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Running Rough and Stalling

Discussion in 'VT - VX Holden Commodore (1997 - 2002)' started by Ham Guru, May 22, 2012.

  1. Ham Guru

    Ham Guru New Member

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    I have a 2000 VT Commodore Acclaim, it has approx 240,000km on the dial, I did a long trip a little while ago and thats when the problems started, specifically, not long after driving on possibly the worst corrogated road I have ever seen. I had been having a problem with my right hand indicator stalk for a while before the trip (it would on occaison continue to tick after turning it off, and the tick was very fast). The stalk burnt out the day after the rough road, smoke and everything came from the base of the stalk, that same day I noticed the car was running quite rough, the engine was, for the want of a better term, shivering. The shivering was worse at low speeds, and attrocious at idle. When I got back to Perth, I contacted a mobile mechanic to see me a couple of days later, they replaced the indicator stalk and some of the roughness in the engine seemed to go away, it was considerd that the short in the indicator was dumping power across the circuit stuffing up the power going through the engine, attaching a scanner came up with no faults.

    Over the next couple of weeks the car began to stall after about 15 minutes of driving, this got to the stage where it would stall -every- time my car ran for more than 15 minutes. I called the mechanics again and they replaced the DFI, note that they put the scanner again, and it came up saying 'cam shaft sensor'. After this my car seemed to run a lot smoother, but the relief was not to last, asking around I was told that the engine may be running rough because of dirty injectors, so I've put through 2 tanks of high octane fuel and 2 bottles of injector cleaner, once again this seemed to improve how things were going. Until last friday when it stalled on me while driving at 60km/hr since then and some serious thinking, it appears that it runs worse when it has less then a 1/3 of a tank of fuel though there is still some minor "shivering" with a full tank.

    Other symptoms include; long gear changes, not starting the first time I turn the key, and some loss of power, especially on start up. The crank angle sensor was replaced 50,000Km ago, I have replaced the air filter and cleaned the air flow sensor (the filter was clogged with red dust) I've replaced the fan belt, new spark plugs went in about 10,000km ago, and the battery was replaced a week ago, the oil is not milky, nor is there oil in the coolant, all oils are up to scratch, though i have a small leak in the top left hand vains of the radiator. I'm thinking fuel pump/fuel filter neither of which I have serviced or replaced since I got the car. I know this is a long post, but I figured giving as much of the story as possible would be for the best, thanks all for the help.
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2012
  2. Ham Guru

    Ham Guru New Member

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    Ok, quick up date,
    Car stalled again last night with 3/4 of a tank of fuel, cleaned the TB and MAF last night, car appeared to run well this morning, except for 1 small miss about 15 minutes into the drive.
     
  3. ashbox

    ashbox back in black

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    Like you said could be fuel pump or it could just be the motor is in the way out....
    I know ecotecs can last a lot longer than what you have done
     
  4. Ham Guru

    Ham Guru New Member

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    Another update, replaced the Cam Angle sensor on tuesday, and had the fuel filter replaced the friday before. Everything seemed to be smoothed out, but it stalled again after driving for about 15minutes last night, most of the stalling appears to happen when at idle. The wreckers suggested it may be the wiring connection on the fuel filter has melted a little, but there's no choking like the engine is running lean.

    would really appreciate some help with this :)
     

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