Hi All,

Does anyone have a take on this series of issues I’ve been having with my 2003 Ford KA?

The engine management light came on whilst driving. I opened bonnet and noticed leaking coolant from radiator. Fair enough I thought, broken hose/cracked radiator. Booked it into the garage for a service and repair. Whilst driving there on the morning to drop off it started overevving massively. Got it back from the garage, they had replaced the radiator. They say they have cleaned out the throttle control valve which was causing it to stick, I’m not sure they checked the code from the engine.

The next time I drive it the engine management light comes on again. I haven’t driven very far but it sounds as though the revving was about to make a comeback when I’m stopped at the lights. Also it struggles to start from cold. I need to give it some gas to get it going .

I take it to another garage as I know they have a machine to read the code. They say it needs a new throttle body. Does this sound about right?

As I rarely drive my car the next time I drive it after this repair will be a 300 round trip to see my newly born niece in a fortnight . This series of issues has stopped me from going for two weeks on the bounce now so would like to get to the bottom of this

Any thoughts or input welcome

x

Is this when u clutch it or while driving

From memory it was both in gear and out of gear. Obviously it was more noticeable whilst out of gear / stationary. When driving it to the garage i didn't really need to give it that much gas as it was mainly urban roads so was getting 15/20 out of it without pressing the pedal.

I'm guessing you are thinking the clutch? I had thought this initially but wouldn't the revving problems be pretty much constant rather than intermittent? When i got it back from the garage the first time there were no issues for a while. Also I have had it back from the second garage for a few days and driven short distances and not noticed any revving issues.

No potentiometer on throttle body any fault codes

None that I asked for. I just took the garage at their word as they have done a lot of free work and could have charged a lot more in the past for various jobs and haven't. The downside being however they often take a 'suck it and see' approach

Are they sensors attached to the throttle body?

Am i best taking this to a ford garage and hopefully getting sorted or persisting with independent garages?

I would replace potentiometer it's on side throttle body 2 screws u could do it yourself they give trouble on ka's cheap aswell normal symptoms when u clutch to change gear car revs up

simple part to replace 2 bolts & 1 plug. remove it & give it a good clean with wd40. from memory it's infront the engine near the radiator

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