Car cutting out after high speed

[peter hh]

I'm just wondering if anyone knows what's going on or has an idea?

I popped onto a dual carriageway earlier to get from a to b but i was only on it for about 2 minutes, i got upto speeds of 70 mph and then pulled of at the next slip road which was an up bank and when I got to the top of the slip road and waited at a give way my engine started cutting out and juddering. I was low on petrol so I changed course and managed to make to the make it to the nearest petrol station and after about 1 minute of filling up the car was running fine again.

I went where I was going and left my car parked up which was about 4 miles since filling up. I then went back to it and it started up fine and was running fine but on my way home I went along the dual carriage way again and the same thing happened as last time as soon as i pulled off the dual carriage my car starting cutting out again but after about 2 minutes of juddering etc it was fine again.

I first thought that It was being caused because I was low on fuel but with it happening again after a few miles of running it with half a tank it got me wondering if there is more to it or just a blockage caused form running low on fuel.

[mrmr96]

Something to do with diesel and priming pumps and stuff? Maybe?

[Lordbenny]

It's your flagle flange. Don't worry its an easy fix and Halfords stock them.

[surveyor]

give us a clue! What car?

[peter hh]

It's my shunting car a Vauxhall Astra sxi mk4 2001 (petrol).

[Rich1973]

Idle control valve? Does it only do it on tick over?

[With these feet]

Fuel starvation would more than likely happen at high rev's + load.
Does it actually stall, is it a physical miss-fire? Could be something like an EGR valve sticking or IAC valve not correcting idle speed after a run.

[peter hh]

Yes it cuts out completely and I have to restart the engine. It happens at low revs and idle but its only started happening today and both times were after a little trip on a dual carrigway.

Eta. The revs drop really low, below the usual idle tick over and then the car cuts out.

Edited by peter hh on Wednesday 28th November 17:35

[With these feet]

Have a read on line - do a search on EGR valve on your car and see if the symptoms match those of others. Might be the valve sticking open allowing exhaust gas into the intake causing a stall.
Suprised theres no fault code of the engine light on though.

[v8250]

op, precisely how low did you get on petrol before filling? your car has all the symptons of picking up crap from bottom of the tank and part blocking the fuel line/injectors. if this is the case do the following:

1. pour correct volume of injector cleaner into tank to clean lines and injectors

continue driving as per normal and monitor fault. if still present...

2. remove injectors and clean with ultrasonic cleaner
3. with fuel line open at both ends clean through with compressed air/foot pump [do not blow line back into fuel tank]
4. replace fuel filter
5. re-fit all the above
6. don't run out of fuel again!

[Dodsy]

Get a fault code reader on it - Sometimes faults dont throw the light e.g. On my old Omega the Crank sensor failed causing engine to randomly stop and be difficult to restart. Code reader showed the fault code but no engine light.

Coil packs or Coil (not sure what that car has) could be going faulty when they get hot ?

[peter hh]

After a couple of minutes of coming off the dual carriageway the car was working fine again and idleing as normal.


The petrol was very low the petrol light was blinking but I thought I had enough fuel to get me where I was going. I would have thought that if I picked up gunk from the bottom of the tank it would cut out at all the times when ideling and not just after I did high speed? I also thought that junk being at the bottom of the tank was a myth, there was a PH thread about it not long ago.

It's a 16 valve if that makes any difference.

[With these feet]

peter hh said:

After a couple of minutes of coming off the dual carriageway the car was working fine again and idleing as normal.


The petrol was very low the petrol light was blinking but I thought I had enough fuel to get me where I was going. I would have thought that if I picked up gunk from the bottom of the tank it would cut out at all the times when ideling and not just after I did high speed? I also thought that junk being at the bottom of the tank was a myth, there was a PH thread about it not long ago.

It's a 16 valve if that makes any difference.

It is a myth. Fuel pick up pipes are located in the bottom of the tank, where "the crap" apparently sits. Unless its got 1/2 a tank of water in there its highly unlikely to be blocked.

[E30M3SE]

After it's cut out on re-starting the car is the idle stable and normal?

[Tunku]

A pipe collapsing under more vacuum at higher revs?

[Bohally]

peter hh said:

It's a 16 valve if that makes any difference.

Usually good for 160mph, not 70. Mind fold the seats down

[peter hh]

E30M3SE said:

After it's cut out on re-starting the car is the idle stable and normal?

After I come of the dual carriageway my revs will start to drop very low and will cut out unless I rev it and even when driving forward slowly the car is juddering. It does cut out but will restart easily but the problem IS still there after restarting but it will eventually go after about 2 minutes(1 mile) of driving.

[E30M3SE]

Unmetered air, from a split hose is what I would be looking for in the first instance.

[4key]

As with a couple of posters before, thoroughly check the pipework leading up to the iscv. Then hit it with a hammer and shout at it.

[holderd]

Is it the 2.2 (Z22SE) engine? If so I would put money on it being the EGR valve- its quite a common thing on these.

That's exactly when mine started sticking, just after a run down the motorway. The symptoms are exactly the same too. I blanked mine off with a kit for £15