engine cuts out and wont start again!!!

[davow]

Went through a bit of water the other night in the gt5 coupe, nothing too deep but a lot of water on the road and thought something might have got a bit damp, went out again later and she was driving fine then she just died on me and couldnt get her started again. left her for ten mins or so and she eventually started again then got her home. next morning she started fine, warmed her up then set off for work, got about 4 miles down the road and then she just died again! no splutter or missing or anything, just no power dash lights comne on and i grind to a holt! took dizzy off and cleaned up rotor arm, no moisture or corrosion present, tried her a few times and she eventually started, got her to work and then popped her over to the local garage to see if there were any obvious signs.
went back in the afternoon and they tell me ive got no wipers, lights, or
electric windows, they think the problem with it stopping is the ignition leads (which they cant get hold of!) but dont know why ive now got no power to the fuse box! so i leave it with them for another day and finally get her back no better than when i dropped her off (in fact worse off as they gave me a bill!) I fitted new leads tonight and she seemed to be running fine then she cut out! Im thinking its the coil??? any ideas please?:

[msh]

What's the engine - something with k-jet? Check fuel pump power connectors.
Dead or nearly dead ignition coil would be hot.

[c9eag]

hi mate, dont get excited as im not by any way, shape or form a mechanic lol. does she by any chance have an imobilisor? is she jst dying or coughing and spluttering first? reason i ask is i had a similar problem with my bike, going through france and belgium, of all places and after replacing pretty much all electrical components available, it turned out to be the imobiliser had decided it didnt want to play any more.

as for the fuse box, is there any power getting to it at all? f not then a definate broken wire somewhere i would think.

sorry i cant be of more help?

ps, when i got the imobiliser removed from the bike i was told that they only have pretty much a 6 to 7 year shelf life and that was a yamaha standard fit one

creag

[4v6]

Originally Posted by davow

Went through a bit of water the other night in the gt5 coupe, nothing too deep but a lot of water on the road and thought something might have got a bit damp, went out again later and she was driving fine then she just died on me and couldnt get her started again. left her for ten mins or so and she eventually started again then got her home. next morning she started fine, warmed her up then set off for work, got about 4 miles down the road and then she just died again! no splutter or missing or anything, just no power dash lights comne on and i grind to a holt! took dizzy off and cleaned up rotor arm, no moisture or corrosion present, tried her a few times and she eventually started, got her to work and then popped her over to the local garage to see if there were any obvious signs.
went back in the afternoon and they tell me ive got no wipers, lights, or
electric windows, they think the problem with it stopping is the ignition leads (which they cant get hold of!) but dont know why ive now got no power to the fuse box! so i leave it with them for another day and finally get her back no better than when i dropped her off (in fact worse off as they gave me a bill!) I fitted new leads tonight and she seemed to be running fine then she cut out! Im thinking its the coil??? any ideas please?:

What kind of garage cant get any lights, wipers or electric windows and then diagnoses ignition leads?
The rip off kind.

If theres "no power" at the fusebox, then id be looking at battery leads and earths to start with.
There may be a corroded earth cable thats creating this fault and the driving thru water could have initiated its further failures.

For the stopping problem, get yourself a hairdryer and start the engine as normal, and play the heat on the ignition amplifier ( its under the scuttle panel) and is a little oblong moulded package attached to an alloy heatsink.
Warm it up with the engine running and see if it suddenly stops after a few minutes.
Quite a common kind of fault with older Fords etc where the amp fails when warm but is ok again when cold.

Other than that, youre into looking at fuses and checking for wiring faults.
Also make sure the multiplugs at the back of the fuseboard arent loose or burned out, i had that twice on my old gt with a failure to run and with all the electrics bar the engine power circuits failing and that turned out to be the fusebox burned out.
Audi used to use an old printed circuit board type that was quite frankly- crap but replaced it later on with a sold brass buss bar item that never seems to die.

[davow]

thanks everyone, just want to point out that the garage didnt diagnose ignition leads as being the reason why i had no wipers lights etc, this was there fault and it happened when they were checking the fusebox, my guess is that they disturbed some thing in there causing the loss of power to the fuse box.
Its now back to how it was when i took it there so rather than paying them i decided to get and fit the leads myself. They did mention it could be the ignition amplifier could be the problem but it was gonna cost me 60 quid for a new one to find out.
I put the leads on last night and she fired up fine (she did seem to run better with the new leads), then after a few minutes cut out.
Tried to start her again but she would not go, the battery by this time read under 12v so this morning Ive put here on charge.
Im gonna check the ignition amplifier and coil next and also the earthing strips do look a bit iffy!
Im sure its only something simple as It has been well looked after and she drove fine on the 200mile trip when I picked her up a couple of weeks ago.
oh.... its an early 1921 5cylinder carb engine
There is no alarm or imobilizer fitted and no fuel injection to wory about.
Im sure its electrical,it doesnt judder or cough and splutter before dying, just dies with no warning.
Had a similar problem with an old golf many years ago, that turned out to be the coil breaking down.
Anyone know where I can get new earthing strips from? and how many there are? I presume i can get hold of the main battery earth easy enough but not sure about the thin braded one/ones??
Anyway thanks again everyone I'll try the above and let you know how i get on

[steveb]

Fuel pump relay or connector under the rear seat to the fuel pump green wire on it own usualy or even the connectors on the pumpitself

Loss of wipers etc can be caused by the ignition switch

[msh]

Check ignition coil and ignition amplifier how hot they become when engine is running. If u want test by swapping something - isn't anybody who can help u? That primitive ignition must be the same as on 1.6/1.8 carbs and 2.0/2.2 10v k-jet engines from B2, B3, C3.

[4v6]

Hall sender ignition system, only thing simpler is contact breakers!

The fact that yours is a 1921 wn code car suggests again to me the fusebox as they were pretty poo on 82 models.
Similar if not the same as mk1 golfs.

They used to suffer burnouts on the multiplug connectors on the rear, only way to be sure is to have a look see.

[mikes2]

sounds like it may be the relief relay in position 5

[Micky]

Originally Posted by 4v6

Hall sender ignition system, only thing simpler is contact breakers!

The fact that yours is a 1921 wn code car suggests again to me the fusebox as they were pretty poo on 82 models.
Similar if not the same as mk1 golfs.

They used to suffer burnouts on the multiplug connectors on the rear, only way to be sure is to have a look see.

Sounds exactly like mine did. I would start with the fuse box .its a very common problem with those early coupes. If it starts only when you rev it and conks out it’s the carburettor needle valve fell out .also a common problem .