Technical from misfire to dead in 10secs

[z-dave]

Hi All

I have an odd problem.

My 20v Marea has been making some off sounds the last few days. It sounds like it's mis-firing. This is intermittant. I did the easy job first of changing the plugs, but same problem.

This morning however, it just died at 20mph. No luck trying to restart, and I successfully killed the battery too.

Any previous experience with this sort of problem?

I'm going to tow to get a diagnostic on it tomorrow, but does the battery need to be charged for this? Hell, does the car even need to run for this?

All help appreciated!!

Dave

 

[bulldog5046]

dunno if i would bother with the disgnostic, sounds like you need a TDC/Crank sensor, and guess what!? if you have a 147 engine your in luck, i have a spare

drop me a PM

was the misfire getting worse when the engine got warm?

 

[z-dave]

I wouldn't say it got worse when it got warmer.
Its' certainly pretty bad when there's a heavy demand on the engine. You know when you try to drive in 5th at 10mph - it like that!
Also pops like crazy when you jump on the accelerator, even in neutral.

If the sensor has finally given up, would that explain why it just died on me?! no sensor return = no spark?

 

[bulldog5046]

yeah its one of the sensors that control the spark, if you can check and see if you have a spark, this should help us confirm it

 

[z-dave]

Ok - you'll never believe the cause!

first things first: mobile diagnostic guy couldnn't get his kit to talk to the ecu. After much searching, we found some fuses under the air intake, one of which is the 15A injection circuit fuse. We replaced this, and all worked ok.
And then it died again!!
looking over the wiring to the ignition coils, it turns out two wires had worn bare under the plastic cover that sits on the gearbox side. So we taped these back up, and all seemed to work - no more blown fuses, but the car was still mis-firing.
So - we checked the coils, coil 4 had a crack in it, and also had started to melt. So after a quick scrap yard search, and £20 later, it was replaced. Still had the mis fire!!!
This was finally fixed, as it turns out some of the wiring must bed earthing out, so taping all these up finally solved the problem. (Fingers crossed it stays this way!)

 

[bulldog5046]

interesting one, glad its sorted