Bonzai 2 Posted March 17, 2007 Monday, car wouldnt start after having new tyres fitted. Starter was spinning fine but there was no sign of it firing over, even starting in gear wasnt inducing any life. I popped the bonnet and wiggled HT leads at both end, coil connector, ign amp and connector, injector plugs and afm plug. nothing seemed obviously out of place however this was enough to get the car started albeit started in gear and needed some throttle to provoke action. Drove fine after this. Tuesday, car started fine and made it to work no problems. coming home from work i could feel something wasnt right, occasionally the engine would lag and halfway home at a busy roundabout complex it died totally and wouldnt restart. Once me and my passenger pushed it around and off the roundabout i again opened bonnet and wiggled every connector i could see and again it started fine and made the rest of the journey with no issues. Thursday, i could feel the engine lagging again in the morning and at one point in teh journey i noticed as i accelerated through 3rd at approx 4500rpm the revs just fell away to near enough zero but i think because i was trying to accelerate my throttle action was enough to keep it going and it was fine for the rest of the journey. Going home the journey was non stop trying to die. The strangest thing was it only seemed to be when the car was in motion, it idled fine. Again, it seemed every time it happened i had the throttle open and it wouldnt die completely but it must of done this about 40 times over 15 miles. As far as i can tell its totally random, and occurs at any speed in any gear. Now im at a bit of a loss, im useless at diagnosing faults at the best of times, so im wondering if anyone else has had the same type of problem and can shed some light on where to start looking. Many thanks chaps. If it makes any difference im using motronic 0 261 200 119 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrSarty 90 1 Cars Posted March 17, 2007 (edited) Oh dear Ben. Is there any poss that the main brain/ECU connector has come loose? I don't know where yours is mounted but that might be it. What about the switched live going to the ECU or even a loose wire in the black, multi positive plastic connector off the battery pos. But you also said once it starts it idles fine, so that would indicate something to do with throttle positive switch or something like the ECU temp sender or AFM connection breaking down and telling the brain something it shouldn't. So it could be signal fault under load, or physical movement to break a connection under load. But it does just sound like something loose to me; or those new tyres ? Rich Edited March 17, 2007 by DrSarty Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bonzai 2 Posted March 17, 2007 cheers for the suggestions rich, as it stands ive got no other option but to try and deisconnect, check and reconnect every plug in sight. Would really love some more clues! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nick 3 Posted March 17, 2007 When my 8v did this, it was the rotor arm and cap dying. Nick Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quigs 1 Posted March 17, 2007 (edited) could be the ecu relay, sounds simular to what happened to mine. give the relay a tap when the car is playing up and see if it makes a difference. Quigs Edited March 17, 2007 by Quigs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bonzai 2 Posted March 18, 2007 (edited) what/where is the ECU relay? many thanks for replys by the way Edited March 18, 2007 by Bonzai Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bonzai 2 Posted March 21, 2007 tuesday update - changed the dizzy cap as i had a spare and the current one looked to be on its last legs. managed about 2 miles then the engine stopped dead as i pulled up outside a friends house. Wouldnt restart until i put it in 1st and turned it over and encouraged it with some gas. Managed another 30 yards down the road and it died again. This time it wouldnt restart for 5 minutes, in the mean time i did nothing really to affect the car but it soon fired up first time after that. what the hell is going on Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alastairh 47 Posted March 21, 2007 (edited) What was the rotor arm like? As im sure heard that Mi's eaters with these! Just do the basics tests for spark, and your getting good fuel pressure etc, hopefully you'll get a better idea. Edited March 21, 2007 by Alastairh Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest cheesy-peas Posted March 21, 2007 I had this problem,as mine is running gti dizzy i got a set of gti HT leads(better fit on spark plugs) and a new set of mi plugs.Runs a treat now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
