Running Issues. Any ideas please?
Discussion
Never had any issues really, it's always run like a dream. Then a couple of weeks back I had the following....
The car starts well from cold and idles well. For a minute or so it won't rev freely and wants to stall with any throttle. (There was a thread on this symptom recently.) Then it clears after a short while. When warm, progress is good. Except... on the overrun there is bad shunting below around 1800 rpm when decelerating. So, change down and dip the clutch well before coming to a halt. Again, not a major problem but it shouldn't do this and it's a pain.
Then today I drove down to Portsmouth to collect my son from University. A 170 mile return trip. With 3 miles left I hit major traffic and crawled for an hour to complete the journey. (I know, Bank Holiday traffic, etc. Yuk!) This was a nightmare as the car constantly wanted to stall. Throttle blips kept the engine running but this wasn't clean. Pretty hacked off after an hour of that, I can tell you!
The journey home was fairly uneventful, except for shunting on the overrun as described. Then... approaching a major roundabout on the A3 I dipped the clutch, changed down and entered the roundabout. Foot off clutch and.... dead! Nothing! I came to a virtual stop trying to bump it in second. No luck. I turned the key and she roared into life again and off we went. I wasn't too popular with white van man behind me at the time but there was no reoccurrence during the remainder of the journey
At standstill when the revs are behaving, she idles at 1000, then 800, then back up to 1000 rpm, alternating for a couple of seconds on each, up and down. Occasionally on 1500rpm for a few seconds before returning once more to the up/down idle. Again, not right.
What I've done - which isn't much:
- Removed, cleaned and replaced the stepper motor.
- Checked that all plug leads are securely in place.
- Disconnected and reconnected the battery in case the ECU had it's knickers in a knot.
- Run a couple of tanks of Shell V-Power through on the TADTS principle, in the hope that it might be dirty petrol and would clear.
One last point, when I started up again an hour after arriving home to put the car back in the garage, it ran perfectly! Steady revs, no stutter, etc. Why do I think this won't be the end of it though? Simply because it does that occasionally, runs well for a short while.
I shall be on the phone to my friendly specialist next week but if anyone has a bright idea, I'd love to hear it. I should add that I won't be pulling too much apart myself and am pretty limited with my electrical testing skills.
Looking forward... if you're not bored reading this and haven't given up already. I wouldn't blame you.
The car starts well from cold and idles well. For a minute or so it won't rev freely and wants to stall with any throttle. (There was a thread on this symptom recently.) Then it clears after a short while. When warm, progress is good. Except... on the overrun there is bad shunting below around 1800 rpm when decelerating. So, change down and dip the clutch well before coming to a halt. Again, not a major problem but it shouldn't do this and it's a pain.
Then today I drove down to Portsmouth to collect my son from University. A 170 mile return trip. With 3 miles left I hit major traffic and crawled for an hour to complete the journey. (I know, Bank Holiday traffic, etc. Yuk!) This was a nightmare as the car constantly wanted to stall. Throttle blips kept the engine running but this wasn't clean. Pretty hacked off after an hour of that, I can tell you!
The journey home was fairly uneventful, except for shunting on the overrun as described. Then... approaching a major roundabout on the A3 I dipped the clutch, changed down and entered the roundabout. Foot off clutch and.... dead! Nothing! I came to a virtual stop trying to bump it in second. No luck. I turned the key and she roared into life again and off we went. I wasn't too popular with white van man behind me at the time but there was no reoccurrence during the remainder of the journey
At standstill when the revs are behaving, she idles at 1000, then 800, then back up to 1000 rpm, alternating for a couple of seconds on each, up and down. Occasionally on 1500rpm for a few seconds before returning once more to the up/down idle. Again, not right.
What I've done - which isn't much:
- Removed, cleaned and replaced the stepper motor.
- Checked that all plug leads are securely in place.
- Disconnected and reconnected the battery in case the ECU had it's knickers in a knot.
- Run a couple of tanks of Shell V-Power through on the TADTS principle, in the hope that it might be dirty petrol and would clear.
One last point, when I started up again an hour after arriving home to put the car back in the garage, it ran perfectly! Steady revs, no stutter, etc. Why do I think this won't be the end of it though? Simply because it does that occasionally, runs well for a short while.
I shall be on the phone to my friendly specialist next week but if anyone has a bright idea, I'd love to hear it. I should add that I won't be pulling too much apart myself and am pretty limited with my electrical testing skills.
Looking forward... if you're not bored reading this and haven't given up already. I wouldn't blame you.
Edited by pb450 on Friday 3rd April 19:40
jojackson4 said:
Your not alone
Some comfort, at least. ianwayne said:
A friend of mine had similar symptoms with his Chimaera 500. I strongly suspected the stepper motor but lending him mine made no difference. His car would just about start but then run terribly. We sorted it with a new battery!
Even though the old one had enough power in it to just about start the car, it was dragging all the electrics down. It was confirmed when after it stalled again, it wouldn't turn power enough to start and we had to bump it. With a new battery, the car was running smoothly after about 15 minutes (disconnect caused ECU reset of course).
Interesting prospect. My battery is 3 years old and is on a trickle charger when the car is not in use. Never any starting issues. Spins like a good'un. I even left the headlights on in a service station today for 5 minutes when stopped for a 'comfort break' without any re-start issues.Even though the old one had enough power in it to just about start the car, it was dragging all the electrics down. It was confirmed when after it stalled again, it wouldn't turn power enough to start and we had to bump it. With a new battery, the car was running smoothly after about 15 minutes (disconnect caused ECU reset of course).
skiver said:
I had the same problem and you have described my symptoms exactly.Replacing the coolant temperature sensor solved everything and is a cheap and simple fix; about a tenner for the sensor and 15 minutes work, well worth a try.
Now that's REALLY interesting Stuart. Thanks for the tip. Don't suppose you have a pic of where this little baby lives, do you? Certainly sounds like over fuelling.Sardonicus said:
The only one you will ever need and FAE are an OE quality item Ebay number 301434586462
From another thread but good advice here from Simon. For £9.99 I've bought one, even if it turns out not to be the culprit, it's a useful spare to have. It has the brass thread and there is only one left now from this source on ebay. 
Quick update: The coil end of the king lead was VERY loose in the coil, to the point where it was not fitting properly. The coil was arcing to anything it could find, other than the king lead itself. This accounted for the rough running and resulted in damage to the coil as shown below.
New coil now fitted. Perfect running. A huge thanks to Dan Taylor for sorting this out for me. Although I should have picked it up myself, (I found the loose lead, shoved it in but missed the coil end) Dan had it sorted very quickly.
Also a huge thanks to Graham who lent me a bag of bits to replace. I simply ran out of time. Cheers mate!
New coil now fitted. Perfect running.
A huge thanks to Dan Taylor for sorting this out for me. Although I should have picked it up myself, (I found the loose lead, shoved it in but missed the coil end) Dan had it sorted very quickly. Also a huge thanks to Graham who lent me a bag of bits to replace. I simply ran out of time. Cheers mate!
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