Help!?! Dies At Idle!?!

[Castagere]

Hope someone can help with this:

I'm a 13 yr MR2 owner just rolled 244K on my baby (rebuilt block and head).

I almost NEVER have a prob and when I do it's minor.

But this one has me stumped...

Car has run beautifully for a long time - no misfires, bad idle, hesitation - nothing wrong.

Drove it to dinner last night and when I went to leave I went out and it started right up.

Warmed up for about 10 mins while I talked to friends.

Just as get in and I go to put it in gear and leave - it dies.

Flatline.

Cranks but will not even fire once.

So I'm thinking - coil is shot, ignition relay shot, ...something electrical...

I have it towed back to the house (let's hear it for Alstate Motor Club!!). By the time we get back to the house, unhook it, and such (way over an hour later) I get this stupid idea to try it again...

IT STARTED RIGHT UP!!

Intermittent electical.... joy.....

I left it for the night and tried it this morning.

Sure enough... it idled for about 8-10 min just fine (high idle warm up) then once it started getting to temp... it died.

Does this ring any bells with anyone??

I really don't have the time to troubleshoot every circuit right now...

If anyone can help - I'd be grateful as hell!!

~Robert

castagere@aol.com

[System~G]

I had a very similar problem with an old :!Removed!: Escort :!Removed!: of mine. It turned out to be a build-up of rust where the earth coming off the alternator connects to the chassis. I thought it wierd until I removed the rust deposits and cleaned up the area with sandpaper, reconnected the earth and problem solved.

Also coolant possibly? It should be the "For Life" supplied by MrT.

[MattMR2Turbo]

Was it a wet night?

My car was doing this. I park it outside and when it rained the engine cover is obviously drenched. I'd get in and it would start fine. I'd get about 3 miles up the road and then it would just lose power and die.... wouldn't even fire when stopped.

It turns out that my HT leads were getting wet. Only the one from the coil to the distributer (below the air vent on the engine cover <_< ). I took it off, dried it and sprayed it with damp start and it ran fine from then on. Same problem would reccur every time it rained.

So I got a new set of Magnecors from Fensport and it turned out that the other Magnecors that were on it were the wrong connection type. My distributer etc are the type with clips for the connections and the leads that were on it were just push on ones, hence the water getting in.

I bet that that's your problem. If it happens again, take the HT lead off I'm talking about and dry it/spray with dampstart and I bet it works

Matt

[pizza boy]

Aha same thing happened to me also last week. Car bucked and died then started up fine later. It HT leads also same prob as Mattmr2Turbo...my leads were push ons when they shoulda been clip ons.

Matt can you tell me if Magnecor should supply the clip parts because i have the leads in but no clips..only the king lead has the clip bit on it...buggers! and i think they are shut too been fonin em all day.

Also check the rotor arm cos min was eaten along with the dizzycap.

(btw mattmr2turbo are you the dude from Roguesystems I spoke to for the leads when this happened to me last week up scotland? :) )

[ZeroBlade]

the fella from rogue is known as mattmr2 on these forums, tubby's a diff bloke :)

And castargere: i had to re-read the opening line of ur post a few times, i thawt u sed u were a 13yr old (as in YOUR age) mr2 owner, i was thinking to myself wtf!?

lol

What r ur temps like? do they read high b4 cut out, also r the sensors in the correct place after the rebuild etc? defo not meaning to sound patronising m8, just tryin to help out.

-Z

[MattMR2Turbo]

Nah that must have been someone else :D

My old 8.5mm magnecors were like the one's you've got. They've only got clips on the dizzy lead right?

I just got some 5mm Magnecors from Fensport and they've got the same clips on every lead. TBH if you're buying new leads, save money and get the 5mm's because you will only notice a difference in your wallet.

Matt

[Castagere]

LOL...

No, I'M not 13... I've had the CAR for 13 yrs....

Rebuild was many years ago.

(Side word of advice - clean out thoroughly between the cams around the plugs BEFORE you pull plugs. I checked my plugs one day, went for a drive, 2 miles later the #4 piston collapsed (we're talking pieces and chunks). Machine shop said likely something got into the rings and bound up the piston.)

I've put 140K on the rebuild. This is obviously (or not so obvious) a temp problem. No, it never gets hot, just at normal running temp. My thought is it might have something to do with the cold idle-up relay/circuit. When it returns it to 'warm' it's just shutting down.... i dunno....

i'm stumped.

....and I hate being stumped!! :ffs:

~Castagere

[ZeroBlade]

lol yeh i figured out u were on about owning the car after i re-read, & re-read ur post, heh.

hrm it does kinda sound electrical... tbh i cant really help u there, sorry m8 :(

-Z

[pizza boy]

TBH if you're buying new leads, save money and get the 5mm's because you will only notice a difference in your wallet.

Too late I have em..besides they look pretty cool. Big phat red leads. Btw I DIDNT get fkin clips with them can you beleive it. Really annoying. Gonna have to wait for em to come in now.