UK Car Repair: Citreon AX with mind of its own!, vacuum hoses, vacuum leak

Question
hi i have a 96 AX 1litre elation and it keeps revving itself to death when i'm not touching the throttle, if i have to stop it carries on revving wildly until i kill the engine, when i try to start it again it wont for about 30 mins? one minuite its fine next minuite its turned into herby, any ideas?

many thanks

Answer
Hello Johnathan, It appears you may have a rather large intermittent vacuum leak ( engine is drawing air in through a opening other than the throttle ). Check all the hoses (vacuum, not radiator) for leaks, you can remove each one and inspect it for cracks and rips. The fault could also be a faulty idle speed control valve. As always I advise that you start by checking the items that cost little or nothing (like the vacuum hoses) and work in from there. - let me know if you find anything - Paul