Sunday, November 19, 2017 - 10:45 am, by: Trefor Abbott(Tref2)
I was driving my 1991 TT a few weeks ago when without warning the motor spluttered and died. Of course this was at a dangerous intersection. I tried to restart it but it just turned over with no hint of restarting. I waited a few minutes and then tried restarting again. This time it fired up but was running roughly. I managed to pull away but only got a few metres before once again it just cut out.
As it cut out there was the unmistakable sound of what appeared to be the indicators clicking away just like when you are about to turn. However the indicators themselves weren't actually flashing.
I waited maybe five minutes more and tried again. This time I managed to get the car started and limp home.
I tried the car the next day but once again, it fired up but as I got a few hundred metres down the road, it died again. I waited a few minutes and then just managed to get home with the engine running very roughly. There was no 'go' at all. It felt like it was only just ticking over.
Following advice from a mate I replaced the fuel pump and also tried the fuel pump ecu reset but there's been no improvement at all.
The only word I can use to describe this is that It feels my car is 'constipated'.
Can anyone come up with any suggestions?
There's nobody in the town I live that has any real experience on Soarers. To be honest the car is close to being on it's last legs but I have nursed it through a fair few drama's before now and I would love to get it working again even if I then stuck it in the garage in order to really get it sorted out in a couple of years. I love this car. It's looked after me for 16 years now and I'd hate to scrap it.
Sunday, November 19, 2017 - 04:50 pm, by: Ross Pesina(Ross79)
Have you checked fault codes?
1. Could be a dodgy igniter, i've gone through so many i gave up and converted to Yaris cop setup. Quite a few of my friends have gone through several igniters as they're at that age. When they're bad they tend to work for a bit when you let them cool down. Typically they won't let the car start at all but i've had all sorts of problems related to them failing.
2. Could be a fuel pump on it's way out. I've replaced pumps in all my cars with walbro 460 pumps. Do not use the walbro 255 as they're very noisy and there's a lot of dodgy fakes.
3. Faulty main ecu. I've repaired dozens of ECU's as the capacitors have a habbit of leaking all over the board. Symptoms vary greatly depending on which capacitor has died and how much damage it has caused to the board.
You have to open up the ECU to see if it's a problem but given their age it's quite likely the problem.
Sunday, November 19, 2017 - 08:15 pm, by: Ross Pesina(Ross79)
Pull back the carpet in the passenger side foot well. Normally there will be a big plastic cover that you have to remove (two 10mm nuts) and then you'll be looking at the ECU. Depending on options you might have a smaller abs ecu to the left of it.
Open the ecu and look for leaky capacitors. They're pretty obvious.
Secondhand one will most likely have the same issue unless it has been reconditioned.
I do ECU repairs for $95 including express post back to you and usually have them done the same day they arrive.
Best way to test it is if you can borrow it off someone with a known working one. I have had friends go through a handful of secondhand units within a couple of months so I wouldn't bother with anything other than a new unit.
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 - 07:54 am, by: Trefor Abbott(Tref2)
My car's outside and it's pouring down but from memory she's done about 230,000 k's. Once it's stopped raining I will have a look at the ECU so thanks for that advice. I have a mate who has several Soarers so I could get the igniter checked out by him. Thanks guys, I really appreciate the help.
Tuesday, December 05, 2017 - 01:13 pm, by: Danny Dinh(Xtc)
another thing to check/test is the crank angle sensor. when the engine cuts out and would not start again pour some water on the crank to the sensor down (it sits inside the timing cover if my memory serves me right) and see if that starts.