Engine cut out

[fragmeister]

I had my engine cut out going round a large roundabout this evening. An AA man came out and suggested it might be a fuel problem. The engine won't restart.

On Friday the car overheated as a result of a faulty radiator fan (that problem is in hand - I have a replacement which the garage will fit asap). This time the temperature was fine so it wasn't overheating. In fact, I had barely done 6 miles from the garage where the clutch and head gasket had just been checked out and the plugs replaced.

Does anyone have any ideas what it could be? And then how much it might cost to fix... I'm getting a bit fed up of standing by the road with a copper waiting for the AA (if anyone was stuck in my queue behind me on the approach to the Blackwall Tunnel last Friday evening, you have my humblest apologies).

[GreyGhost]

First port of call is the fuel filter, nearside under the rear seat cushion. Strange because that is the first thing AA and RAC check on petrol variants, perhaps this one was new. Ignore the comments in the document relating to self tapping screws, there is a proprietory clip. (The orange clip) WJC000230 to secure the two parts of the filter.

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/download.php?file=tid005.pdf

[fragmeister]

Thanks for that. My AA man said he would have had a look in daylight but it was dark and cold and the garage will have better chance of fixing it. If this is all it is (and my mechanically trained step daughter has siad something similar) then it might be quite a straightforward job. We'll see.

[fragmeister]

Nothing in this life is ever simple. The pump at the back work fine but there seems to be no power getting to it. Has anyone any ideas about what might be causing this?

[Neil Coupland]

Nothing in this life is ever simple. The pump at the back work fine but there seems to be no power getting to it. Has anyone any ideas about what might be causing this?

What has been done to confirm that no power is getting to the pump? Had a similar problem. AA was convinced that the power drawn by the pump was too low, problem turned out to be a split o-ring in the fuel filter on the near side of the fuel tank.
Best of luck, Neil

[ragitty]

Just read and print out GG's advice, take it with you to the garage then they also will know what to look for, may save them a bit of time and you a bit of money

[David3807]

Could be wrong but I thought that if the fuel pressure was too low then the ECU prevented the engine from starting.

A fuel filter (or module in MGR speak) coming apart or with faulty seals would cause low fuel pressure.

Maybe the lack of juice to the fuel pump has something to do with this.

[fragmeister]

You may like to know how this all finished. The pump was fine. It was a crank sensor problem, apparently, which has been fixed and hopefully we shall all live happily ever after. Following the week I have just had, the bloke at my garage said he was probably going to spend Christmas with me, the number of times he'd seen me.