Engine briefly cutting out

[oceantools]

Last year I started a thread about my V8 Vantage cutting out. My first V8 Vantage suffered this on maybe 15 occasions. It got so bad that I was given a replacement car for peanuts by the dealer. The replacement has done 5600 miles in the last year and it has also suffered this problem - including twice in one day last week. The problem seems to occur when accelerating; the engine appears to die for a second before carrying on. The second time it did it last week gave a pretty violent reaction - it felt almost as if I'd changed from 1st to 6th and stalled the engine. This was not the case as i was accelerating from 20mph in 2nd but it was the same sensation as having stalled it.

I'm getting pretty pi55ed off at Aston's inability to tell me what the problem is let alone rectify it. Does anybody else have this problem? Has anybody sussed out the cause of it?

Many thanks.

[oceantools]

WHOAMI - thanks for that. I am glad I'm not the only person experiencing this problem. I had it on my 06 Vantage many times and it repeated itself on the 'loaner' they gave me (twice on the same day within 100m on the same road!). The new one has exhibited the problem in EXACTLY the same place on two roads on two separate occasions. I've asked Aston if anybody else is reporting this problem.....

To be fair, the Edinburgh dealer is very cooperative and are sending up a tech to look at diagnostic codes. They've done this before but have not unearthed anything.

So far, I've experienced this phenomena on over 20 occasions..... Beat that!!!

[oceantools]

The problem is, Murph, that it does it very, very intermittently. Aston sent a guy up (to Aberdeen) to have a look at it; he came on a test drive but the car did not miss a beat. I use various garages for petrol so that is not the root of the problem. It occurs maybe only once every 1000 miles (then twice in he same day) so very, very hard to replicate it. It's even done it on the M6 at an indicated 80mph with the cruise control on; feet were nowhere near the pedals at the time.

The AMOC site was interesting - it does seem quite a number of folk have this problem. Maybe I need to think about a 'class action' to get them to pull their fingers out and get it sorted....

[oceantools]

Breakthrough - Aston called me yesterday to tell me they've found out what the problem is. They are picking up my car next week to put it right!!

[oceantools]

To do with emissions control and sounded like it was dumping fuel and not vapour into the engine.... They are getting back to me with more detailed information later.

I'm glad it is resolved, though! That's close to two years it's taken them to get to the bottom of it......

[oceantools]

Steve - I've been on their case for almost two years! This time around, the tracking systems has failed as has the DSC/TCS (they're good these Astons - very reliable. Guaranteed to break down every month!). While arranging for these other problems to be sorted they phoned to say they'd sussed out the cause of the cutting-out problem.

[oceantools]

No - I don't think it is a lemon as such. My first one had numerous problems - tracker kept going off, handbrake handle broke, electric windows failed, sound system failed, water leaked into the boot through a hole in the body, TCS failed, lots of rust in engine, gear linkage changed etc. My second one has had lots of tracker faults, TCS faults, issues with the brightness of the zenons etc. They are pretty enough looking cars but the overall quality is very, very poor unfortunately. Not what I'd expect from a £90k car!!

[oceantools]

Yes, - there is a fix for it. They are coming to take my car away on Tuesday, I hope, and have told me they now understand the problem (emissions control related, I believe, but am waiting for them to confirm it). I should have the car back a week on Tuesday. I will report back sometime around that time and will let you know what the fix involved. From what they have said it is fairly significant....

[oceantools]

Sorry about the delay in replying - was sailing down in the Med (as you do!) for a few days.

Apparently, they are going to fit a revised design of fuel tank [in April] as they think this may be the cause of the problem....

Has anybody else had the problem repeat itself in the EXACT same location? Mine has done it (violently) leaving our village [right by the graveyard!] on two occasions and twice in two other places within 25m of each other. That sort of suggests it's related to when i put my foot on the gas.

Very interesting.....

[oceantools]

I think there is more to it than that. The implication is that it is something to do with the emissions control and how it purges the tank and gets rid of the vapour (or something like that). I'm no expert so I'm not going to try to explain something I don't fully understand.

If it was something really simple then the clever boys and girls at Aston would not have taken almost two years to come up with a solution...!

[oceantools]

Fingers crossed that this fix cures the problem. They really did have their heads buried in the sand and totally denied it's existence....

Let me know how you get on and what they say about the fuel tank. I was told my repair will not happen until April due to their being out of stock of the new tanks....

[oceantools]

Go on Rick - fire away! Do you have any experience of this problem?

[oceantools]

Oh dear. Sounds very familiar! Mine has been sat on the driveway un-useable for 4-5 weeks now. They say it will be April before the new fuel tank arrives so, until then, she's filling up with water due to the leaking door seals... I've asked Aston for some compensation but they told me in no uncertain terms what to do!!

On the other hand my new X5 arrived on Thursday. The build quality is fabulous with not a squeak or rattle to be heard!!

[oceantools]

I've asked Chris baker, the general manager of after sales at Aston, to do something about the fact that the car has now been sat on my driveway in an unusable state. I've not received a reply from them nor from the dealer who has been cc'ed my emails. The car is only 15 months old, is still under warranty but is being ignored by Aston.

If you are looking at an Aston, I'd be wary - very wary. Sure, it's a very pretty car but there are a lot of issues with them and, when things go wrong, Aston and their dealers don't seem to give a damn.

I'm absolutely seething but am not sure what to do next.

[oceantools]

That's a good idea. I think I might just do that! Watch this space.....

[oceantools]

So, after leaving a message for Dr Bez to call me back things have started to happen again! The car is being collected next week to have the fuel tank replaced and to have some other niggles sorted (leaky door seals replaced, corroded mirror stalks etc). Hopefully it will be back by next weekend and I can, fianlly, start to get some pleasure out of it rather than ongoing grief. I'll let you know how I get on....

xxxAngelxxx - you're totally missing the point of the thread. Some people will be happy and some will be unhappy. I am just a bit grumpy about having spent around £90k on one V8 that had endless problems (engine crapping out 12 times, electric windows failing, sound system failing, hole in boot letting water in etc) only to part-ex it for another V8 that still has engine problems, leaky doors,serious corrosion issues etc.

I guess whoami is not exactly thrilled to be told his vehicle needs an entire new loom....

Edited by oceantools on Friday 27th March 11:16

[oceantools]

Hey WHOAMI - sorry to hear that you're still having big problems. They took my car away on Tuesday and returned it to me today with the new fuel tank fitted (plus some corroded bits replaced). I am going to try to get some miles on it over the coming weeks and will, of course, report back to the thread. Fingers crossed they've got it right and the fuel tank will cure it.

It should be noted that I once had the cutting-out problem on the M6 toll with the car on cruise-control on a flat road (the point of this being there was no throttle involvement and it still had the problem).

[oceantools]

I think the 'repeatable' nature of the problem is very interesting. And I like Dick's ideas about logging incidences.

I've seen it:-

• Driving into our village and accelerating from 20-->60 mph. It's happened three times here. Accelerating in 2nd.
• Happened twice within maybe 50m of each other on a straight road next to Aberdeen Airport's main radar. Was going in opposite directions when it happened. Flat road, constant speed, no throttle action.
• Happened exactly at the end of Aberdeen Airport main runway where the ILS would be pointing. Flat road not accelerating or braking.
• Happened going past mobile phone antenna on, oh, at least three occasions.
• Very gentle right hander going up very gentle incline - occurred twice in same location. 60 mph accelerating medium hard.
• Talking to Dealer on hands-free about window & radio not working; happened on M6 toll cruise control indicated 80 mph.
• Few more where I can't remember precise locations.

All conditions dry.

Being an electronics engineer developing subsea electronic products I've always wondered if it might be an electronics screening issue and that maybe my BlackBerry or, latterly, my iPhone was punching through - especially when moving from one cellar cell to the next cell. Or that combined with electro-magnetic fields from radar etc (no UFO theories please!).

Edited by oceantools on Saturday 4th April 21:20

[oceantools]

I've managed to get in a couple of hundred miles since they fitted the new fuel tank. So far, so good - she has not crapped out (yet)..... I'll try to get her out this weekend and put a few more miles on the clock. As an aside, they also replaced a load of the corroded stuff (mirror stalks, wiper arms etc) so she's looking better than she did.

[oceantools]

So, we're up to about 700-800 miles on the new fuel tank and no sign of it crapping out. Perhaps it's me but I think the engine picks up a bit better than before, a bit smoother...

I'll keep my fingers crossed that this is the solution I've been waiting for for almost 2 years....!!

Whoami - any news re your car?