$960 later the VS still breaksdown, whats left?

[pengoau]

G'day

I'm chasing a random problem where the engine will die, you could be driving or idling at the lights and the problem will happen. The problem doesn't happen all the time, the car can drive good from Brisbane to Gold Coast, but then constantly breakdown when driving down to the post office. Then if you do the same thing the next day it might do the exact opposite! When the problem occurs I will lose power steering and (power) brakes (ie they become "hard"). Also you won't always be able to instantly start up the engine, sometimes I have to wait awhile and then try again.

So far I've replaced the following and the problem persists:

Ignition Module
All coils
Spark Plugs
Fuel filter
Air filter
Oil filter
Fuel pump

What is there left to replace that could be the cause of this problem?

Should I replace the Crank Angle Sensor next? Would an ECU cause this problem?

Whenever I take it back to the mechanic he checks the computer as faults are being logged but he never says anything to me when I pick up the car. So i'm guessing by the time I give him the car the faults clear?

Looking at other threads it looks like the crank angle sensor would be the next thing to replace.

Cheers for any advice given.

[_R_J_K_]

Should I replace the Cam Angle Sensor next?

Crank Angle Sensor. Sounds like classic symptoms of the CAS.

You can also check error codes yourself using this page:
Checking error codes VR/VS (Revised)

[COMMY VP 666]

first sounded to me like ecu, and cas

try a different ecu. not sure about your mechanic, come dont have the scan tool but

id say try and get your hands on another ecu, and see how it goes, or if a error code comes up get someone who has the tool to get the code

[ephect]

Crank Angle Sensor. Sounds like classic symptoms of the CAS.

agreed!

how many kms on the clock?

[pedrotski]

my car is over 12k later and still breaks down.

[tt460]

The brakes becoming hard sounds like a classic sign of a vacuum leak, but might just be a affect of the car not providing vacuum due to the problem causing it to break down.

I suggest checking the codes and writing them down, check the how to section for the info on how to and what they are, then clear them the info should be in the same thread. This will give us error codes that might still be in the history, pot them here.
and get rid of them. then after the problem happens again check the error codes write them down once again post them here.

then we can try and trouble shoot from the error codes

[pengoau]

hi, it was the CAS. thanks.

[2khamisj]

Yeah crank angle sensor, same thing happened to me

[ephect]

hi, it was the CAS. thanks.

cheers for updating us on the fix, hopefully this will help others too

[[p]wrr-247]

hope it helps me im going 2 buy 12 2 day car got the same problem
ill let yas no how it goes

[shiftySLE]

change the crank angle sensor, cam angle sensors are a different problem all together

[Croydon]

Hi folks. I have had this problem recurring on and off for quite a few years with my 95 VR wagon. Changing the CAS by the agents lasted for less than 50km before it stopped dead again. On my one, the problem is dodgy electrical connections in the loom (verdigris, etc) and poor earthing on the DFI module that the coils sit on. You can actually see the film of corrosion on the bottom of the modue. It is not envirmnomental, as the car lives well inland, and is garaged. Only abt 3,000 km / yr, though. Latest try fix is a marine electrical sealant (lanolin based). Fingers crossed.

I would recommend anyone with this problem to go through connections (particularly the loom joints behind the battery) and clean off the bottom of the DFI and the plate it mounts on.