Random Stalling

[cactus]

Howdy

I have a very peculiar issue with my car at the moment.

On Christmas day, I was driving home and coming up a large Hill when suddenly my car stopped accelerating and slowly came to a halt. I thought possibly I was low/ran out of fuel, so luckily it rolled into a fuel station. I slapped $20 in, started her up and away I went for about 500m when the same thing happened again. That is, the car is accelerating and driving normally, then all of a sudden all engine power instantly disappears and the car comes to a stop (dash lights/stereo etc. continue to function as normal). After about ten minutes of trying to start/letting it sit, she started up again and I managed to get her home.

Thinking it was something electrical, I went over the entire wiring loom and came across a couple of minor things that seemed unlikely to be the cause, but I gave it a go. I took her out again and she was fine. Couple of weeks later I did a track day. Car took a beating and handled it like a Queen all day (a hot day too). Coming home, and this time up a different but steep hill, the exact same thing happened again. I let her cool down for about 30 minutes (as she refused to start) and once cool she fired up and I got home.

Have barely driven the car since, but these are the symptons:

- car loses all engine power instantly
- seems to happen after a long drive when car is warm
- only seems to happen when coming up hills
- does not appear to be electrical

It is tough to replicate the failure as it only seems to happen coming up hills. However, the couple of times I have got it to re-occur, I have checked lift and fuel pump and watched fuel pressure gauge. My old man believes it is possibly the fuel pump (current 044 is quite noisy), but as I said, difficult to diagnose as it happens so randomly.

Fuel set up is pretty simple: tank > filter > lift pump > swirl pot > 044.

I have replaced the lift pump and checked the pick-up, but all appear OK. It has done it one more time after a long cruise, whilst driving along the freeway (and not up a hill) and on a relatively cool day. Fortunately though it came back to life after about three seconds and I made it all the way home.

Some people have suggested ECU connection, CAS and fuel pump. Any thoughts are appreciated. Cheers.

[thelewis]

I had a similar problem. I visited an auto electrician which found a loose ignition switch and a bad earth. My car has run perfectly ever since!

[Badgaz]

i had this problem in my old VL commy....turned out to be the AFM....next time it happens and doesn't start try starting the car without the afm connected.

[AngryRB]

You say it mostly happens on hills so I am thinking its something with the fuel system, maybe the pump is not installed/plumbed up properly and starts sucking up air or dropping pressure.

Is this in an R33, cause I don't think 044's are a direct fitment meaning it may have not been done properly.

Edited July 23, 2014 by AngryRB

[hypergear]

I had similar issues two cars I imported almost 10 years ago. One was due to clutch fan issues, the car basically overheats and shut. Its a common Nissan problem which the Water temp gauge rise no higher then halfway point, so the driver could not be notified in the event of over heating.

Other car with similar issue was due to an lose timing belt, probably skipped few tooth or what not, the issues was resolved after a new belt was installed.

[moobaque]

Im having almost exactly the same issue. My problems started after the car sat idle for a few months while I was overseas.

At first it seemed like it would only occur when running up a hill, but not every hill, just say one in every 50 for example, but it seems like the problem has evolved as it now occurs on any or no incline. This also happens randomly at any speed, and/or anywhere in the rev range.

In the same way as cactus stated, when the car runs, it drives like a dream. But the cutting of power is completely random. Its pretty safe to say that the car will work fine for at least 10 minutes at the start of the day, but anywhere from 10-30mins of driving, at some stage the power will cut. It may just be for a second or two and then continue on, or like what happened on the freeway the other day. Driving at 100, power cut, never came back, rolled to the emergency lane.

Sometimes you can restart the car immediately and continue on your merry way, but what is happening more often now is you have to sit for a few minutes before it will restart. I have a power fc with hand controller, and there is nothing crazing going on when I watch the voltage readings from the AFM. There also no coughing or hesitation of the engine, so its not like the fuel pressure is simply dropping, its almost like the ignition gets cut. My water temp is sitting at around 70º normally, but its not like its spiking at the points of stalling.

The car has had its coilpacks replaced, new spark plugs, cleaned all ignition loom connections, AFM sensor and connector cleaned, fuel filter replaced and a new air filter for good measure. All of which has made zero difference. The car is running the standard fuel pump, but I do have a spare 040 kicking around that I will swap when I get the chance, but like I said it before the power loss is to instantaneous, seeming more like its on the electrical side of things.

I'm really hoping someone can shed some light on this as its becoming quite an inconvenience.

Cheers

[nicksamaniac]

Ive had similar issue with an rb30et

It started as a random miss every few drives, usually happened when hot/in traffic.

I assumed it was a failing coil, due to hot conditions etc.

But after a coil change and no fix!

It then evolved into a random engine stopping like yours, it would be 100% good then just like it was turned off, come to a stop, wait a few mins then all ok again, no fault codes either.

Then one day it just failed to start, followed by cas fault code.

Replaced the cas, never faulted again.

[cactus]

Replaced the CAS and still not luck Must be ECU related.

[moobaque]

So it seems like my issue has been solved by replacing the AFM! Its only been a few days, but not a single hesitation or stall since. The throttle is also noticeably more responsive at low Rpm.

[Dasmbo]

Hi had a similar problem with my rb30 powered vk commodore like you I replaced the afm and it fixed it for about 6 months and it happened again so I tried a afm from my mate and away it went perfect until I changed it back I fornd I had to restrict the return fuel line to the tank and it ran perfectly again I ended up fitting a tomei external fuel regulator to the vehical witht the same afm and that was about 5 years ago and never had a problem since and im still using the same afm.