Low Ideling, Price?

[juz_cruzin]

I have a 1992 Ford Festiva it is a manual 1.3L motor, now the problem is that when i start it, particularly in the morning when it is cold it idles so low like around 250RPM and sometimes stalls.

I was told that this was to to with the choke not being adjusted right. How can i fix this, has anyone got a diagram or something or the last resort being that i will bring it into the shops so if anyone could fix me up on a price that this may cost or how to fix it.

cheers
Juz_cruzin

[Festy46]

Are you sure it has a carburetor. Here in the US only '88 and '89 models have carbs. A '92 would be fuel injected. Post back if you know for sure that it has a carb and I can give you some suggestions.
John

[juz_cruzin]

Yes it has a carb i am about 99% sure.

[Festy46]

The engine will have to be cold to check this. The best thing to do would be to check it in the morning after it's been sitting all night. Remove the air cleaner from the carburetor. You will have to remove some hoses to accomplish this. Make sure you can remember where all the hoses go that you unhook. If you don't think you can remember where they each go, take some masking tape and number them. Example: Remove the first hose and wrap a piece of masking tape around it and write a number "1" on it. Wrap another piece of tape around the fitting where you removed the hose and label that number "1". Continue doing that with all the hoses you need to remove, #2, #3, etc. When you are ready to put it back together you'll know that #1 hose goes to #1 fitting, etc.

After you have the air cleaner removed, locate your throttle cable. It's attached to the valve cover and connects to a round thing on the side of the carb. Rotate this round part as far as it will go and hold it there. Look in the top of your carb. You should see a thin plate blocking one side of the carb. Try to move this little plate (your choke) with your finger. It should move with very, very little pressure. If it is hard to move from a closed position to a straight up and down (open) position, you will need to get a spray can of carburetor cleaner and soak the shaft and the area around the shaft that the little plate is attached to. If the choke plate does move very easily, release the round throttle piece that you were holding. Now quickly turn the round throttle part as far as it will go and let go of it. Look at the plate in the top of your carb. It should be closed. If it's not, you probably have a bad electric choke.

If the choke closed properly, look directly behind the round throttle part and you should see a screw with the head of the screw facing toward the back of the car. This is your fast idle screw. Start the car and when it is running at the slow (stall) speed, turn that screw clockwise as viewed from the top (back) of it. When you turn the screw, your engine should start to speed up. When it is running fast enough to suit you, you're done. The proper way to set the speed is with a tachometer, but you can get it close enough just by listening to the engine speed. Put the air cleaner back on and you're good to go unless you have a choke problem like I referred to above.
John