Hi all, my Mk1 2.0l has started to play up... the other day I ran out of fuel (I know it's unforgivable) but in my defence it said it had 33 miles till empty! Got fuel took it home and then my daughter left the interior light on all night. Got in it the next day started it and turned the light off then went on a 70 mile round trip. However on the way out in started to judder a little at idle. Then as the journey went on it got slightly worse. Then it started to rev on its own at junctions or when stuck in traffic. And now if you change gear, stop in traffic or at junctions the revs go up to about 2500-3500 and has been up to 5500 the only way to bring them down is to turn off the car or keep it in gear and raise the clutch slightly to help drop them. It's only going up for about 10 seconds but it's embarrassing at lights and the person in the car next to you looks at you as your car revs on its own... no I'm not after a race mate its the bl**dy car not me... I have also noticed that a t idle the car seems to be running rich as the smell of petrol is all I can smell ( I love the smell but others around me may not as they will probably see me smoking in the car!!)  I'm not sure if the first two items have much bearing on the new issue, I have had a look about and found all sorts about running rough or running rich or the revving on its own but nothing that combines the lot... is there anyone out there who might have a clue??

Many thanks Mike

Try disconnecting the battery for 30 mins make sure you have your 

radio key before you do

Hi Buddy, thanks for your reply, I have now tried this bit to no effect... in fact if anything it's got worse and now always want to stall. Ahhhhh soding car!!

If it has an idle control valve take it off and clean it out think I used carb cleaner in a spray tin ,mine was a mk1 1.6 not sure if the 2.0 has one? 

Well all sorted now. I found a blank g plug on the inlet manifold that had a hole in it. So reblanked the hole and whilst I was there I cleaned the ICV. So the hole was sucking on air after the TB and making the engine run rough. The lambda sensor was detecting an issue and telling the ECU to compensate for the issue, but the MAF sensor was saying there was no issue and they were fighting each other to make the engine run properly. Too much air and not enough fuel, then too much fuel to compensate and it ran too rich on idle as the revs dropped. 

 Hope this helps.

glad you sorted it 

Well all sorted now. I found a blank g plug on the inlet manifold that had a hole in it. So reblanked the hole and whilst I was there I cleaned the ICV. So the hole was sucking on air after the TB and making the engine run rough. The lambda sensor was detecting an issue and telling the ECU to compensate for the issue, but the MAF sensor was saying there was no issue and they were fighting each other to make the engine run properly. Too much air and not enough fuel, then too much fuel to compensate and it ran too rich on idle as the revs dropped. 
 Hope this helps.

Would there be a similar problem area on a 1.6 engine?