Up to today my car has been stalling when I get to the end of the road (about a 20 meters away), but then once I get going and up to 2nd/3rd gear it would be mostly fine, occasionally the revs would drop quickly and low to the point the battery light comes on when i depress the clutch to slow down at a junction but it would stay running (ok, it has stalled on 2 occasions after running but that was a long time ago).

I worked out that the PCV breather pipe that runs to the inlet manifold was collapsing and also had a split in it so I replaced that this afternoon, and now the car stalls every time I stop and it wants to stall if I don't change up or down gears quick enough. Once or twice it has coughed and picked up at 100-200rpm but mostly it would stall every time.

To fit the pcv pipe I had to remove the big pipe between the airbox and the throttle body. I replaced the Ford clip on the pcv pipe with a jubilee clip (easier to fit, and my dad managed to lose the old one into the engine bay somewhere when taking the old pipe off ).

Have I simply let some dirt/grease somewhere I shouldn't have done, or is there a bigger, more expensive problem? I could go digging around the wheelie bin to retrieve the old pcv pipe and try fitting that, but it seems like there may be another problem?

Its a 2000 pre facelift 1.8 petrol zetec blacktop engine. Having done 181,000 miles and being in average condition inside and out cosmetically its only worth £500-£600 sold privately hence my extreme reluctance to spend more than I have to on it. I have just bought some oil, a filter and spark plugs for it, but I don't intend to fit them unless I can fix this issue, may take them back for a refund for now and just order again if I can fix this problem.

Sounds like the idle control valve if everything else is reconnected properly it is s common issue

Sounds like the idle control valve if everything else is reconnected properly it is s common issue

Reading around that was one of my conclusions. From the sound of where it is placed, I was really hoping it wasn't that! Will have a go at cleaning it first before replacing it I think. Can I use WD40 or IPA, or is a specific cleaner needed?

Hi Matthew,i have seen posts saying some folk used brake cleaner and others used carb cleaner.I need to look at mine too soon.Will be interested to hear how you get on.Good luck.

Facing the engine right hand side past the coil pack you'll see it bolted on with 3 10mm bolts cleaning theme a waste of time when they're gone they're gone

Hi Matthew,i have seen posts saying some folk used brake cleaner and others used carb cleaner.I need to look at mine too soon.Will be interested to hear how you get on.Good luck.

I used some Ligroin to clean it, poured it in with a small funnel into the bottom hole (held the valve so the sensor wires were at the top), didn't put much in and used a brush to carefully clean it out. Left it for a good couple of hours in the sun to really dry out properly. Both the valve and the wire from it were reading the correct resistance values so I think it was just jammed up with gunk rather than a broken valve, well I hope it was anyway!

Used some gasket cardboard (0.8mm) to make a new gasket in conjunction with the existing rubber o-ring seal thing. Just getting to it was a bit of a pain, had to take off the big pipe between the airbox and throttle body, also pulled the pcv breather pipe off at the pcv end. Had to go at it from about and up from underneath. Refitting and the lack of space to tighten the bolts caused a lot of swearing. I spent several hours on it, but took a break for lunch etc so I'm not fussed, definitely not a 10 minute job though!

If it lasts a few months (hasn't cost me anything) then I'll be happy. Car started first time and didn't need any encouragement with the throttle pedal!

This link was very useful for showing just what I was after and where it was located, I didn't go to the same lengths as he did, although did consider removing the top of the throttle body at one point. http://sammo303.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/ford-focus-idle-speed-control-valve.html

Facing the engine right hand side past the coil pack you'll see it bolted on with 3 10mm bolts cleaning theme a waste of time when they're gone they're gone

3 bolts? Different thing? Whatever I did, it now starts properly and doesn't try to stall!

Disconnected the battery too at one point to clear any potential codes, was surprised to see some acid had leaked or something, white/blue dust/foam stuff on the positive terminal, wiped it away and cleaned them up properly.

The icv doesn't use a gasket its not necessary from the above quite frankly a lot of work for nothing the throttle body is fine a replacement seal would do the Job taking the manifold off was also totally unnecessary but he ho theres either a collapsed throttle hose a faulty icv valve or a split in the air hose that causes those symptoms or a pcm update