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Technical Unexpected Engine cut out

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Technical Unexpected Engine cut out

chas379

chas379

72 Year Old teenager
Joined
Aug 20, 2011
Messages
1,171
Points
362
Location
Arundel
My OH has just informed me that 3 times in the past fortnight she has been driving, her 1.2 Pop Dualogic, and for no reason the engine just cuts out, car defaults to neutral, all bells and whistles bleeping and transmission not available message appears.

The only way to overcome this is to take key out of ignition and restart.

Obviously this has to be sorted soonest as it is a danger not only to my OH but to other road users travelling behind her.

Any views on cause??
 
I am going to say battery also.
 
bgunn said:
Or a bad battery - that is momentarily dropping a cell (or two). I've seen weird ECU behaviour before with a battery that had a strange internal fault.
Click to expand...

Yeah, almost certainly something power related, my battery is on its way out and when its cold and the car hasn't had much of a run of late, it will give an airbag warning message.
 
Most Easterly Pandas said:
Can you expand on the order things happen please OP. Does engine cut out, then gearbox goes into neutral, or does gearbox play up before the engine cuts out etc etc. how does the engine cut out? It like turn it off, or does it judder etc etc :confused:
Click to expand...

From what I am told, the engine stops, goes into neutral and warning lights/messages all happen simultaneously. Possibly a slightly higher revving noise prior to.

Afraid this is all hearsay as the possibility of me being in the car when this happens or trying to replicate are almost nil.
 
If it were solely an engine fault the gearbox would stay in gear until told to do otherwise (from experience of running out of fuel - don't ask).

So it does sound electrical. Does EPS fail instantly also could you ask?

I'd first check that the battery therminals / cables are nice and secure, had a loose earth on the Stilo which caused occasional cutting out about 18 months ago, once tightened the fault vanished :)
 
Most Easterly Pandas said:
If it were solely an engine fault the gearbox would stay in gear until told to do otherwise (from experience of running out of fuel - don't ask).

So it does sound electrical. Does EPS fail instantly also could you ask?
Click to expand...

Afraid I cannot get a definitive answer re the EPS. I have checked the battery terminals and surrounding area and all Leads/Terminals very secure, as far as I can see.

Fired it up this morning and all appeared to be OK. But as we know intermittent faults are the worst kind to detect.

Will be getting in touch with my new local dealer tomorrow, having recently moved house, re booking in and getting it checked. be interesting to see how they perform as opposed to my original dealer where I had a few niggling complaints about their customer service.
 
Hi there, if you know of anyone with a code reader. i would suggest seeing what fault codes are stored in the car. how old is the car?
i have had a few of the multi plugs on top of the dual logic gear boxes corroding before.. which threw up similar sypmtons to what you have described.
as previously noted though, a loose or poor earth connection really messes these things up as well.
if your competent in electrical work? try a volt drop on the earth circuit. there after, maybe see if you can see down the sides of the battery for the multi plugs and take them off to check for corrosion.
 
bencey said:
Hi there, if you know of anyone with a code reader. i would suggest seeing what fault codes are stored in the car. how old is the car?
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The car is under 3 yrs old (33 months). On moving house we have not been able to house it in the garage, so for the 1st time it has been exposed to the recent winter elements, also it does not do long runs, so battery level could be an issue.

Do not have contact with anyone with a 'reader' and as far as checking things out I'm afraid my only tools are a knife & fork.

I used to put myself about in my early days and have replaced engines/clutches/exhausts/brake pipes etc. but those were the days when there was enough room in the engine compartment you could nearly straddle the engine.

Today I'm afraid I leave it to the professionals.
 
chas379 said:
The car is under 3 yrs old (33 months). On moving house we have not been able to house it in the garage, so for the 1st time it has been exposed to the recent winter elements, also it does not do long runs, so battery level could be an issue.

Do not have contact with anyone with a 'reader' and as far as checking things out I'm afraid my only tools are a knife & fork.

I used to put myself about in my early days and have replaced engines/clutches/exhausts/brake pipes etc. but those were the days when there was enough room in the engine compartment you could nearly straddle the engine.

Today I'm afraid I leave it to the professionals.
Click to expand...


Hi Chas, when my Fiat 500 Dualogic's battery acted very weirdly and died on me the car refused to start. After being started with a charger i went for a drive and as i was driivng the dash display would turn off and all the lights would come on and off, but the engine would still run. It was acting very weird and obviously not safe to drive so after a kilometer or so on side roads i just parked the car and waited for the recovery truck to take me to the dealer. I did this and next day at the dealer they replaced my battery under warranty and since then it has been fine.
 
same thing happened to my dualogic, with only 500miles on clock,took it back to dealers who ran a check and had to order a "computer part"from italy,they rang when the part arrived and it went in for the repair,great :) exept on collecting it and found the blue & me system was talking italian, all was sorted and car has been all good for the last thousand miles.
 
Dealership visit 08:30 Thursday this week. Wonder if 3rd year dealer warranty will cover if work needs to be done.

In the meantime **I'm towing my OH around using my A500. She won't drive mine as knee problem prevents her using clutch.

**For those of a Road Safety Conscious nature Only Joking!!!:D
 
chas379 said:
Dealership visit 08:30 Thursday this week. Wonder if 3rd year dealer warranty will cover if work needs to be done.
Click to expand...

Car taken to dealer on Thursday this week, 2 hrs afterwards informed it was a faulty Communication unit which would need to be ordered in.

11am this morning dealer phoned, part received and fitted (Gearbox Communication Unit).

No charge, covered under 3rd Yr, dealer warranty, car cleaned inside and out. Good performance from Middleton Fiat, Middleton on Sea, West Sussex.(y)
 
chas379 said:
My OH has just informed me that 3 times in the past fortnight she has been driving, her 1.2 Pop Dualogic, and for no reason the engine just cuts out, car defaults to neutral, all bells and whistles bleeping and transmission not available message appears.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify on the OP: as I mentioned what was related to me was 'hearsay' so when my OH was talking to the dealer explaining what happened when the fault occurred, the engine did not actually cut out, the gearbox just went into Neutral for no reason and could not be resolved until engine switched off and then restarted.

We got there in the end!!!:shakehead:
 
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