Car not turning over/losing power.
Discussion
Hi, I'm new around here and looking for some advice. Basically, my car decides sometimes to not turn over or if I'm sat at a light not moving my engine cuts out but my ignition stays on with my lights etc. It doesn't happen all the time just decides to be temperamental but recently its been happening quite often causing me to get stuck. I have an induction kit and a big bore exhaust fitted to my car and I've had it taken into a garage numerous times and they changed the battery but that hasn't sorted it, they've ran it on diagnostics and told me it's all fine they can't see any errors, but they told me that my induction kit might be getting flooded with fuel(?) when I'm doing short journeys and thats the reason it's not turning over but I've never heard anything like that before. It happened to me the other day sat at a light and my engine just cut out. Once I'm moving theres no problems at all but once I stop or try or jump back in the car it won't turn over, not all the time, sometimes when I'm at a light it feels like it's going to cut out so I have to keep revs on as if it's surging.
Can anyone give me advice, garage reckons I need to go back to stock air filter and remove the induction kit but I've never known a car to do that. Obviously I don't want to be spending loads of money on the car and it not fix it because I don't think my cars worth enough to be throwing a lot of money on it.
Thanks in advance.
Can anyone give me advice, garage reckons I need to go back to stock air filter and remove the induction kit but I've never known a car to do that. Obviously I don't want to be spending loads of money on the car and it not fix it because I don't think my cars worth enough to be throwing a lot of money on it.
Thanks in advance.
The inability to crank the engine over when hot sounds like a faulty starter motor. They're in a hot, dirty environment and the buildup of dirt and burned grease within the starter can result in so much friction that the solenoid isn't able to engage the starter. Symptoms would be that when you try to engage the starter, nothing much happens. Often the problem gets worse when the engine is hot. Sometimes in these cases if you hold the switch in the cranking position the starter motor will eventually start working. If you get stuck, just letting the engine cool down for half an hour may be enough for it to start OK.
There are various electrical problems that can cause similar symptoms such as a loose connection to the starter solenoid, poor contact in the switch, immobiliser faults etc. If you can provoke the problem then these are easy to diagnose with a voltmeter so it would be worth doing a little investigation before you go to the trouble and expense of changing the starter motor.
It's possible that you have a combination of both problems which are aggravating each other in which case fixing either problem might improve the situation but you would need to fix both of them to cure the problem completely.
I don't believe the poor idling problems are related to the problem where the engine won't crank over, although of course if the engine is stalling that would make the starting problem more inconvenient. The poor idle might conceivably be cause by your modifications throwing the engine out of tune but could be some unrelated fault.
There are various electrical problems that can cause similar symptoms such as a loose connection to the starter solenoid, poor contact in the switch, immobiliser faults etc. If you can provoke the problem then these are easy to diagnose with a voltmeter so it would be worth doing a little investigation before you go to the trouble and expense of changing the starter motor.
It's possible that you have a combination of both problems which are aggravating each other in which case fixing either problem might improve the situation but you would need to fix both of them to cure the problem completely.
I don't believe the poor idling problems are related to the problem where the engine won't crank over, although of course if the engine is stalling that would make the starting problem more inconvenient. The poor idle might conceivably be cause by your modifications throwing the engine out of tune but could be some unrelated fault.
Edited by GreenV8S on Friday 3rd February 02:29
Edited by GreenV8S on Friday 3rd February 02:30
[quote=TomLUFC]they told me that my induction kit might be getting flooded with fuel(?) when I'm doing short journeys and thats the reason it's not turning over but I've never heard anything like that before.quote]
Assuming you didn't misshear them, I would say take it somewhere else next time!
An induction kit can't get flooded with fuel as the injectors are in the inlet manifold, the induction kit is well before that & there is only air in the induction kit...... Surprise Surprise!
That aside, good advice above, it is most likely to be an iffy connection somewhere between the battery, alternator, starter and maybe fusebox.
Basically you need to remove, clean, and retighten all large electrical connections in the engine bay & hopefully that will sort it out. Don't just look at them & assume they look OK so are Ok, re-do/clean tham all.
Assuming you didn't misshear them, I would say take it somewhere else next time!
An induction kit can't get flooded with fuel as the injectors are in the inlet manifold, the induction kit is well before that & there is only air in the induction kit...... Surprise Surprise!
That aside, good advice above, it is most likely to be an iffy connection somewhere between the battery, alternator, starter and maybe fusebox.
Basically you need to remove, clean, and retighten all large electrical connections in the engine bay & hopefully that will sort it out. Don't just look at them & assume they look OK so are Ok, re-do/clean tham all.
GreenV8S said:
The inability to crank the engine over when hot sounds like a faulty starter motor. They're in a hot, dirty environment and the buildup of dirt and burned grease within the starter can result in so much friction that the solenoid isn't able to engage the starter. Symptoms would be that when you try to engage the starter, nothing much happens. Often the problem gets worse when the engine is hot. Sometimes in these cases if you hold the switch in the cranking position the starter motor will eventually start working. If you get stuck, just letting the engine cool down for half an hour may be enough for it to start OK.
There are various electrical problems that can cause similar symptoms such as a loose connection to the starter solenoid, poor contact in the switch, immobiliser faults etc. If you can provoke the problem then these are easy to diagnose with a voltmeter so it would be worth doing a little investigation before you go to the trouble and expense of changing the starter motor.
It's possible that you have a combination of both problems which are aggravating each other in which case fixing either problem might improve the situation but you would need to fix both of them to cure the problem completely.
I don't believe the poor idling problems are related to the problem where the engine won't crank over, although of course if the engine is stalling that would make the starting problem more inconvenient. The poor idle might conceivably be cause by your modifications throwing the engine out of tune but could be some unrelated fault.
Thank you for your advice, I found it strange how a garage comes back to me and tells me they don't know whats the problem. Only problem is I can leave the car overnight it would be fine the night before then I'd jump in next day and it'd decide not to turn over sometimes, which makes me late for work.There are various electrical problems that can cause similar symptoms such as a loose connection to the starter solenoid, poor contact in the switch, immobiliser faults etc. If you can provoke the problem then these are easy to diagnose with a voltmeter so it would be worth doing a little investigation before you go to the trouble and expense of changing the starter motor.
It's possible that you have a combination of both problems which are aggravating each other in which case fixing either problem might improve the situation but you would need to fix both of them to cure the problem completely.
I don't believe the poor idling problems are related to the problem where the engine won't crank over, although of course if the engine is stalling that would make the starting problem more inconvenient. The poor idle might conceivably be cause by your modifications throwing the engine out of tune but could be some unrelated fault.
Edited by GreenV8S on Friday 3rd February 02:29
Edited by GreenV8S on Friday 3rd February 02:30
E-bmw]omLUFC said:
That aside, good advice above, it is most likely to be an iffy connection somewhere between the battery, alternator, starter and maybe fusebox.
Basically you need to remove, clean, and retighten all large electrical connections in the engine bay & hopefully that will sort it out. Don't just look at them & assume they look OK so are Ok, re-do/clean tham all.
Poor engine earth lead/connection can cause symptoms mentioned.Basically you need to remove, clean, and retighten all large electrical connections in the engine bay & hopefully that will sort it out. Don't just look at them & assume they look OK so are Ok, re-do/clean tham all.
Sheepshanks said:
Poor engine earth lead/connection can cause symptoms mentioned.
Very common issue. Not unusual for plastic covered earth straps to corrode away inside the sheathing until there isn't much left so whilst the ends might look OK they've had it.Remove & clean the area they're in contact with.
Try connecting a jump lead directly from the battery earth terminal to a good clean metal area on the engine block & see if that makes any difference to the starting issue.
Unlikely to make any difference to it cutting out though.
Sheepshanks said:
E-bmw]omLUFC said:
That aside, good advice above, it is most likely to be an iffy connection somewhere between the battery, alternator, starter and maybe fusebox.
Basically you need to remove, clean, and retighten all large electrical connections in the engine bay & hopefully that will sort it out. Don't just look at them & assume they look OK so are Ok, re-do/clean tham all.
Poor engine earth lead/connection can cause symptoms mentioned.Basically you need to remove, clean, and retighten all large electrical connections in the engine bay & hopefully that will sort it out. Don't just look at them & assume they look OK so are Ok, re-do/clean tham all.
OP , do you have a spare key???? perhaps try that, it could be the chip for the immobiliser in the key
TomLUFC said:
I found it strange how a garage comes back to me and tells me they don't know whats the problem.
Its an intermittent fault that isn't faulty when they're looking at it - happens all the time & you end up chasing the fault replacing parts that subsequently didn't need replacing.Winky151 said:
Its an intermittent fault that isn't faulty when they're looking at it - happens all the time & you end up chasing the fault replacing parts that subsequently didn't need replacing.
+1, worst ones you can have.My wife's 306 would cut out occcasionally whilst waiting at junctions etc but would restart without issue.
Became more frequent. Local Peugeot indy had the car for the day. No faults logged & didn't do it when they drove it. Took it to a vehicle electronics specialist who also had it for a day. Several drives hooked up to a laptop to get live data. No problems found.
Best advice they could give was to drive it until it stopped & wouldn't restart. Not ideal, but only used for shopping etc so do-able.
Eventually cut out & refused to restart. Recovered to Peugeot indy & diagnostic showed ......a failed coolant sensor. New sensor & normal service resumed.
Basically it told the ECU that the engine was cold when it was hot & the ECU fuelled accordingly.
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