Brain Teaser

[robcawte]

For a few months now I have had a fault on my car. Sue R has been going on at me to put something on the forum, so here it is. I have a Ford 2L DOHC with fuel injection. After it has warmed up it will cut out for a second, this will happen three, five ,six times. Doesn't matter if the engine is under load or on over run , It can happen after five miles or up to ten miles, it just cuts and then chimes back again, no miss-firing or back-firing, just stop and starts.

I have cleaned all the electrics, changed the ECU, I changed the ignition coil, this did not cure the fault but the car does go better, something I would recommend to anyone who has a twenty year old coil on their car. There is a prize for the person who knows what this fault is, 1st one nights camping at Stoneleigh 2nd prize two nights camping at Stoneleigh !!

[dcunn]

Re: Brain Teaser

Bob, I had a similar problem with a Fiat (900?)camper van many years ago, tried all I could think of and it was cured after a new condenser was put in the distributor
Hope this helps
B Rgds DC
PS we don't do camping, there's nowhere for Liz to plug in her hairdryer, so if this does sort it for you I request you to nominate a deserving cause for your prize !

[robcawte]

Re: Brain Teaser

Thanks Dave, but nothing in the disributor but a rotor arm, the ECU does all the work ( no camping for you at Stoneleigh );o)

[CABRIOBOB]

Re: Brain Teaser

It could be a bad connection, or dirt on the face of the engine speed sensor or adjustment, a fault with the electric fuel pump/regulator or a internal fault with the ignition switch. Do have a bunch of keys on the key ring with the ign key ? as the extra weight can cause the internal switch to loose contact intermittently.

[robcawte]

Re: Brain Teaser

Hi Bob,had the speed sensor out and cleaned it, few keys on the key ring, bash the lock and pulled the wiring about. Nothing can make the engine stop outside the garage !!

[copperleaves11]

Re: Brain Teaser

Hi Bob. Could this possibly be temperature related? I had a 911 once that had a fault with the speed sensor that only manifested when the engine reached a certain temp.(usually when held up in traffic).regards

[cameronfurnival]

Re: Brain Teaser

fuel pump?

[dogoncrazy]

Re: Brain Teaser

Throttle position sensor?

[Dane_Rescueman]

Re: Brain Teaser

Did you fit the Sierra crash switches? Became a fault on some Sierras.

Fuel pump or ignition relay?

As Alan says, TPS?

[b_caswell]

Re: Brain Teaser

Dave Cunnington, You can buy a 12volt hair dryer and plug it into the car. Camping sorted.

[robcawte]

Re: Brain Teaser

Hi David, yes it is temperature related, but I am sure it's not crank speed sensor. The engine just cuts dead for a second, no warning, then once it has had it's little fit, it will run for the rest of the day, perrffic.

Hi Alan, The throttle sensor can't kill the engine, it will make it run rough. Before engine losses power.

Hi Dane, I don't have the crash switches, fuel pump is good. But your going to get the one nights camping. In the electrics are two relays, one of which supplies the power to the coil, injectors and fuel pump.I have had this fault for six months just waiting for the car to brakedown completely. I got fed-up with it, picked up the wiring diagram and found the fault in two minuets !!

[robcawte]

Re: Brain Teaser

Ben, the hair dryer had nothing to do with the fault.

[romeks44]

Re: Brain Teaser

Hi, about two months ago I got a similar problem - on a 300 km trip I gor the feeling that the engine goes off for a fraction of a second a few times, then a few dayays with no proble but one morning it would not start. This was with 1.6 nissan serena (13 yaars young, injection engine same as almera). The car started a few minutes later without problem but the "off" moments occured a few times and about 1-3 seconds. Next day got to work with problems but asked finally my friend to tow me home... Lucky me - there is the orange "engine" control light in this car that is normally on in the ignition position and goes off when the engine runs. This control was not as bright as usual when the car wouldn't start and got a little light during driving in the "off" moments. As the problem changed from intermittent to permanent it was easier investigate. I found a relay that is responsible for ECU=orange light power. It was closing OK but the voltage that was supplied to the relay was about 8 volts. I tried to find out the weak contact but failed within the under-dashboard-spagetti. So I added a bypass - a cable directly from the battery to supply the relay -> orange light changed from pale to bright -> and engine started without problems and drives smoothly.

After writing the above I just found the problem is solved.

[KitCarGirl]

Re: Brain Teaser

See, I knew it was worth putting something on the forum!

[dcunn]

Re: Brain Teaser

Many thanks Ben for the kind suggestion. You don't really want to know Liz's response....but it wasn't exactly grateful.....however she has now gone away to think of another anti-camping reason !