Citroen Saxo (1997 - 2003) - 99 1.6 Engine suddenly dies while travelling along

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Mon 8 Dec 2008 21:02
99 1.6 Engine suddenly dies while travelling along - Ken B
My Citroen Saxo VTR starts immediately and drive well for some miles - 4/5 - then suddenly the engines dies as if the ignition had been turned off. After a few minutes it can sometimes be restarted and performs as well as ever. I've had AA assistance but they could not diagnose thye problem suggesting it was fuel linked. My garage have checked every circuit etc. using their diagnostic computer and failed to find a fault. The ECU has been checked and found OX. All manner of suggestions have been proposed but their attitude seem to be ' lets replace this' (ie throttle housing' or crankcase sender), and then see if this will solve the problem.

Can anyone diagnose the problem without having to stumble along a trial and error approach?

Ken

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 09/12/2008 at 10:13

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Tue 9 Dec 2008 06:53
1999 1.6 Engine suddenly dies whilst travelling al - Andrew Moorey (Tune-Up)
Can anyone diagnose the problem without having to stumble along a trial and error approach?




Only if you can get the fault to manifest itself while you have the tech there with all the kit hooked up. An intermittent fault like this can be difficult to diagnose and most clients are unwilling to pay for me to drive round in their cars for hours on end waiting for it to happen.
My feeling is the crank sensor may be going open circuit when hot but should leave a fault code on the ECU.
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Tue 9 Dec 2008 08:45
1999 1.6 Engine suddenly dies whilst travelling al - Ken B
Andrew

Many thanks for your interest. I'd like to use your diagnostic services but as I live on the Wirral I don't think that's practical.

The garage say they has substituted a crankcase sensor to no apparent avail, The recommendations are that I replace the throttle body - being a carburettor bloke, I don't know what goes on within a throttle body. Is this just guesswork by the garage or due you think it may be pertinent.

Your thoughts would be welcome

Ken
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Tue 9 Dec 2008 12:07
99 1.6 Engine suddenly dies while travelling along - Javalin
Ken,

A couple of questions to narrow the fault:
1) Does it fault consistantly - i.e. every time you drive 5 miles?
2) Does it matter if the engine is hot or cold?
3) Is there any pre-warning - i.e. lumpy idle or ...?
4) Does it die whilst driving or at roundabouts etc?

Surely if its consistant (1) then you can take the garage engineer, complete with a laptop to log whats happening and see the fault. Also if it's constent and you can get it to fail static - i.e. on the drive, then the garage can hookup the o'scope to the sensors and see what happens when it fails?

Cheers,

James
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Tue 9 Dec 2008 12:30
99 1.6 Engine suddenly dies while travelling along - jc2
Do warning lights come on? what happens to the instrument panel/guages?
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