intermittant travel

[nostalgic]

Hi all.
Can anyone shed light on an anoying problem.
My van is a 1988 2.1i. 5 speed manual, the prob is that it starts without any hitch's runs well but after about 4-5 miles it just cuts out, if you try and start it it starts runs lumpy then stop's, you can do it over and over but it still does the same but leave it for halfe an hour to 1 hour and it starts without problems, it will then go for a few miles or if your lucky a few days then the same thing hapens again. Ive looked at the earth sraps on engine and gear box, they are all fine.i cant find any loose wires.the only thing i can find is the remains of an old anty theft alarm thing which is wired to the ignitione. So to this point im stumped,my vans stuck on the Sandwich bypass at the mo and im hoping to pick it up tomorrow as im not sure how many times you can have it recovered any help would be great thanks Tony

[California Dreamin]

If it has a lambda sensor in the exhaust cat pull the plug apart on the harness in the engine bay (just follow the sensor loom until you find the plug back of the engine bay)
If your problem instantly disappears (assuming it has a cat/lambda probe MV engine code) then you have a faulty sensor.

Martin