For Tom

[Buzz]

Tonight as I was coming home from work and for no apparent reason the engined cuts-out. I had my foot firmly on the accelerator but no go.

The whole thing was like turning the key to give power to the car for the first time :The lights on the dashboard were all lit up (at least only the ones that were supposed to) and then extinguished themselves like I restarted the car.

The electrical circuit had power during the second of the engine cut-out because the stereo continued to play and the lights were still on as nothing had happened.

I slowly brought the car to a standstill restarted it and everything was OK. I drove around for about 30 minutes trying all speeds and gears and everything is normal.

The car is a 96SX Bravo with 63.000 miles on the clock.Please advise.


Best regards
Buzz from Greece

 

[Tom]

What engine size?

My first thought is a dodgey wire or fuseholder OR the ignition power relay is failing OR the ignition key switch is failing.

 

[Buzz]

The engine is a 1,6.

Best regards
Buzz from Greece

 

[Tom]

Check the connector on the ECU too, its next to the battery on a 1.6. I think something has cut power to the ECU causing it to reset.

There is a fusebox at the back of the engine bay on the right hand side as you face the car, under a black cover held on by a single screw.

There is a 30A fuse in there that powers the ECU, check its not corroded.

 

[Buzz]

Thanks for the prompt reply. Will do. If everything checks out OK are there any other things that I should look into ?

70% of my traveling in done on the motorway at 60-75mph so as you can see I am afraid of that happening there.


Best regards
Buzz from Greece

 

[Tom]

the only other possibility would be the crank/cam sensor BUT they usually manifest themselves by making the car hard to start.

Does it drive just the same as it did before?

 

[Buzz]

Yes. The car drives around like nothing has happened.Acceleration and speed is quite OK.

When it died I didnt even realise it because I was braking at the time. When I stepped my foot on the accelerator there was no power. The power steering was also gone but the lights and the stereo were working.

When I stoped completely I turned the key all the way back to stop, turned it again to start and the engined started with no problem.

Then I drove around trying to cause it to happen again but it didnt.

Best regards
Buzz from Greece

 

[graham]

same thing's happened to me, twice. not very nice, when you're going round a traffic island in the rush hour.
must be a 1.6 glitch methinks!

BRAVA 1.6 sx '97P.

GRAHAM (P787).

TOO OLD TO PLAY FOOTBALL. TOO YOUNG TO PLAY GOLF

 

[Buzz]

Graham did you sort the problem out ? What caused it in your case?

I'll check what Tom suggested and if it checks out OK, just to be on the safe side I'll take it to my FIAT garage to see what they have to say.

Moreover to be honest I dont want it to happen again. I like the way the Bravo handles in a road that has curves and from time to time I like to push it a little. But after that I really dont know... I wouldn't want to end up in a wall or more impotantly crashing into another poor fellow or over a cliff just because the engine decided to "take a brake" for a while.

Best regards
Buzz from Greece