[Troesma]

Freakin...

Coming back from the shops, 2 miles from home. Stop at lights for a left turn, green light flares, press the throttle and... chokes, chokes (not even moving an inch) and without any warning lights on dash, nothing... engine stops. Finito.

Seemed it lost electrical power by the way everything shut down. Cars at my tail blowing their horns (hey man, it just died on me...) wait 30 secs, ignition, engine kicks-in with a bit of difficulty, but able to pull-away eventually.

Stop the car, check under the bonnet, no strage smells, everything seems fine. Ignition again, starts OK, able to reach home OK. Nothing flashing on the dash, as if nothing happened. But it did.

Guess I'm gonna head for my dealer for a quick check later on the week.

Sigh... anyone had similar experiences to share?

Ed

PS : only thing was that I loaded petrol earlier that day, and I was running very low on gas previuosly (so it was a full load). Could it be that some debris from the gas tank just passed through...? But I traveled about 10 miles after the petrol station just fine. Weird.

 

[Alex]

Freakin...



PS : only thing was that I loaded petrol earlier that day, and I was running very low on gas previuosly (so it was a full load). Could it be that some debris from the gas tank just passed through...? But I traveled about 10 miles after the petrol station just fine. Weird.

I am no expert, but some doesnt the gas cool the fuel pump so running the gas too low can cause some serious issues?

maybe your car battery is about dead? You can get some juice out of it sometime and somtimes not.

maybe your car has a weak charge?

 

[Troesma]

Thought about the battery, looks healthy (plenty of charge) but will have a look. I thought about the gas pump, but I was able to drive normally (vigorously) for, what, 8-10 miles before the episode... so this very fact suggests otherwise.

The car shut-down graciously: was on a standstill in 1st., when trying to take-off it choked, went down on the gas pedal again (almost flooring) and it choked again (revs down... pip, pip, pip alarm noise, all dash lights down) and gone.

Now, for an instant the ambar gas marker flared while all lights went off. It could have been an electrical malfunction which shut-down the gas pump, who knows... hope there is some error code stored.

Ed

 

[Glenn Wallace]

This is very similar .to what happened to my car (only once, fine after restart)

I was going up a gentle hill, it was like the engine was being strangled, shifting down didn't help, and then the car stopped.

Note my car is an 05 and it has the updated ECU/TCU firmware (I had stalling and unable to restart issues prior to reflash).

 

[pganmol]

Sometimes when the engine is still cold in very cold weather, my car chokes. In your case, maybe a little bit of water come with the gas from that gas station.
pganmol

 

[Troesma]

Now it died for good

So...

Got up today for a ride. Engine fires-up OK, move out of my driveway OK, crusie for about 2 miles OK... then I head into the motorway, which (by the time I head down the slip road) I noticed was pack-solid. Luckily I was able to head into a relief road and though "good I'm outta here". Head up, prepare to turn left (was on 1st by then, from a standstill as I had to stop because of an incoming vehicle), put foot on the gas when... chokes, chokes... car goes to a stop in a 45 degree angle crossed between 2 carriageways into a rather busy road

Able to start it, moves just enough to pull myself out of that uncomfortable position (as I was blocking all incoming traffic) but chokes, chokes again... then stops.

Fire-it up, starts and about 5 seconds afterwards chokes, chokes... dead. From there on, no way to start the engine

Called the roadside assistance guys, they hook an ODB scanner, no codes stored. Gave it a bit of charge to the battery, was slightly down but not dramatic, nothing (the guy however was able to hear the gas pump actuating on ignition, so seems that's not it). Looked at the engine, all belts OK, but could be the alternator. Tried about 5 more times. Misfired a couple but nothing. Next step: call a flatbed to pick-me up

Car now at home, heding for the dealer ASAP (on a flatbed, of course) but not amused at all.

Interestingly the car was driving fine. No warning lights. It could be something has re-setted the ECU and blocked the fuel-injection system or whatever, which now needs the dealer to get sorted. I'm gonna ask for a full SD3 diagnostics.

Not the nicest of days... at least it was not raining

 

[VT DMC]

So...


I'm gonna ask for a full SD3 diagnostics.

SD2 diagnostic would be better considering SD3 is only for QP's