Author Topic: Bizarre cut out. (Read 5121 times)

TomB · « **on:** January 23, 2007, 02:47:42 pm »

Just had a moment of wierdness as I changed down on the approach to a roundabout. Into 4th at 70mph, then 3rd about 30mph, and then the red lights came on, and the engine half cut out. I turned the key while still rolling (with the clutch in) and got half a response, but thought it better to drift to the side of the road and put the hazard lights on.
Cranked it for 5 seconds. Nothing. Cranked it for 10 seconds, nothing. Turned off ignition, waited 5 seconds, cranked it again and it caught after maybe a couple of seconds. Then proceeded to drive the 3 miles home with no problems.
The downshifts were perfectly smooth & there was no protesting from my new box. The fuel filter was changed last May, and while I'm a little lowon chip fat, I'm not into the red yet, and I've still got 50-odd miles left before I'd usually re-fuel.
Any ideas or suggestions welcome....
:?:
Cheers,
Tom

jtanguay · « **Reply #1 on:** January 23, 2007, 04:11:49 pm »

probably the low fuel... if you sucked air into your system it will give you symptoms of what you are describing... if it took a bunch of cranking to get it going it was probably getting the air out.

even though you still have fuel in the tank, stopping abruptly or making a hard turn will move the fuel around and voila... doesn't take much air to screw up a diesel.

Doug · « **Reply #2 on:** January 23, 2007, 07:09:08 pm »

I had the same thing happen once that turned out to be a loose connection at the shut off solenoid on the injection pump. I thought that the car was freezing up as it was well below zero. All I had to do was push the spade connector on securely to the solenoid at the injection pump. Too bad I had a $60 tow bill to pay before I found that one!

jtanguay · « **Reply #3 on:** January 23, 2007, 07:35:56 pm »

Quote from: Doug

I had the same thing happen once that turned out to be a loose connection at the shut off solenoid on the injection pump. I thought that the car was freezing up as it was well below zero. All I had to do was push the spade connector on securely to the solenoid at the injection pump. Too bad I had a $60 tow bill to pay before I found that one!

ouch... i thought it might be something to do with the solenoid as well... but since it was low on 'chip fat' :lol: thought that might be the cause.

your best bet would be to use some penetrant and wire brush to clean the contacts.

TomB · « **Reply #4 on:** January 24, 2007, 12:52:53 pm »

Cheers all, jtanguay I think you may well be correct, as I was under sustained braking at the time, and I've never yet met a VW with a truly reliable fuel gauge

Doug, I'll check the contacts as well over the weekend, weather permitting.
I've put £10 of regular diesel in until I can get to the Chippy supplier at the weeked :-)
Cheers,
Tom[/b]

TomB · « **Reply #5 on:** February 05, 2007, 04:01:28 pm »

Well, the connections are fine, but the blasted thing tried to do for me last night on the A1! It was like my throttle cable has become disconnected or something, as it just stopped repsonding to the pedal in 5th at about 80mph. It wnt down through the gears fine with the revs rising accordingly, but in each gear refused to respond to the throttle. Got to the hard shoulder and then cut out. After about 20 secs of cranking, she started & I continued my journey.
I have a feeling that there might be some scraps in the fuel filter but I'm hoping this doesn't become a regular occurence!

jtanguay · « **Reply #6 on:** February 06, 2007, 12:44:49 am »

hmmm 80mph.. what rpm's were you seeing??? the engine must have been quite 'thirsty' at that speed :lol:

might i recommend that you buy some sort of lift pump??? :wink:

burn_your_money · « **Reply #7 on:** February 06, 2007, 12:19:06 pm »

I don't know what year of car you have, but you might have a mesh screen in your tank. What may be happening is under those extreme conditions it's sucking up all the crap into the mesh and then when the car stalls, it settles and will restart. Kind of far fetched but who knows

jtanguay · « **Reply #8 on:** February 06, 2007, 02:16:14 pm »

Quote from: "burn_your_money"

I don't know what year of car you have, but you might have a mesh screen in your tank. What may be happening is under those extreme conditions it's sucking up all the crap into the mesh and then when the car stalls, it settles and will restart. Kind of far fetched but who knows

you might be on to something... i know some old gas tanks like on dodges would do that... and you'd have to get out and bang on the gas tank to loosen the crap buildup...

TomB · « **Reply #9 on:** February 06, 2007, 02:58:38 pm »

I'm not sure of the RPMs tbh, as there's no tacho (yet...) but upon estimates, based on boost feel through the gears, (and the fact it will do over a ton before it tops out) I think about 2800-3000rpm. It usually manages about 40mpg at that speed.
It's a 1991 Golf, so it may well have a mesh screen in the tank, I've read about these things, and am not looking forward to fishing it out if that's the case...:roll:
I'll start with a new filter & see if that makes a difference...
Thanks for the advice gents,
Tom

Zu! · « **Reply #10 on:** February 07, 2007, 10:33:09 am »

Quote

's a 1991 Golf, so it may well have a mesh screen in the tank

I'm no expert by any means, but I've had this happen to me in my 67 Beetle. It would just cut out in the middle of the highway at highway speeds even. It would cut out taking a corner, it would cut out just whenever it pleased. Finally it cut out in the middle of nowhere. Managed to get my mechanic to come by, he rigged up a little hose from the fuel tank, tied it to the passenger-side wing mirror, the doorhandle and finally into the carb.

When we got back, he disassembled the whole fuel tank, washed it out, and whaddaya know, a small (1x1 inch) scrap of cloth had somehow ended up inside the tank! :shock: Every now and then, this scrap would block the fuel line and voila! Instant cut out :x

jtanguay · « **Reply #11 on:** February 07, 2007, 04:26:58 pm »

TomB are you using a seperate tank for your 'chip fat'

? maybe some foreign particles are to blame for the cut outs???

TomB · « **Reply #12 on:** February 13, 2007, 12:10:33 pm »

jtanguay no, it's just a mix of Recycled Vegetable oil & alcohol (plus a catalyst) that I buy from a fully licenced supplier. It's just like regular diesel in terms of ease of use (apart from the smell :-) ). I think it may be particles in my fuel filter that are to blame, so I've got another filter to put in this weekend, and am running a kick ass fuel system detergent through the tank at the moment.
Fingers crossed!
Cheers,
Tom