Running - now starting problems

Hi everyone, hope you can help me track down this issue........

Story starts, Thursday done a long 300 mile round trip and car drove faultlesly, even sailed through another years MOT with no advisories.......

Car was moved only a shoert distance on the Friday but started first time and ran perfeclty as normal.

Sunday, decided to do a coolant change and car ran up to temp fine, heat through all the correct places and no issues that popped up.....

Monday (yesterday) Started car without any problems and drove just under a mile when car just cut out! lights on dash same as if I was starting it...... no missfires, hesitations or anything, just cut out.....

coasted as far as we could and tried to start again, car started but ran for a few seconds and stopped again. Tried starting a few times and either would start but stop within seconds or would not start at all.

Sat waiting for a mate to tow me back home and tried starting, fired straight up but only drove for 300metres and cut out again....... would not start....

Towed car back home and turned the key, fired straight up and ran with no problems.... took it for a run around the block (approx 1 mile) no problems at all.

Drove the car to a local garden centre 5 miles ish and as we pulled in to the car park it died again....... during this drive the engine light and the exclamation light flashed a could of times, litteraly on and off, no noticable driving problems during this time.

Towed car back home, just before we left on the tow, I started the car and it remained running all the way home!!

Had a look under the bonnet at numerous times and couldnt see anything noticably out of place.........

Tried a few times during yesterday afternoon and it would either run for a minute or two, or it would run for a second or two only........

Been out today having a good look over and today it won't start at all, it tries but only runs for a second or two then it cuts out........

It just stops, no spluttering or anything.........

I've done the paper clip trick and getting code 14.... Ignition signal apparantly?

I've ordered new coil packs and clips as it was on my list of jobs to do anyway and changed fuel filter as that was another job for this week anyway...........

any help greatly appreciated in tracking this issue down....

Cars a 1998 MKIV facelift VVT-i Auto, BPU

Check main engine earth strap, I believe it is Inlet manifold side under the engine. Could be loose....

Check main engine earth strap, I believe it is Inlet manifold side under the engine. Could be loose....

 

/QUOTE]

 

Cheers, will take a look at all the earthing points tomorrow.....

 

Update, may not even be related but took the Ecu out and there's an oil like residue on what I believe is the B1 plug in?

Never had this out before so not sure if it's always been there but the rest of the plug ins are dry?

Not sure if this shows a problem or not, don't fully understand how this has got this oil substance in the plug, especially as the rest of the Ecu is bone dry...... I'll maybe take it apart tomorrow and investigate more....

I had a similar problem with my supra and it turned out to be the positive wire from battery to fuse box was corroded.

Checked battery cables and earthing points, changed coil packs and still won't run.......

It fires up for a second or two but just dies out..... still getting code 14.....

Any more ideas or things to look for greatly appreciated....

Checked the vacuum hoses on/around the throttle body and inlet? I know if you pull the hose off the Map Sensor it will make the car cut out straight away.

Have a look at your alternator to see if it is working whilst the car is running with a meter across the battery terminals, doubt it is that but it takes 2 seconds to rule out.

I'm just trying to think about what would cause it to suddenly just cut out without any other symptoms happening just before it does i.e missing or running lumpy.

vvti's can give throttle issues, I'm trying to search for a thread where you can reset/calibrate the throttle body.

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?339649-ICV-stuck-Car-won-t-idle

this is how to reset throttle body:

Turn the key to the “ON” position but don’t turn over the car, put your foot completely down on the throttle “Gas” pedal for 30 seconds, you should hear a beeping/humming sound while the ETCS-i system resets, turn the ignition to “Off”. Now turn the car back over and re-test to see if you have any symptoms.

info from 2jzgarage.com

Cheers for the ideas guys......

Tried the throttle reset, no change at all...

Looked at all the hoses across the car and can see nothing unto wards.... weirdly my father mentioned alternator, its a job to tell because it does t run for long enough...

I've pulled the return of the fuel rail and turned it over and fuel is coming out so guessing that rules out fuel? Would imagine rough running with injector fault, can't see them all going wrong...

Got a new igniter coming so will try that when it arrives.....

Weird how it's happened not long after changing coolant and top and bottom rad hoses....? Although it may have done the same without me doing those bits, it ran up fine whilst I burped the air out?

Would bad alternator stop it from firing up even with healthy battery?

No the car will still fire up as it's using the battery to start, just whilst the car is running the alternator is keeping the battery topped up and running the other electrical loads.

If you just stick a meter across the pos and neg whilst the car is running you should be getting around 14.2-14.4v.

Can't check it unfortunately...... car doesnt run for long enough.

can test the battery whilst cranking and it drops off as you'd expect but car stops before any feed back from alternator..........

It must have fuel and spark to begin with because it fires and runs for a second or two but something is shutting things off.....

Its not started over a second or two at all today, so my thinking it was a hot issue has gone out the window.....

I'd remove the aux/fan belt and try it, just to check it still dies straight away.....obviously don't leave for long if it does run normally

check all your earthing points i had this problem code 14 and i removed the coil cleaned underneath where it bolts to the body ,same with ignitor and the bunch of wires by the o\s headlamp attached to the body/wing not had a problem since.

other than that pull your ecu and check the board

Will re-check all the earthing points are good, this time will remove clean and refit to make doubly sure....

Took the ecu out this afternoon and opened it up, not sure why there was oily residue in one of the connectors yesterday, as the internals of the ecu were bone dry and the board looked good on both sides, nothing discoloured or that visually looked to be at fault.

Going to check spark plugs tomorrow, see how strong the spark is and give them a clean..... either something's getting worse or the continued trying to turn over is having an effect because as of late this afternoon it's now just turning over and not firing at all?

Going to try +B/FP with paper clip to check fuel again..... yep now double checking stuff.....

It's really starting to annoy me now however, absolutely love the car and if I can't crack it myself, it will go to someone who can.... worst case or best case however you look at it maybe even a full build will be on the cards....

Cost so far...... coil packs, cool pack clips and igniter

Well, update on this issue...... don't like threads where you never know the outcome of an issue...

Yesterday the new coil pack clips came and replaced those, nice easy job for anyone thinking of doing it.

Took fuel pump out completely, i've never heard the fuel pump prime in all the time of owning the car, so its difficult to tell exactly whats happening...... had taken return from fuel rail and seen fuel on turn over so guessed it was ok but thought what the hell, good to see a nice good condition Walbro sitting in there and when connected to 12v feed, sounded very healthy..... put back in tank and definately cannot hear it prime even with ear to tank in boot........

Was reading up about the fuel ecu bypass last night and today this was where i was going to investigate more......... thankfully having coffee number three this morning whilst again checking the old interweb for ideas, the postie finally delivered my replacement igniter.......

Two screws and a clip change and fired straight up........... yay again, weird thing is that there was definately spark, so i'm guessing the failure is in the signal between igniter and ecu? i'm no specialist and so this is just my thoughts on what problem was........ I had spark, I had fuel and with air which all appeared ok, there was everything that was needed to run but it wouldn't....!

So there you have it, if you have the same type of issue, after trying the other things suggested within the thread, give the igniter a go............

Many thanks to all those who made suggestions, its a massive help knowing theres help about when your pulling your hair out..........

Now according to the telly, I can mend a skateboard, can mend a bike, can mend a car................... time to join the Navy...lol

There was probably no IGF signal from the old igniter back to the ECU. out of interest it would be nice to try the old igniter after cleaning all terminals, especially grounds.

This YouTube video shows the IGF feedback signals:

There was probably no IGF signal from the old igniter back to the ECU. out of interest it would be nice to try the old igniter after cleaning all terminals, especially grounds.

 

This YouTube video shows the IGF feedback signals:

 

Hi Chris, tried the old igniter having cleaned all the connectors and grounds.............. fault is back, switched back to the replacement and alls well again......

Ah well, at least you can be sure it *IS* a scrapper now.