lower setting on the tps, it helped but was still a slight issue while driving cold. Now a can’t get tps to go lower then .4 and it’s running poorly again