Saturday, October 01, 2016 - 03:21 pm, by: Ross Pesina(Ross79)
My mum has an immaculate 1997 uzz31. Owned it several years without trouble. Last couple of months on random occasions it would just go dead when coming to a stop. Living it Melbourne it scares the crap out of her as she often gets stuck at an intersection unable to move the car.
It has a new battery. Checked alternator which works fine, ie disconnect battery with car running and continues to operate as normal.
The car is one of the few unmolested soarers i've come across, for something with over 200k it still looks brand new.
Car is completely stock down to exhaust.
When it dies the dash switches off, basically everything as if the alternator is dead.
Checked ECU and it looks perfect, no signs of leaky capacitors (i've repaired a lot of ecus).
It's regularly serviced by my dad who doesn't skip a detail and is very experienced in anything mechanical / electrical.
Any ideas?? I'm know jzz30s inside out but not as familiar with the v8s.
Saturday, October 01, 2016 - 03:34 pm, by: Mark Brunning(96limited)
Hi I'm no mechanic I have a v8 with no probs, it sounds like the whole car dies offf, what about getting autoelc check coils and other parts from alternator onwards
Ross Pesina Goo Roo Vic Soarer T, Mk3 Supra TT, Mk4 Supra TT, Z32 TT
Sunday, October 02, 2016 - 02:10 pm, by: Scott Vim(1uz1jz)
Had this issue with my Chaser. I was a faulty battery terminal. If you disconnect the battery completely and drive around eventually it will do what you describe. So the terminal was on enough that it could start the car but wasn't completely on to prevent the car from dying. It didn't happen often. Going over bumps and pot holes in the road made it more likely to happen. This is definitely something to check since you said you lose electrical power as well.
Clean battery terminals and check the battery clamps to make sure they tighten properly around the terminals. While it's running pull on the wiring at the battery to see if you can get it to stall.
A bad alternator completely kills the battery very quickly (2 minutes of driving and symptoms include lights and dash dimming) and you won't be able to start the car again until you recharge battery.
Sunday, October 02, 2016 - 06:01 pm, by: Ross Pesina(Ross79)
Brand new battery was put in only two weeks ago. Being an elec, he has traced the main power lines to make sure it's all perfect.
When it dies everything goes off, ie: dash the whole lot as if someone pulled the main fuse. Can't be igniters, clips, etc as none of that shuts down electrics completely.
And it's hard to find as the car will run without a glitch for a year then out of the blue shutdown.
I think the question should be more along the lines of if anyone else has had this happen.
I gave my dad a spare fuse box last night so he'll swap over main fuse as only thing we can come up with is there might be a hairline fracture somewhere that causes it to die at unpredictable times.
Monday, October 03, 2016 - 09:22 am, by: Tom Richards(Tomr)
had a similar fault on my sons V8 yrs ago. The fault was in the fuse box. Cannot remember exactly, but if you tap the relays in the box,(Ig On) the fault goes away and ignition comes back on
Peter Nitschke Junk Filterer South Australia UZZ30 UZZ31
Tuesday, October 04, 2016 - 08:29 pm, by: Ross Pesina(Ross79)
Peter I will get dad to check the clamp. I know terminals are tight as it's the first thing he taught me about working on cars a few decades ago. I also checked it when he showed up on the weekend.
The problem first occurred 6 or 7 years ago and after talking to dad this was the third time it has happened, which differs from mum's story (which tends need filtering at best of times).
Tom, I think you're on the money. We have gone over various things and only way we can replicate the problem is disrupting the line to the fuse box. Dad has checked continuity to it extensively and it's fine but we're convinced something in there is the cause.
Wednesday, October 05, 2016 - 07:35 am, by: Tom Richards(Tomr)
hi ross,
i had it down to a specific relay (silver from memory) that by tapping it the fault would be fixed. I changed relays but it did not fix it. The fault from causes B+ to disappear. I confirmed this by running a wire from Batt + to B+ on the diagnostic port when i had the fault, and it disappeared. The car was sold without the actual fault being identified.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016 - 12:55 am, by: Raoul Duke(Hunter)
Same thing was happening to me. Stalling. I'd change your passenger coil ASAP before you get stuck somewhere. Costs $50 at repco. Passenger coil's always the first to go because it gets hotter than the top one because of location on the engine apparently.
Ross Pesina Goo Roo Vic Soarer T, Mk3 Supra TT, Mk4 Supra TT, Z32 TT
Friday, October 28, 2016 - 10:02 am, by: Ross Pesina(Ross79)
Just to update, the problem appears to have been solved. The battery terminals that were on it (assuming factory) and despite being done up super tight didn't have a good enough contact dad mentioned upon closer inspection they looked to have blue marks like it was shorting out, so replaced with a new quality terminals. And also similar scenario at the master fuse.
This has Nothing to do with coils. If you read the symptoms you'd see that logically there's no way a coil issue could be a cause. Anyway, a new set was installed (as part of major service) after this first started and made no difference.
Friday, October 28, 2016 - 07:15 pm, by: Scott Vim(1uz1jz)
This issue is almost always battery terminals. Even on one dead coil I have never ever had the car stall. I've had backfiring and car gutless and cats melting but never losing power to the car. Even if it did stall dash would still be on and power as normal.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - 06:29 pm, by: Raoul Duke(Hunter)
Hi, if all power shorts out on the dash when the car dies, and no lights are on, it's a battery problem. A loose terminal, or cable. Could be the fusebox itself but I doubt that highly.
The dash should always stay on even if the car stalls, as long as there is battery power.
The reason the whole dash turns off and the car stalls at a stop, could be because the angle of the car is pulling a cable or twisting the terminal, and 'detaching the connection'.
This used to happen to me when I had a bodge negative terminal. It looked tight but when you pulled it up it just came off. SO every time you went over a bump for the first week, the dash would turn off and car would stall and you'd freak out.
The only way the whole dash and all lights can turn off when the car stalls, is that the cable, or terminal is loose. There is always power to the dash with the key in the ignition, even if car stalls. So if there are no lights, it means there is no battery connection. Dash runs straight off battery when car has stalled. Nothing else. Therefore, it MUST be a battery connection problem.
My coil died last month. What happened is I went over a speed bump, parked, came back from the shop, car was acting terrible, and the dash disappeared when it hit 1000rpm, leaving up a warning error. When car got under 1000rpm again dash looked fine , revs came back on the dash, and warning went. Just throwing that in there for future reference.
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