230TE Idle speed

[lucky_phil]

Hi everyone from Australia!
1987 w124 sits happily at 850rpm in neutral, put it in drive drops to 500rpm and goes "lumpy".
buggered if I can find it but there has to be an idle adjustment somewhere?
.....any thoughts most welcome.

 

[NormanB]

Hi Phil

As your idle is stable in neutral I do not think this is an 'adjustment' issue.

See this thread for some pointers.

Regards

 

[Ian B Walker]

I am not sure if the idle speed is adjustable on a 124. Certainly on mine it is controlled by the box of tricks (ECU) Mine also hunts a little when in gear, foot brake on and on tickover. My tickover in gear is about 550 rpm but out of gear about 650ish. Do the usual checks and look for air leaks from all the pneumatic lines running from the inlet manifold.

 

[teky]

the revs are a little high no more than 800 rpm max and the idle can be adjusted
http://www.benzworld.org/publications/pub.asp?id=264
http://www.benzworld.org/publications/pub.asp?id=265

 

[andy_k]

sorry Teky but you'll need to bow to Ian's "superior knowledge" here

the link you posted was for W123s, the question related to the W124 who's idle is controlled by the ECU, however, there is an idle control valve which has a nasty habit of getting clogged up with dirt. and on some models you can adjust it manually but it's one of those jobs that benefits from specialist equipment and cannot be done accurately without an exhaust gas analyser.

If anyone really wants the step by step on how to do it I'll post details but it's best to run the car into your local specialist

Andy

 

[lucky_phil]

thanks folks for all your thoughts, this forum is awesome! ....problem turned out to
be mechanic had left ignition HT leads sitting on top of spakplug connectors, not pushed in for final connect......really basic.

 

[NormanB]

UN lucky phil

 

[teky]

thanks for pointing the 123/124 out for me
http://www.benzworld.org/publications/pub.asp?id=239
thats the 124 data and you can set the idle with test equipment with idle rotery valve if it has that setup