Power Cutting In & Out

[r33skylinegtst]

I was driving home yesterday and all of a sudden the car stopped accelerating, then it would kick in again and drop out... Best thing i can relate it to is when you're almost out of petrol, only it was worse than that. Like when you drop the clutch taking off and it bunny hops up the road.

It wasn't happening at any particular revs, and it was happening both on and off boost. It got so bad that i had to pull over. I turned the engine off and after about 5 minutes i started driving again and it drove fine for around 2 minutes, then it started again. Had to keep stopping and starting the whole way home.

Not sure what the issue is, its got over half a tank of fuel and it's been fine up until now, and i haven't made any recent changes to the car.

It's a Series 2 R33, power FC, running about 13psi. I've done some searching and people with similar problems have mentioned the coilpacks being an issue, mine are still the stock units so could this be a possibility?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[CRoNic...]

Check spark plugs, coil packs, AFM's and then the alternator/battery?

My mates car had a issue where it was running like it was nearly out of petrol, everything was going weird... turned out the alternator was stuffed and wasn't powering the fuel injectors correctly.

[r33skylinegtst]

I have had issues lately with the headlights dimming when clutching on gear changes, and the battery went flat after not being driven for 3 days so i took it to an auto electrician but they said the alternator was fine and the battery wasn't charging properly (Oddysee dry cell, just over 18 months old). I havent replaced it yet but it's been doing that for about 1-2 months and besides the above two issues, it's been fine (and that will be replaced soon anyway). Could that be the issue? It seems weird that it would drive fine after turning off the engine for 5 minutes though if that was the case?

Thanks for the reply too mate.

Edited December 13, 2008 by r33skylinegtst

[jakez88]

its happening with my 32 aswell it doesn't happen all the time but its getting more frequent now. it'll cut out for like 1-2 seconds and then jump back on. don't think it would be my afm...can someone tell me how to check my spark plugs and coil packs as i'm a noob at this stuff lol?

[r33skylinegtst]

Jake, I found these tutorials on removing and repairing coil packs, i'm going to try this out when i have some time maybe you'll find them helpful too, seems they apply to the Series 2 RB25, but it may still be similar?

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/RB...ark-t42819.html

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Fi...em-t119403.html

Edited December 14, 2008 by r33skylinegtst

[Jay B]

Having the same problems as u guys have been now for 3 months i have treid various things AFM, Battery, Alternator, Ecu... i actually think its more the AFM and wiring and ecu as i recently deiscovered AFM wiring breaks and when the car has been driven for a while it start to play about so thinking ECU if u guys ever get stuck anywhere just do what i do un plug the air flow meter will run on safe mode which means ur car will not rev over 2500RPM but it will go fine and wont jump around on u unless u go over 2200 to 2500rpm dont get alarmed if ur car cuts out when u first unplug the AFM or pulse's when ur AFM is un plugged its just the engine running on safe mode

Edited December 15, 2008 by Jay B

[r33skylinegtst]

Not sure that my problem lies with the wiring, i've checked as much of it as i can get to and it looks to be fine. I'm thinking it's spark plug/coil pack related. I've removed the coils and have a set of splitfires in the mail from Sliding Performance, plus replacing the spark plugs with NGK PFR6G's, which are pre-gapped at 0.8mm. Will install them once the coils arrive and let you know if this solved my problem.

[Bliksem]

I had this once when running my old setup, it was very annoying as the car would cut out quite violently, a few times it did it I had to crank the car for a few minutes before it would start. Since you have a PFC I'd do an ETC > SENSOR SW CHECK to start with and then follow up with pulling the airflow meter off and cleaning it. In my case I had a dirty air flow meter, but it didnt register as a problem after doing an ECU diagnostic... Regardless the problem didnt come back.

[r33skylinegtst]

Thanks for the info mate, i pulled the AFM off this afternoon and i'll be cleaning it out tomorrow then seeing if that fixes my problem. New spark plugs and splitfires have just gone in as well.

[jakez88]

ey man changed over my fuel filter and it was full of a rust substance...changed it over with a new ryco one and its all good now. if that doesn't fix it try the afm and spark section.

[r33skylinegtst]

Yep, bolted it all back together last night and took it for a drive this morning, the issue seems to have cleared and maybe it's just me, but feels like it's running much smoother (but that could just be because i've been driving a sluggish '85 Patrol all week)

Thanks to the above posters who gave me their input, much appreciated!