Engine Cuts Out.
Discussion
Took the 4.3bv to Cambridge today and while cruising in the fast lane the engine died, I managed to get on to a slip road ok without power (a miracle at 8.30am on the A14 Felixstowe 2 lane death highway with HGV ruts so deep if you hit them the right way you get air off them..small rant there)
Anyway..I managed to get it started about 30mins later and it did the same thing twice again trying to get it back home, the engine just dies, I wondered if anybody has had a similar problem with theirs? Let me know...
Check the main multiway connector to the ignition switch, under the steering column cowling. If it gets hot with all the electrics on, or there are signs of heat damage in the area, this may be the problem. You can repair it by carefully dismantling the connector, cleaning the contacts and lightly crimping the female connector.
Cheers,
Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)
quote:
Took the 4.3bv to Cambridge today and while cruising in the fast lane the engine died, I managed to get on to a slip road ok without power (a miracle at 8.30am on the A14 Felixstowe 2 lane death highway with HGV ruts so deep if you hit them the right way you get air off them..small rant there) Anyway..I managed to get it started about 30mins later and it did the same thing twice again trying to get it back home, the engine just dies, I wondered if anybody has had a similar problem with theirs? Let me know...
I've had exactly the same problem with my 4.3BV in the recent spells of hot weather... always on the motorway when hitting a nasty slow moving jam. At the service a couple of weeks ago I had the fan override job done on the dash lights switch. Unfortunately, with the fan override on the same problem occurs but with a lower reading on the temperature guage (~ 85 degrees). The symptoms were like running out of fuel, the engine spluterring for a few seconds then dying, though I was able to restart after a few minutes of cooling off. As long as I kept above 30mph it seemed OK, but each time I slowed to a crawl it was only a matter of minutes before a stall.
Did you find out what the problem was Britzman?
I traced the fault on mine to the inversion switch!! I reset the red button on the top and the engine fired up imediately, ive since replaced it and have had no problems since, they get rusty with moisture so TVR tell me.
I initialy thought that the ecu was at fault as the petrol pump wasnt running at all( I tested the pump and it was ok)
so that lead to the inversion switch which also knocks off the fuel pump if the car were to overturn.Simple to replace, its found behind the glove compartment and held on with a few screws, I only hope it chooses a better place than last time to die next time!
Don't know what the problem is yet, but my woes have multiplied.
Driving back from work a few days ago I noticed the temp guage getting high, so I pulled over and popped the bonnet to find that the fans weren't running even though the override switch was on. Hmmm.. I waited 10 minutes or so for the engine to cool and checked the fuse whilst I was waiting (no problem there). When I fired up again I noticed the battery volts were low, and drove the last 4 or 500 yards of the journey and parked for the night.
The following morning the car was dead a a dodo, electrically speaking. Mr. RAC confirmed a flat battery and an inexplicable 2.4 amp drain on the battery when the ignition was off, which he suggested would drain a fully charged battery in about 10 hours or so. Also when the car was fired up with jump leads the alternator output was barely keeping up with the battery output. He did the old listening through a screw driver trick on the alternator and it sounded as if a bearing is going. Shame... it's less than a year old and was fitted by the RAC with (as I recall) a 12 month warranty.
It looks like I may have a leak to earth. Come to think of it, maybe something shorted when I was poking around at the fuses in the passenger foot well. There's lots of unfriendly looking cables in there!!
He couldn't find an obvious reason for the fans not running.(Can't have been the battery at that point as surely I wouldn't have been able to fire it up again).
So... the RAC took it to the local dealer yesterday to get it sorted. The car was booked in there to have some tappet work done and have this overheat/stalling problem looked at in a week or two anyway.
I've just told them to go ahead with the whole shebang and get it all sorted.
Here comes another big bill!!
By the way, the engine cutting out problem doesn't only happen on motorways now. It's basically anywhere that I can't keep up good airflow through the raditor, regardless of the fans being on.
I forgot to mention that the car was serviced two weeks ago and the dealer suggested that the water pump was just about ready to be replaced due to bearing problems. This will also happen during the current detour to the dealer.
I'll mention your experience with the inversion switch to them. I wonder if a dodgy switch can be affected by heat? Or even a good switch by excessive heat?
britzman, regarding your fans not working..last summer mine just stopped working for no reason and it took me days to trace the cause to a conector located behind the dash. Its a realy nasty cheap conector and the slightest movement in it broke the connection.
Its on a large brown wire (theres 2 of them) that head through the bulk head into the engine bay. The only way at the time to fix it was to put a few tiewraps on it to hold it tight but its been fine ever since touch wood.
The problem with this conector is that youd have no idea that it was the problem as I found it by mistake as I was playing with the loom the fans jumped into life and thats when I sussed the connector.
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