General help need advice on alternator or wiring prob!

[fluffybunny1978]

hi does anyone have any idea what could be wrong with my marea, losing power been on and off for over a week, when the power goes sounds more like a tractor than usual, think may be alternator or an electrical fault but cant say for sure, dont want to put a new alternator in if thats not the problem as could turn into a grat expense. its a marea weekend 100 elx 1.9tdi 1998 any theories would be greatly appreciated!! :bang:
oh and the rev meter goes nuts when problem starts, glow plug lights also come on half way through the jhourney just as the problem arises. really hope some clever bunny out there can shine some light on this for me!! please!!

 

[Hellcat]

If you're getting all sorts of problems it may be best to get a diagnosis done to see what's causing it, otherwise you could end up replacing the whole engine before you find the fault.

Worth checking the connection of the maf. Its the sensor which tells the engine how much air it has to play with.

 

[Renegade_8]

This sounds like a wiring fault, if it happened to my car I would remove the connectors on the ECU one at a time and spray them with switch cleaner before plugging tem back in as a first attempt.

 

[jug]

if it happened to my car I would remove the connectors on the ECU one at a time and spray them with switch cleaner

all the connectors on the ecu? there's only 1 connector

its probably a sensor fault (most intermittent issues like this are), a diagnostic is the quickest and cheapest way to identify the fault. randomly changing parts and interfering with things is not.

 

[Renegade_8]

I think my ECU has a connector each end, I hope that my knowledge will reamin at that level for years to come. If this was a sensor wouldn't it just affect that area, this seems a pretty general problem and it may be a bad earth somewhere. I agree that 1/2 hour diagnostics will be worth paying for as it may come up with the answer and it may just be 1/2 hour with a spanner and wire brush to fix it. It is not the allternator, if that goes you just get the warning light up.

 

[jug]

if a sensor fails or goes out of range the car will go into limp home mode (with fault light illuminated) so it affects the running of the engine, this can also be caused by many other things, especially wiring faults, but an intermittent fault that comes and goes randomly is almost always a sensor.

 

[fluffybunny1978]

thanx so much for your advice everyone, i'll pass all this info to my dad as i'm a dunce with cars, know how to start it and stop it thats about it!!! going into fiat for analasis hopefully in the morning, cheers!!

 

[Stephan1]

heres some good advice do you have RAC or AA cover if you do call them out. just tell them your cars going nuts and they will come out and check it for free and maybe even fix it as 9 out of 10 times they can and if they cant they will give you a wright up of what they found and then armed with that get the car fixed. but if you go to fiat dealer with a dippy attitude they will fleece you as my mate whent to Ford with his Focus RS with a dippy attitude and they screwed him for £300+ just to change a fuse.