Car just stops and after 10 min starts again

[shillanda]

Hi I have a holden commodore vn 1990 automatic.....
My prob is that the car starts great and runs well till it just stops after about 15 minutes, but all the lights, ignition still work.....then when i try and start it straight away it tries to, but wont....so I leave it for about 10 minutes and then it starts again and then drives great till it stops again .. I have replaced the fuel filter and that hasnt help... I am at my wits end because HOLDEN want nearly $100 bucks and hour to do a dynamo test to check it and i cant afford it... so any ideas please on what it could be,,, The car hasnt had a tune up in 3 years also......Thanks Shillanda ..

[Garth]

crank angle sensor

nextt ime this happens, and it wont start, poor heaps of water over the harmonic ballancer (that is the biggest pully at the front of hte motor, right down the bottom)

you wanna poor some water over the back of that pully, between it and the motor, there is a crank angle sensor there, if that is failing or has failed it wont alow the car to start unless it's (cooled down) dont realy cool down, just neds time to sit there and t hink about things,

all i can say if thats the issue, you can pick them up pretty cheap, depnding on series, they are under the $100 mark, and if it's a series1 you wont need a pully remover, but a series2 you will,

cheers
garth

[shillanda]

hi would an electrician know about the angle sensor;;;;
Thanks Shillanda

[AussieHolden]

There is also one other that causes the same issue that I have experinced in my VR and that is under your coil pack there is like a circut board on a plate with electrical grease and when the grease dry's out it causes the same thing to cut the engine off and not start again till it has cooled down a little. Not cheap to replace.

[DioXidE]

i had the same problem - if its not the cas its the fuel pump...

works fine for 10 mins and then u only have 1/4 throttle - any more and it will stall...

[mwethereld]

I know this probalbly isnt the issue, but me and some mates went through the whole, shove ping pong balls in each others tanks,,,, just a thought,

[Rhino Racing]

Just had a similar prob with one of my cars..... .. I had bought a vn wagon that i was using the engine/box/wiring harness computer etc to get my speedway car running....
The donor car would start and run fine, drive fine, rev hard and like you said 10 - 15 minutes later it would just stop...... did a lot of looking and finally found out that it was the oil pressure switch! ( Yes i know that this does not sound plausable) But the Fuel pump is run through its own relay etc on start up, but after that it runs power through the oil pressure switch so you dont burn the realy etc out from constant operation. I had no idea it was set up like this until then.We changed the switch and it runs sweet as now.
I hope your issue is as simple as mine.... but just keep in mind we might have similar symptoms and differnt causes.I also expect that i am gonna cop a floggin from all of those that dont agree with me that this is possible, but all i can say is take a look at the schematics and you will work it out, it is possible!
Good luck mate.

[mouce]

^^^Actually the fuel pump only draws power through the oil pressure switch if the main power supply line is dodgy. It's there as a fail-safe device. If it's drawing power though there all the time, you've got a problem somewhere else. And you wouldn't burn out the relay from running the pump on it all the time. A 30A relay will run it quite happily.

[shillanda]

Thanks to all the people who have gave me responses on my problemo lol anyways I took the car to the Electricion and he did a test on it for me , i think he called it a Dynamo test, which test the computer system in the car..he found that its the CRANK ANGLE SENSOR is failing, which he only charged me $30 for 1 1/2 hours checking the car and cleaning all my plugs etc.."which was a bargain" as HOLDEN wanted $90.75 an hour which is a rip off lol. Its going to cost me now $100 for a genuine part from holden and $70 labor which is great that i can afford that...Just telling u all this that if it happens to you, go see an electricion before going to Holden, there prices are outrageous .....on dynamo tests
Thanks to Garth and all the responses I have recieved
Shillanda

[VNDAVN]

Garth is right they do get hot and the engine just stalls.....it has happened to me a few times....so had a bottle of water in the boots..pured some water over the crank sensor....waited about a minute then it starts str8 away. I got my Crank sensor from Bursons for around $50. Thats fairly cheap...repco price was $72. So try that.

[defa]

i would never goto a holden dealer anyway.. they employ lots of young people to do jobs they don't know how to and stuff things up all the time, aswell as taking your car out for a flogging too.. and yet they have the nerve to charge that amount of money per hour..well that is what happens around here anyway..
if ya can't do stuff yourself, best bet is find a good mechanic and auto elec. will save you a shitload...

[ProMaX]

yup pretty much wat all those gys said...
i had that exact problem broke down and wouldn't start up again til 10 mins later.. i figured it was either fuel pump or Crank Angle Sensor.... CRANK ANGLE SENSOR IT WAS>.. so get that checked first worth the money mine was $175 and hasn't missed a beat since

[shillanda]

LOL I got the car check by an electricion the other day and he put it throught the test for the computer which told us it was the crank angle sensor, anyways today I had it fixed(well i thought i did) They put in the new part which was brought for Holden and well it cost me $170 to do this.. After i picked up the car the mechanic said everything was great, so I went shopping and my car has stopped more then 7 times already within 8km's but starts practically straight away , maybe 1 minute to start...so I am of to the mechanic early morning now again to see whats wrong... I am so unhappy ,, WHAT COULD IT BE NOW.....
Shillanda

[premmy186]

did i hear sumone say rebuild :P bore it stroke it n throw a blower on it while your fixing the problem.

[shillanda]

Ok Guys, The car is working great now lol Took it back to the Mechanic and he was not sure what was wrong as he only did the crank because the Electricion said it was that, So he rang him up and the electricion told me to bring it straight over, he found that the plug that comes from the sensor to the Coil pack was very loose, so he tightened all the things up and WALAH the car is moving fine now lol the mechanic was relieved and so was the Electricion lol and so was i, now all i need to do in the future is to tune my car as it hasnt had a tune for 3 years.....SO again I say thanks to all ya men and ladies out there that have helped me through my Crisis
Cya for now and fingers crossed lol
Shillanda