cutting out???

[adamdickson]

hi there, my maestro keeps cutting out?? it will start up fine, tick over fine, but when you have been driving for a little while it will suddenly cut out and it will refuse to start again! then come bk the nxt day and it'll start like nothing was wrong. i was been told there is a fuel cut off switch behind the stereo on mine, which i have had a look for and found. (tiny little thing) but this is not being touched by anything, as i thought it might be knocking it and cutting the fuel. do you think it could be damp and be shorting out as car has been stood for so long. but this wouldn't explain it starting fine nxt day and not straight after. another MG M owner thought it could possible be a crank sensor, could this be an explination. i have been down to the car today and it started fine, left it to tick over for about 20 mins to see if it would do it on tickover and sure enough it did!!! Any ideas people? many thanks Adam

[cavmad]

hi there, my maestro keeps cutting out?? it will start up fine, tick over fine, but when you have been driving for a little while it will suddenly cut out and it will refuse to start again! then come bk the nxt day and it'll start like nothing was wrong. i was been told there is a fuel cut off switch behind the stereo on mine, which i have had a look for and found. (tiny little thing) but this is not being touched by anything, as i thought it might be knocking it and cutting the fuel. do you think it could be damp and be shorting out as car has been stood for so long. but this wouldn't explain it starting fine nxt day and not straight after. another MG M owner thought it could possible be a crank sensor, could this be an explination. i have been down to the car today and it started fine, left it to tick over for about 20 mins to see if it would do it on tickover and sure enough it did!!! Any ideas people? many thanks Adam

Working on the assumption its a petrol engine it sounds like it could be some kind of fuel problem. Has it got an automatic choke or could the manual one be sticking?
It may be worth whipping the plugs out next time it stops and seeig if they are quite wet. Have some clean dry ones at the ready, put them in and see if it`ll fire up again.

[E_T_V]

I can only presume this is your turbo.

Is it still running the auto choke mechanism? If it is then it is just possible that this is sticking in the on position and flooding the engine once it has warmed up. However you'd probably also notice a high idle speed too. When the engine cuts out see what colour the plugs are. If they are very white then this indicates a lean mixture, i.e. it had run out of fuel in the carb. If they are very black and possibly wet then this indicates overfueling which could be down to the auto-choke if fitted, carb setup, or even a leaking float valve in the carb.

It could well be a faulty crank sensor as these tend to fail as they warm up. To check this wait for the engine to cut out then remove the king lead (the long HT lead from the coil to the centre of the distributer) and leave it a short distance ( 5 mm) from something metal (e.g. the cam cover/cylinder block etc) then crank the engine. If there is no regular spark then it would point toward either a faulty coil or a faulty crank sensor. Both can be substituted from another car to test if this is the problem. Sometimes the sensors can just get coated in iron filings (as they are magnetic) and simply cleaning them of can soetimes do the trick. All the 1.6's and 2.0's use the same sensor. I think all the rover K series use the same sensor too if you want to get one frmo a scrap yard.

Another rather more peculiar problem could be if the vent to the fuel tank has got blocked/kinked etc. After a while a vacuum can develop in the tank giving the symptoms of running out of petrol. Simply Unscrewing the filler cap to release the vacuum pressure should allow the engine to re-start.

My money would be on the crank sensor (or the electrical connections to it) as being the most likley, but the others are worth checking too.

Let us know how it goes.

[adamdickson]

Yes this is on my Turbo, i have been down to the car this morning and started it and let it run until it cut out (about 25mins). you are right there is no spark at all after it's cut out!

[E_T_V]

Most likely cause is the crank sensor then. Get a new one or one from a scrap rover to swap it for. I think there are one or two 8mm bolts holding it in to the gearbox plate. Its fiddly to get at sometimes but easy enough to swap once you've got to the bolts.

[adamdickson]

ok i will try this then! i might have one lying around with all the spares i got with the car so i'll have to have a look. oh and by the way forgot to mention my car has got a manual choke conversin (just for the records). Anyway many thanks and i'll let you know the outcome in the nxt couple of days.

[E_T_V]

No problem, its what we're here for.

Most turbos do have a manual conversion it seems - even mine has got one.

If you are routing around int he spares look for a a bright blue plug, at least I think they are a bright blue plug. If you've got boxes and boxes of spares it'll make it easier to spot :D

I think they are about £30 from a motorfactor I seem to remember if you can't find one.

[B18 GPC]

check the oil in the "dash pot" while your there ;)