A different cutting out on the road problem.

[ToneyCaroney]

Hi all,

Had an incident with the Chimaera yesterday. It had been standing for a couple of weeks and was hesitant to start (would turn over,catch, then immediately die), which is unusual. This happened a couple of times and then it fired up OK and idled for a couple of minutes before I moved off. After about 5 minutes driving, the engine cut out on the overun (with clutch still engaged, so engine was turning over due to momentum from drive train). I pulled over OK but the car would not start initally but did after a couple of minutes. The car then ran without issue for a 45 minute blast. I'm guessing that, due to the nature of the incident, it must be either electrical or fuel related? What do you think?

Cheers in advance, Stu

[Julesprivate]

It's quite long but have a quick look at this:

http://www.rv8r.co.uk/standardecu1.html

Particularly the "initial startup section" which details why a car might start, run for 3-4 seconds then cut out... that could indicate either a problem with the AFM or an air leak. A sticking stepper would give the same symptoms as an air leak (mainly because that's what it does!)

You might also want to look at the stepper motor and the TPS. If you haven't cleaned the stepper in a while I'd do that first, then clean (carefully) the AFM (the Hot Wire) and I'd also clean the TB.

When did you last set the base idle speed?

Also - I assume your speedo is working OK?

It's pretty easy to flood a Chimaera, TBH if it doesn't start the first or second attempt it's likely to be flooded.

[ToneyCaroney]

Julesprivate said:

It's quite long but have a quick look at this:

http://www.rv8r.co.uk/standardecu1.html

Particularly the "initial startup section" which details why a car might start, run for 3-4 seconds then cut out... that could indicate either a problem with the AFM or an air leak. A sticking stepper would give the same symptoms as an air leak (mainly because that's what it does!)

You might also want to look at the stepper motor and the TPS. If you haven't cleaned the stepper in a while I'd do that first, then clean (carefully) the AFM (the Hot Wire) and I'd also clean the TB.

When did you last set the base idle speed?

Also - I assume your speedo is working OK?


It's pretty easy to flood a Chimaera, TBH if it doesn't start the first or second attempt it's likely to be flooded.

Thanks JulesP, speedo is working fine.
I'll have a read through the linked info. Very useful, thanks. I've never set the base Idle speed but car had a 12k mile service at Fernhurst last June, hopefully they would have done that? Should I do it again?

Thanks again. Really useful.

Edited for dodgy formatting.

Edited by ToneyCaroney on Monday 4th March 11:56

[Julesprivate]

If you do plan on cleaning the stepper then setting the base idle is pretty easy and won't add much time to the job.

I need to do mine (stepper) as it takes a little while longer for the revs to drop than I would like (literally 1-2 seconds but I want to nip it in the bud).

[K4TRV]

Then there's the Fuel Pump Relay possibly telling you something (depends how old your car is??)?

If it helps: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Trev

[ToneyCaroney]

Thanks Trev, looked through your post. Similar symptoms to mine. I could hear that the fuel pump was priming OK though, even when it was hesitating to start but I'll add to the list of possibles. cheers.