The first decent day in weeks weather wise, so I decided to have a full day out in the car.
SWIMBO and me went from Crowlas along the north coast - Gwithain, Portreath, Porthtowan, Portreath, Newquay, Padstow and on to Port Issac where Doc
Martin was filmed.
Just short of Padstow, climbing a short hill, all the power disappeared, engine stumbling and an enormous back fire and we drifted to a halt. I
checked all the obvious things but nothing worked. Then it just started, ran on tickover for a while until I touched the throttle and she died
again.
Then the RAC turned up (coincidence) and said if I joined, he would tow me to a garage, so I signed up and he loaded the car onto the sliding deck and
took me to St Merryn garage, he called out roadside recovery who said it was the coil, drove me 8 miles to the local factor for a coil. Back at the
car and it made no difference. To be fair the fault (no spark) was intermittent and it seems that the ignition module is at fault, which would make
sense. The fuel side all checked out fine, injectors switching, good pressure, pump fine, filters clear.
The system is basically standard 2.0i sierra, has anyone got any other theories?
My car is now 50 miles from home, I am going to bring it home on a rigid bar tomorrow morning.
It started off as a nice day..........................
Hi could the cam belt jump a tooth or two and put the timing out ?
I did consider that, but the engine when it did run was sounding fine, my initial diagnosis from the drivers seat was that the belt had snapped, the 2.0 pinto is a not destructive break.
quote:
Originally posted by jacko
Hi could the cam belt jump a tooth or two and put the timing out ?
Enormous backfire sounds like you lost ignition but still had fuel........
Symptoms for an ignition module fault; Packs up, won't go, no spark, then starts up fine while your trying to trace it only to stop again later
without warning and so it goes on. Usually runs fine when anywhere near a mechanic or garage!
Adrian
"Nobody in the motor industry I know has ever seen a belt only jump one tooth for no reason."
I've seen them jump a tooth (incorrect tention though) but they don't jump back again.
Adrian
That would be the "Unless the belt is slack from being fitted" bit then, it's not something that happens indescriminately without reason.
Hall effect sensor perhaps?
Sorry Gazza, wasn't meant to sound like that. Thought (missread) that he said it was running again. In which case it would have to jump back.
Adrian
quote:
Originally posted by adithorp
Symptoms for an ignition module fault; Packs up, won't go, no spark, then starts up fine while your trying to trace it only to stop again later without warning and so it goes on. Usually runs fine when anywhere near a mechanic or garage!
Adrian
my mate's freelander jumped a tooth whilst plugging through a rough field, leading to the immortal line 'its meant to be an offroader',
'aye, it is off road now' from the mechanic
I've just posted the same on another thread about warm running troubles.
I would say the module on the dizzy too. I had the same recently on the x-flow. Intermittent cutting out, then wouldn't start for buggery for a
while then all of a sudden start, run & drive fine. I tried various things until I narrowed it down the the dizzy/module or the +ve coil feed.
Swapped dizzy for a points one I had lying around & problem has dissapeared. Been fine for over a week now
My module is on the bulkhead and not on the dizzy, thats just the injection version though.
I am waiting delivery of a module from ebay to confirm though.
Well, I have eventually found the fault, a stupid one as usual, and a lesson to be learnt.
I bought a new ignition module from ebay which did not cure the problem, after the initial depression, I went into diagnostic mode, I got my spark
plug tell tales and turned the engine over, no sparks, but what I did notice was a tiny puff of smoke around the coil. I leant over and turned the
ignition on again, another tiny puff of smoke, from the most minute wear point in the octane wire for the coil.
I moved the wire, and the car started and ran well. It proves that you need to fully secure all wiring, the smallest of movement caused my wires to
wear themselves over a period of 2 years and 8000 miles.#
I am just relieved to be running again
Rescued attachment Stupid Fault.JPG