Why oh why won't my car go.......

[ferret]

For some reason the Pajero has died on me, a couple of months ago it did this strange little trick. I was driving through the bush, basically idling along in first gear, and I heard what sounds like a relay click on and off in the passenger side of the car, adn as it did this the engine cut out for a second and then went again. It did it maybe half a dozen times and then never again until this afternoon. I started it after work this afternoon, and after about 30 seconds I heard the relay click and it stopped, switched the ignition off, and it started again and then clicked and stopped immediately. Switched the ignition switch on and off a couple of times, and it fired and ran fine, left it running for a couple of minutes, no probs, so I backed it out, drove about 20m to a give way sign and it stops again. Switched it off and back on again, and away it goes, waiting at the lights about 2 mins later, same hing, but it doesn't want to start this time (very conveniently while I'm in the right lane, facing up a hill in a really busy intersection). I left if switched off for about a mintute, hit the key and away it goes again, got about 5 mins further up the road, and it died again (with somewhere to pull over this time), and it hasn't started since. Previous to this, it hasn't missed a beat. I've had the distributer cap off, and given it and the rotor bit of a clean up, there's no visible signs that the coil is crook (no discolouration in the resin, or cracks in it), rotor turns etc. But it has no spark at all, I havn't tested the coil properly yet, but I don't think it's the problem anyway. Does anyone have any ideas on his one? I have a sneaking suspicion that it could be the crank angle sensor, but I don't really want to think about that possibility just yet, am I missing anything alse here? Has anyone else had this happen to them?

[-Scott-]

I have a sneaking suspicion that it could be the crank angle sensor

I have a similar suspicion.

Don't fight it! Try a wrecker?

Scott

[ferret]

It's not buying one that scares me, it's the fact that it means I'm actually going to have to work on it.......

[NCpaj]

wat kind of paj do you have.

i had something like that, the car would go then 'hiccup', turns out the moisture in the air from the mornings was getting into the spark leads(old and not sealed well) and the car was missing,new leads solved that.

you could get new leads and see if it solves it cause leads arent that expensive.($20)

[ferret]

Spoke to the sparky this morning and he reckons that there is a 9/10 chance that it will be the ECU, apparently V6 Pajeros are fairly notorious for it.

[Hekta]

Spoke to the sparky this morning and he reckons that there is a 9/10 chance that it will be the ECU, apparently V6 Pajeros are fairly notorious for it.

My ECU died on the highway one morning on the way to work. It just conked out and didn't go again

[BALDYJOE327]

does your car have a alarm installed it could be that . i dont think its the computer if it was it would not restart after the first time it stalled.

[ferret]

No alarm, not much of anything in it actually, it's an NH shorty soft top. Wind up windows, manual mirrors, vinyl floors etc. Found a wrecker that does ECU's for $125 with 3 months warranty, so I'm off to pick one up in the morning. I told the sparky exactly what it had done and he's fairly sure that it will be the ecu, if not it will be somewhere in the dizzy. When I get home tonight I am going to check the output from the dizzy and the input to the coil just to confirm it before I run out and spend some cash.

[hudson44]

It does sound like the ECU. They drop power to the control relay(which will be the clicking noise) and therefore stop the car. The control relay powers up the fuel pump and ignition side of things. $125... thats a good price man jump on it!

[RokToy4x4]

$125 is a great price, i paid heaps more for mine, def sounds like ecu problem, very common now these cars are getting older

[Bitsamissin]

For sure there's only three things really that will cut the spark and thats :-
- ECU
- crank angle sensor
- coil
My $$ are on the ECU or crank angle sensor.
The cheapest I can get an ECU is $250 so thats a really good price.

[ferret]

Went to grab an ECU this morning and it turns out that the guy I spoke to on the phone was full of it.
Problem no 1 - "Yeh mate, if I've got one it'll be $250 - $300", "But I was quoted $125 yesteday when I called", "Yeh right, not a chance!"
Problem no 2 - "Nup, haven't got one. Good luck trying to find one too...."
So I say thanks for nothing to the crusty old wanker at a certain wrecking yard in Salisbury, Brisbane.

To make matters worse I spent the afternoon working on my other car so I could take it to a test & tune meet at Willowbank Raceway, and proceeded to break the passenger side axle on the first run. Bugger......

[nh_pajero]

try this place out have got alot of pajeros http://www.gc4wd.com.au/default.asp

[ferret]

All good and going again now, picked up an ecu this morning and it fired up no problems. Ended up costing me $250, but since it's the daily and I was stupid enough to break the only other car that we have going at the moment, I'm happy. Just have to fix the thermo fan in the MX5 and find a diff for the Gazelle and I'll be right now.....

[J Top]

Is that Singer or Nissan Gazelle

[ferret]

Nissan, otherwise known as the bottomless money pit to my wife.

Drove the Pajero to the shops this afternoon (first test drive since I got the ecu) and it has developed a couple of mysterious habits.
1. All of a sudden it has a huge dose of noisy lifter disease, rattles really badly on startup, and a couple of them don't go away. It hasen't had a problem with lifter noise since I bought it.
2. The overtemp light for the cat convertor on the dash won't go out?!?!?
3. When coming up to the lights or slowing to turn into a driveway with the clutch in, the revs either drop really low (below 500rpm), or it stalls.

Anyone have any ideas? I think the stalling and cat light are probably related to the fact that the ecu has a different part number. The lifter rattle has me really stumped though.

[hudson44]

1. All of a sudden it has a huge dose of noisy lifter disease, rattles really badly on startup, and a couple of them don't go away. It hasen't had a problem with lifter noise since I bought it.
2. The overtemp light for the cat convertor on the dash won't go out?!?!?
3. When coming up to the lights or slowing to turn into a driveway with the clutch in, the revs either drop really low (below 500rpm), or it stalls.

#1. Probably because the car has been sitting for a while the lifters have drained of all oil and become noisy. Hopefully after a few runs they will sort themselves out.
#2. Can't really help you out there. Might be a manual ECU... not sure if the auto shift patterns are incorporated in the engine ECU or not.
#3. Normally after the ECU loses power (like disconnecting the battery or in this case, new ECU) You need to re-set the idle. I'm not entirely sure of the process but it involves bridging some pins in the diagnostic connector and adjusting the idle screw on the throttle body. Maybe give the throttle body a clean and wind the idle air bypass screw out a little to bump up the idle.

Hope this helps
Gabe

[-Scott-]

3. When coming up to the lights or slowing to turn into a driveway with the clutch in, the revs either drop really low (below 500rpm), or it stalls.

I recently had exactly this problem, stalled when cold, would drop low but recover when warm.

I pulled the Idle Control Stepper and found it's orifice was choked with oil and dust, as was the throttle body - air filters!

Disassembled the stepper and sprayed with carby cleaner, did similar to the throttle body and stepper orifice - lots of nasty crap flowed out.

Been fine since.

Hint: if you pull your ISC, FIRST THING you should do is carefully wind the tip IN as far as it will go (RH screw thread) and count the steps! Just before you put the ISC back in, wind the tip all the way in, then count the same number of steps back out. If you move it too far one way or the other the ECU may not be able to regulate idle speed properly.

Good luck,

Scott

[ferret]

The lifter thing seems strange because it's only been sitting for 3 days, not really that long, and normally if they are going to rattle like this thing has been, there will be some evidence of noisy lifters in the first place. Juat have to see how it goes after a couple of days. It's due for a service anyway,so I might run some oil flush through it before I drop the oil.

Never had a problem with the idle before I changed the ecu, in fact it used to idle a bit fast. Maybe it is the stepper motor and having the battery disconnected and a different ecu has made it move right back in and it's now stuck there, bugger, this means I'm going to have to work on it again doesn't it.......

[Locknut]

would there be a real difference from a auto to a manuel ecu?