Engine Malfunction Light Came On And Flashing "trc Off" Ligh

[w77]

Last week, these lights came on. Lights disappeared after a couple of days, however I still took the car to my local garage for diagnosis, result was a "P0505 Idle Control Malfunction". The mechanic said that the fault could be from one of the three parts (cannot remember exactly, it was on their reference book).

After driving the car fro about 100 miles in few days, same lights on the dashboard re-appeared today. There is no change on performance and fuel consumption and no misfire as well. Has this happened to anyone? I've searched the topics but people who experienced the same problem turned out to be their coil pack and others didn't bother replying once their problem got sorted. Could this fault code "P0505 Idle Control Malfunction" be the coilpack even the mechanic said that it's not. He suggested to use one of those fuel treatment that cleans the engine fuelling system. It's just annoying driving with those lights on the dashboard.

I would also like to purchase one of those OBDII reader from eBay, can anyone suggest a cheap one that will do the job. How good are those ones that doesn't need plugging into a laptop, reason being not having a laptop myself.

Your help will be appreciated. Thanks.

Richard

[fil4362]

I have been a mechanic 20 years and even i use one of the cheap obdII readers. Just fr a quick plug in and get fault codes. The one i use comes from Argos although i have had it 2 years. It doesnt always give all the fault codes and sometimes i have to use on of my other diag kits as well. I also have an Autodata cd which i use to double check the fault code.

Most garages charge about 30 quid for a plug in so if you buy one and use it twice your quids in. I currently have alot of Vauxhalls with engine lights on, they show a Lambda sensor fault code. This is a sensor in the cars exhaust which detects a bad burn in the engine. Every single one i have found has a comman link they all use super market petrol from the same branch of Tesco. I use my little obdII reader to turn the light out and the fix is just not to use Tesco petrol. I dont charge for this fix and usually get repeat custom from it. so for me they worth the money. i think the one i bought was abotu 30 quid.