Club 80-90 Forums

Hello all, posted this in the tecky forum but no luck

2.1dj engine

Driving to Rosslare today and engine suddenly died. Tried to restart but wouldnt fire. Waited 5mins and started up and ran as usual. Happened again later.

I checked all connectors (ignition/ electrical blocks) and fuel lines. Everything as should be, nothing looks out of place. The problem is that it seems to be an intermitant problem and seeing that its ok at the moment I cannot trace the fault.

Could it be a coil or pump problem? ECU?

Anyone experience this before?

Thanks in advance.

Tony

Ive had a problem like this on a fiat I had years ago, took ages to find.
It was an ignition control module that was breaking down when hot, but was ok as soon as it cooled.
I guess the best thing to do is check continuity and resistance in all of your ignition circuit first, and carry a multi meter with you to check thing when it happens.
When did you last change things like rotor arm and cap, ht leads etc?

Cheers Sandwedge,

They've been changed recently. I'll check others as you suggest.

Tony

Tony, I have some ignition system components in the shed if you need to try them

I have now checked the various voltages and resistances of the ignition components as per Bentley and all appear to be within tolerances so fingers crossed. Haven't cut out since Saturday after cleaning rotor and cap.

Better check fuel system.

Andrew you have PM

Thanks for all help,

Tony

from my experience with these type of break downs, fuel system faults tend to stutter and fumble before the van stops ie you get some warning. Electrical break down tend to be sudden that is engine will stop firing for no apparent reason.

Hello again,

Got home from work on Thursday and van wouldn't start so I spent half an hour trying but to no avail. I left it in Gorey overnight.

Went down on Friday morning and it started! What the blithering heck?

So, I decided to give Andrew of Syncropaddy fame a buzz and he suggested I come round and swap out a few components that he had as spares. I decided to start the engine and it wouldn't fire so this was good as we might find something. We swapped out the fuel pump relay (didn't fire) and then the current supply relay (didn't fire) so that was 2 components eliminated at least. Both above relays are the same by the way.

Andrew asked had I checked for a spark which I had but only from the coil HT not after the Dizzy at the plug leads. It was just then all of a sudden that a wave of envy overcame me (Andrew had shown me his workshop and all his spares etc etc earlier) and I decided to kill (literally) two birds with the one stone (or spark in this case). I gave Andrew a wire snips to hold the spark plug connector with (only suitable for 240V) and blasted him across the yard. Ah well, he survived and at least he could confirm that I had a spark!

Andrew rang Aiden Talbot (thank you) and he suggested lot of things to check which I'm trying to do at the moment between thundershowers. Oh joy.

If I isolate the problem I'll post it here. More advice welcome and I promise not to Zap you.

A big thank you to all especially Andrew who was extremely generous with his time and parts.

Tony

Tomorrow will be dry Tony ....

I would pull one side of the fuel injectors and see if you have fuel there. Could be an ecu fault. I dont know what fuel regulators do when they fail but might be worth checking fuel pressure.

syncrosimon wrote:I would pull one side of the fuel injectors and see if you have fuel there. Could be an ecu fault. I dont know what fuel regulators do when they fail but might be worth checking fuel pressure.

This is one of the things on the list .....

and get a new avatar

Aidan wrote:and get a new avatar

Whats wrong with that one. Its our Prime Minister!

no wonder your country's in the mire, and we thought we have problems

Aidan wrote:no wonder your country's in the mire, and we thought we have problems

Mire is not the word for it!

Arrgh,

Still have a problem but I have a chance of swapping out an ECU to eliminate that. Are these hot swappable and is there a difference between a DJ and Digifant one and how do I identify it?

I'll post all my findings and tests soon

Thanks,

Tony