Engine "hunting"

[kenfoxy]

If I pull away with minimum revs, the engine "hunts" for a while. The rest of the time the car drives perfectly. It has always done it to some extent but it seems worse now. Has anybody got any ideas?

[is200 Newbie]

Have you had a look at your air filter or the carb itself - maybe air filter needs cleaning or renewing and the carb needs cleaning?

[kenfoxy]

Air Filter is OK but how do you clean the carb? The car is 11 years old and the carb has never been cleaned.

[is200 Newbie]

I clean the carb on mine with a carb cleaning spray from Halfords - not had an issue with it in the 3 years i have used it - nothing promped me to use it, i just wanted to make sure car was running ok. I did note however that after use (on each occasion) that the engine management light came on - i was told that this would go out within a few hours when the spray evaporated away from the sensor in the carb and it did. I just sprayed the aerosol into the body and wiped around the rest.

Its a 10 minute job that will help to narrow down the problem and also clean out the carb body but be careful if using wipes not to drop any into it.

I had the hunting problem on an Astra i had and found it was the airfilter along with the air mass meter that had blown (so i was told) - i replaced the filter and as above cleaned the card out and it was fine after that. Not saying the Lex is the same as the Astra but it could be a cure?

[kenfoxy]

Cheers I will give that a go. Does the engine have to be cold?

[kenfoxy]

At the time of starting this thread, I had Forte Gas Treatment in the tank. Since then I have refilled the tank and added another dose. The car now runs fine so I will keep a watching brief before doing the carb clean.

[sjrainsford]

I think you mean throttle body rather than carb...

[kenfoxy]

Sorry, quite correct. Btw. You have same colour IS as me -- very rare.

[sjrainsford]

I'd heard it was quite a rare colour. I've seen a few about though.

It's an odd colour I find. Can look quite dull in certain lights, but looks stunning in the sun.

[kenfoxy]

I bought mine new in 2001. At the time, the only fashionable colours were black and silver. These days ppls taste has opened up and aztec fire is more favourable.