Engine cutting out

[atticus]

Driving to work this morning my 1998 C2 stalled several times whilst changing down the gears - esp when going thru or into neutral (at lights). Started straight away but still kinda worrying.

Had an issue with the flashing light on temp gauge the day before and i think thats been rectified with coolant. Took the motor down to my local independent and he said the two arent connected and wht i need is a new "hot foil air mass sensor" - which will cost abt 180 notes. Gonna speak to the garage where i bght the car and see if warranty covers this.

seeing as i know a little less than nothing abt wht all this means, do any of our guru's have any droplets of wisdom ?

- ta

[domster]

Well, yes, it could be the airflow sensor, for sure (amongst other things). Get them to replace it but ask them to refund the part cost or take the part back if it doesn't fix the problem. It is often difficult to isolate tha cause of a running fault as modern car engines are so sophisticated. That said, if it gives an error code this will isolate it quite quickly.

ATB
Domster

[james s]

Or get him to borrow one from another car which is in the garage for a while and go and drive until it does it again (or not).

This is relatively common practice with this kind of problem

964s had problems with air flow meters, 993s less so, (though mine has) and apparently its common again with 996/986

But as has been said there are many things which could cause this

>> Edited by james s on Wednesday 31st August 11:14

[atticus]

Thanks for that Dom. My guy had plugged the car into the computer thingy, which apparently pin pointed the air mass sensor as the problem.

Hope to have it covered by the warranty, but if not, is this quite a serious job ?

[domster]

I am no expert on these engines (or any engine!) but if it is in warranty it should be covered as this isn't a wear and tear item. Also, they invariably lie on the top or side of the engine in an easily accessible place (they measure airflow unsurprisingly, so will be near the air inlet), so they should be cheap to fit labour-wise. Ths cost of the part seems fair.

[spenny_b]

It's a doddle to replace, first thing you see in engine bay, it's on the air tract, just after the air filter housing....2 screws (although they're the tamper-proof torx type, with the pip in the middle), undo the plug and it's out...recently replaced mine, mate of a mate got one from Bosch for £85...mine didn't stall when driving, rather, the revs ran high for a few secs, and acceleration was shocking, massive flat spots.

My Scoob had the stalling prob , ended up doing the MAF and the Lamda sensor for that (stalling was due to the Lamda, as it happened). Lamda's on the 996 can be seen easily, just depends on how much of a bugger they are to get out; just had mine done too (mis-diagnosis by indy dealer) at the cost of £450!!!...hole needed re-tapping apparently...

HTH, Spen