Random Engine Shutdown

[PeterVX2]

I have a VX II Equipe Auto with 247,000 Klm on it as a second car. It has been a very reliable car up to now.

While driving a long normally, the motor just cut out. Instant heavy steering and poor and dangerous breaking.

It starts again when the gear selector is in N or Park

This has happened twice in a week.

I suspect an errant signal from the gearbox telling the engine management that it has just been put into reverse !

A faulty engine management module ?

Has any forum member had this problem ?

Happy to hear any informed comments.



Regards All

 

[Vt v6]

Could be faulty fuel regulator, crank angle sensor or dfi, dfi when old when it gets hot will shut vehical down I think ur trans is ok a trans wouldnt shut the engine down...? thats where id be starting..

 

[BlackVXGTS]

..................It starts again when the gear selector is in N or Park................l

Possibly a faulty inhibitor switch (the switch that stops you starting the car in any gear other than "P" or "N").

 

[lout]

i would suspect faulty ignition switch
or ecu relay
an auto will only start in neutral or park, but as mentioned should not cause engine to stall

 

[oska]

If you haven't replaced the CAS it will probably be the problem with random stalls

 

[lout]

cas usually wont restart until engine cools

 

[NeddyBear]

The only time ours ever cut out was when the engine got warm and she shut down as a safety precaution.

 

[lowandslow]

Went through this with our VY. Driving along and it would stall. No real rhyme or reason to it. The list of parts i renewed or changed was -

-Plugs/leads
-Coils/DFI
-CAS and CAM angle sensors
-Fuel Reg
-ECU
-Fuel pump module (supercharged 6 or LS1 ute specific)
-Fuel filter

What finally stopped it happening was a new fuel pump. We sold the car not long after it was fixed but it never did it again to us or to the new owners from what i know of.

 

[PeterVX2]

Gentlemen,


Thank you all for your replies / input.

After reading all these posts and doing some additional research, I did some the simple things first.

Swapped the ECU relay
Swapped the fuel pump relay
Inspected the plug and external wiring to the DFI ( all looked OK )

It has not done it since but I am not confident that these relay changes have solved the problem.

Because the motor starts straight away every time after cutting out, perhaps I can eliminate the CAS at this stage.

Maybe the DFI can be eliminated for this reason as well.

It appears to me that whatever causes this problem, either stops the ignition or fuel supply.

Then 2 seconds later, all is well !

The ignition / immobilizer suggestion seems to meet this criteria.

So does the fuel pump suddenly stopping.

There is an additional item that can cause the fuel pump to stop.

Reading in a Commodore workshop manual, it appears that once the car is started, the ECU maintains power to the fuel pump for a small amount of time then the ECU refers the logic of this to the oil pressure sensor / switch. I think that this is an important safety feature of all modern cars with an ECO. If you have a head on smash, the motor ( mostly ) stops, oil pressure drops and cuts off the fuel pump even if the ignition is still on.

So after that explanation, a dickey oil pressure sensor / switch could cause this cutout problem.

So, if and when the next cut out occurs, I will move onto another item to eliminate.

 

[lout]

some commodores do seem to be sensitive to faulty oil pressure sensors
some stall others dont seem to mind as much
the sender has been changed slightly due to leaks through the body of the sender
so if you have any doubt change it