Some help needed, Please.

[The Hood]

I have a 99 4.0l Chim and need some help/advice pretty quick if anyone can.

I took my car out for a drive the other evening, or should i say i tried to, as i managed a total of about 1 mile there and back as i got to the end of my road and turned right then drove through the estate road and the car was just cutting-out on me. It would start fine first time and tickover fine then it would start to drive fine then the rev counter would go full way round and back (with no difference to engine revs)then car would die on me.

I managed to limp the car home and back into the garage.

Had the car out the following night after work to look at it.
Checked HT leads (which were only replaced earlier this year) for fitting to distributor cap and spark plugs - all seemed o.k
Checked distributor cap and rotor arm (also replaced earlier this year) for signs of condensation or bad contacts - all o.k

I then earlier today decided to give it another try, hoping that it may just not wanted to be driven that day.
And started the car up - fine
Left to warm up in back driveway (i dont normally do this) - fine
Drove car through gates to front driveway - fine (turned off car)
Closed gates from inside back driveway and went through house to lock up.
Got back in car and started it up - fine
Car then would not sit and tickover, it started fine and would tickover fine if i held the accelerator on slightly but as soon as i released my foot from the accelerator pedal it died.
Then started o.k and gave it a few revs to see if that would help it to stay on tickover - it died.
So then i go back into house and into back garden to open gates again start car up - o.k and drive it back into back driveway - o.k then it decides it's going to stay on tickover without me having to hold foot on accelerator pedal.

Does anyone have any ideas of what could be causing this as i'm not a mechanically minded person, the most annoying thing is that i'm supposed to be taking Mrs Hood away for the weekend to Devon (but not looking like i will be now)

TIA

Glyn.

[SimonV8ster]

Dodgey fuel pump ?? Might be on its way out, mine did very odd things for a while before it gave up the ghost.

[miniman]

Fuel pump relays (hanging off the big cable running to the ECU)?

[blitzracing]

The bit about the Rev counter is strange- I assume you mean it reads very high rpm, then drops ? Spurious readings like that can be short circuits in the HT side of things , failing coil, bad earths, or possibly the ignition amplifier /hall sensor. Some aftermarket (non rover) rotor arms can cause problems. If it dies as you open the throttle, it could be fuel supply as already suggested,(although a failing coil can give the same symptoms) but I would take the rev counter as a good clue. Difficult to diagnose without swapping bits or some test gear.

[Hut49]

when did you drive it last and was it running ok then? Did you do anything during that run like fill up with fuel anticipating your long journey with Mrs Hood? I think the rev issue may be a coincidental finding - have you had the rev counter revolve like that before without any change in engine revs (i.e. at a time when the engine was running ok)? I does sound like a fueling problem - when you turn the key to position 2 do you hear the fuel pump prime and does it stop?

[The Hood]

blitzracing said:

The bit about the Rev counter is strange- I assume you mean it reads very high rpm, then drops ?

Yes that's what i meant, it does that and then the car dies.

Glyn.

[The Hood]

Hut49 said:

when did you drive it last and was it running ok then? Did you do anything during that run like fill up with fuel anticipating your long journey with Mrs Hood? I think the rev issue may be a coincidental finding - have you had the rev counter revolve like that before without any change in engine revs (i.e. at a time when the engine was running ok)? I does sound like a fueling problem - when you turn the key to position 2 do you hear the fuel pump prime and does it stop?

It was running fine the last run out that it had.

I did put petrol in it but only for the run i did that day, it has just over a quater of a tank in now (petrol gauge works well so i'm quite confident it's not a false reading)
That was the first time that i have had any issues with the rev counter (that i know of) and have had the car for 2 years.
The fuel pump primes as normal and stops o.k.

Glyn.

[The Hood]

Thanks for the replies so far, Keep them coming

so far it sounds like a fuel pump or relay/s or a coil, any ideas how much each will cost??

The weekend away isn't looking very good, anyone care to tell Mrs Hood for me

Glyn.

[miniman]

I'm really new to this myself so don't take this as gospel but I think you can try swapping the fuel pump relays round which might help (a bit).

[The Hood]

Someone posted on the TVRCC website that it could be the 100A fuse.......any thoughts??

Glyn.

[SimonV8ster]

The Hood said:

Someone posted on the TVRCC website that it could be the 100A fuse.......any thoughts??Glyn.

I think thats the starter motor fuse so it won't be that.

[Zippee]

The Hood said:

Someone posted on the TVRCC website that it could be the 100A fuse.......any thoughts??

Glyn.

Doubt it - my 100amp went the other month. Car was fine until the battery just ran out of juice.
All this does is link the alternator to the battery.

[350Matt]

Try swapping the 2 relays on the flying leads in the footwell over, it sounds like the ecu power one is on the way out.

Also the stepper may also need a clean to solve the idling issues

Matt

[The Hood]

350Matt said:

Also the stepper may also need a clean to solve the idling issues

Matt

Have cleaned the stepper motor a couple of weeks ago, have not had any idling problems apart from it wouldn't tickover when started up earlier then when i bought it back into the driveway it was idling fine.

Glyn.

[blitzracing]

Back to the rev counter for a second- to get a sudden high reading means the rev counter has been glitched (as in multiple spikes) in some way. This can be caused by the back emf generated primary side if the coil being higher than normal and this can be due to the coil secondry shorting out, or any HT component earthing out. It could be caused by the 12 volt connection to the coil or coil switch circuits going open circit intermittenly, producing false spikes - do you have imobilers or rev limiters ? Does the rev rimiter do the high reading each time it dies ? If it does, it wont be a fuel pump type problem. Its be a bit strange HT / electrical however if it ticks over and then dies completely on applying power, they normaly cause misfires, unless by chance something is disconecting as the engine moves under load......

[s5tuart]

I totally agree with Blitzracing regarding the rev counter thing.
But logically, the only thing that seems to have aggravated this is your adding fuel to the tank.....
What fuel did you use? Was it cheap supermarket cr#p or something decent like Shell V power or BP Optimax?
If you used the cheaper stuff, try filling up with some decent stuff to see if that makes a difference.
Might be worth a try and is fairly cheap in the scheme of things!
(Remember the Tesco fuel debacle a little while ago.....)

Edited by s5tuart on Monday 3rd September 18:31

See the posts on "recommended fuel" further on in this forum for various opinions.

Edited by s5tuart on Monday 3rd September 18:37

[The Hood]

s5tuart said:

I totally agree with Blitzracing regarding the rev counter thing.
But logically, the only thing that seems to have aggravated this is your adding fuel to the tank.....
What fuel did you use? Was it cheap supermarket cr#p or something decent like Shell V power or BP Optimax?
If you used the cheaper stuff, try filling up with some decent stuff to see if that makes a difference.
Might be worth a try and is fairly cheap in the scheme of things!
(Remember the Tesco fuel debacle a little while ago.....)

Edited by s5tuart on Monday 3rd September 18:31

See the posts on "recommended fuel" further on in this forum for various opinions.

Edited by s5tuart on Monday 3rd September 18:37

No, it has nothing to do with the fuel as i put fuel in the car the last time i drove it, but, at the start of my 100 odd mile run and all was fine that day.
BTW i only use V-Power in it anyway which is why i fuel up at the start of a run as i usually go to the same garages each time (have 4 shell garages within a few miles from my house in different directions)

Glyn.

[The Hood]

Finally got the Chim back today (hasn't been away all this time but other things going on didn't allow me to get car into garage as soon as i wanted)

The fault turned out to be the connections on the coil, when i spoke to dealer regarding the fault they said they had the car running and as soon as they touched the wire connected to the coil the car stalled, so they remade the connector and had the car out for a 12 mile test drive and all was well, so a nice easy fix and relatively cheap aswell.

Only thing is it's back today and we have rain

Glyn.

[TimmyArt]

The Hood said:

Finally got the Chim back today (hasn't been away all this time but other things going on didn't allow me to get car into garage as soon as i wanted)

The fault turned out to be the connections on the coil, when i spoke to dealer regarding the fault they said they had the car running and as soon as they touched the wire connected to the coil the car stalled, so they remade the connector and had the car out for a 12 mile test drive and all was well, so a nice easy fix and relatively cheap aswell.

Only thing is it's back today and we have rain

Glyn.

I had that. Broke down, looked for everything I could think of(I thought). AA man turned up, fiddled with the coil connections - one was not tight and on we went... irratating but a refreshingly small bill, or no bill in my case.

[ATG]

i.e. exactly what blitzracing diagnosed