Carina E Engine Cut Out - Please Help!

[josiegerbil]

Can any one help me? Two months ago I bought the most fantastic N reg Carina E 2 litre GLI (1996) and I have a problem that I just can't get to the bottom of - despite taking her to be fixed several times.

the engine just keeps cutting out - it can be at any time, and there seems to be no pattern to it. The engine restarts as soon as you turn the key - until the next time which could be 10 minutes later or 1.

Background info - When we got her she was fine and two weeks later she started misfiring so we booked her in for a service and they did the usual spark plugs, oil change etc. But she kept misfiring and then began cutting out.

We had her looked at again and found that she has a cracked head which has been stabalised with radweld (is this going to last long term?) and seem to have cured the misfire, however she is still cutting out.

When it happens there is an audible click which seems to be coming from the front of the car, behind the glove box. We thought that perhaps it was a faulty relay and went and got used relays and replaced the ones that said main engine and EFI on them ( but we are not sure if these are the right ones) as we were advised to change the fuel injection relay.

Could any one please spare us a little time to consider this problem , we would be everso grateful for any and all guidance.

I am really looking forward to loving my car - I just can't yet!

[Deepak]

I am facing similar problems on my 1997 R reg carina except that it does'nt misfire and does'nt restart right away. So I have to pull over, keep trying and after a few minutes it starts up again. So far I have changed the HT leads, Battery and starter motor, but the problem is still there. The Battery was almost flat so I had to change it and a recovery service person told me that the engine might cut out due to a faulty starter motor. Please update this post if you find a solution.

[Mick24]

josiegerbil - what's the mileage of the car ?

Have you got any fault codes stored in the ECU ?

If you have a cracked cylinder head(how did you diagnose that) then rad.weld will only be a short term solution.

[josiegerbil]

josiegerbil - what's the mileage of the car ?

Have you got any fault codes stored in the ECU ?

If you have a cracked cylinder head(how did you diagnose that) then rad.weld will only be a short term solution.

Hi Mick 24,

She has done just over 136000 miles and the cracked head was diagnosed by our mechanic who was investigating the mis fire - radweld is holding that at bay for the moment.

The garage said that she had 2 codes stored in the ECU - one was caused by them- the crank shaft position sensor and the other was a air intake sensor but they seemed to think that that would not cause the engine cut out.

We have found out through trial and error that the engine cut out does not happen if you have the heater on in the car ( I did a 70 mile round trip friday with no problems yet today when I turned the heater off she cut out three times in the space of a mile - I turned the heater back on and she carried on perfectly)- Presumably the heater draws cool air through the engine, so we think we might have a faulty temperature sensor of some sort. (could it be the one that was stored in ECU?) As I say the garage are baffled and I really don't want to spend a huge amount on her as she is past her best now.

Any clues would be most appreciated.

Cheers

I am facing similar problems on my 1997 R reg carina except that it does'nt misfire and does'nt restart right away. So I have to pull over, keep trying and after a few minutes it starts up again. So far I have changed the HT leads, battery and starter motor, but the problem is still there. The battery was almost flat so I had to change it and a recovery service person told me that the engine might cut out due to a faulty starter motor. Please update this post if you find a solution.

Willkeep you posted Deepak, we are no further forwards as yet.

[Mick24]

Thanks for the extra info on the fault,

The crank sensor will make the car cut out as the ECU will not be getting the correct amount of pulses

from the sensor ( you can take them out and clean them)

The Air temp sensor wont make that much of a difference to the running to be honest.

Does the engine cut out "on the run" or is it when you are slowing down to a stop eg Traffic lights??

If its when you are coming to a stop,then its probally just the Idle speed too low - if you have the heater motor running, its an extra load on the engine and enough to make it stall on tick-over.

Some of the 3S-FE/3S-GE engines have an Idle up Solenoid(esp. with Auto.Transmission),so it detects high

engine load(headlights on,Heated rear window,power steering on full lock) at low rpm and brings the engine idle speed up to prevent stalling.

Idle up Solenoid could be faulty or you might have a split vaccum pipe( some are fitted to the Power steering pump - you will see 2 vac.pipes on it)

Thats a few more things to check

[josiegerbil]

Thanks for the extra info on the fault,

The crank sensor will make the car cut out as the ECU will not be getting the correct amount of pulses

from the sensor ( you can take them out and clean them)

The Air temp sensor wont make that much of a difference to the running to be honest.

Does the engine cut out "on the run" or is it when you are slowing down to a stop eg Traffic lights??

If its when you are coming to a stop,then its probally just the Idle speed too low - if you have the heater motor running, its an extra load on the engine and enough to make it stall on tick-over.

Some of the 3S-FE/3S-GE engines have an Idle up Solenoid(esp. with Auto.Transmission),so it detects high

engine load(headlights on,Heated rear window,power steering on full lock) at low rpm and brings the engine idle speed up to prevent stalling.

Idle up Solenoid could be faulty or you might have a split vaccum pipe( some are fitted to the Power steering pump - you will see 2 vac.pipes on it)

Thats a few more things to check

Thanks Mick24,

We will have a go at cleaning the crank sensor (where abouts is it located?).

Yes engine cuts "out on the run", you can be poodling along at 60 and it will just cut out. But if the heater is ON it does not do it. we were wondering if there is a water temperature sensor that might be responsible. We have consulted the Haynes Manual but it seems to be very vague about sensors.

Cheers once again

Josiegerbil

[Mick24]

When it cuts out on the run,is it a "clean" cut out(like turning the Ignition key off) or does the engine "cough/splutter" when it cuts out (fuel related)

No seperate Crank Sensor fitted(Doh!) if i remember correctly now, as the ECU gets the signals from the distributor - so might be a corroded/loose terminal connector on the Distributor.

Cannot see how the Heater fan running would not make it cut out - there are 2 temp.sensors,one for the temp.gauge and one for the Fuel Injection.

If the Temp Gauge sensor was faulty,the Temp Gauge on the dash would read high or low.

If the Injection Temp. sensor was faulty,the engine would run very rich untill the ECU puts a Default Value in and puts the Check light "on". Even if you had an air lock behind the sensor caused by the leaking head gasket/combustion chamber gases,dont think the car would just cut out.

Another thing to check is the Electrical part of the Ignition Switch,it is held on the back of the mechanical part

of the switch with 2 small screws and these tend to loosen up and results in a loss of electrical power.

Could even be a Alarm/Immobiliser problem,just to throw another spanner in the works :o

[josiegerbil]

When it cuts out on the run,is it a "clean" cut out(like turning the Ignition key off) or does the engine "cough/splutter" when it cuts out (fuel related)

No seperate Crank Sensor fitted(Doh!) if i remember correctly now, as the ECU gets the signals from the distributor - so might be a corroded/loose terminal connector on the Distributor.

Cannot see how the Heater fan running would not make it cut out - there are 2 temp.sensors,one for the temp.gauge and one for the Fuel Injection.

If the Temp Gauge sensor was faulty,the Temp Gauge on the dash would read high or low.

If the Injection Temp. sensor was faulty,the engine would run very rich untill the ECU puts a Default Value in and puts the Check light "on". Even if you had an air lock behind the sensor caused by the leaking head gasket/combustion chamber gases,dont think the car would just cut out.

Another thing to check is the Electrical part of the Ignition Switch,it is held on the back of the mechanical part

of the switch with 2 small screws and these tend to loosen up and results in a loss of electrical power.

Could even be a Alarm/Immobiliser problem,just to throw another spanner in the works :o

Evening Mick24,

Thanks once again for persisting with this one! IT IS REALLY APPRECIATED.

When she cuts out on the run it is just a clean cut, just as if the ignition has been turned off.

We thought at first it was an immobiliser problem as when it happens there is a click from a black box behind the glove box, but we are baffled as to why she does not do it with the heater on!

Alot of things we have ruled out because, as you have said, the engine check light would come on and it just doesn't!

We will try the ignition switch and see about a new set of HT leads and a new disributor cap and see how we go from there.

I have no problem driving with the heater on in this waether but I do worry about whether I will be able to drive her when the weather warms up!

Cheers

Joseigerbil

[chunkypies]

Hi all,

Im new here and a noob with cars, so please forgive me if I ask the wrong questions. :)

Ok, so i have the exact same problem (engine cuts out whilest driving) with my recently bought Toyota Carina E GTi 2.0 ('95 i think, dont remember ATM). So my question is, did anyone ever findout what the culprit was? I live in portugal(expencive for parts, very expencive) and have been told that its the ECU and will cost around 800E to 1000€. Im guessing the price isnt correct, but i dont know.

Any help would be truly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Elliot