Worrying Car Problem!

[Uncle Fester]

On Friday, I was driving on a duel carriageway and my engine cut out at 40mph, I lost all power and ground to a halt and the car would not restart :(

Called RAC, they could not find a fault as their diagnostics machine was unable to connect with the car…But surprisingly it restarted, I top it up with fuel on the way home and has sice been working okay, till this morning, this time, engine cut out but restarted and would not pick up speed? Speedometer showing 35mph, but really doing 20! No warning light whatsoever.

Will be taking it the garage first thing tomorrow morning…What could possible be wrong??? :confused:

Anyone else had a similar problem?

Freelander 1.8 petrol (2000)

[anewman]

Freelander 1.8 petrol (2000)

I think I found your problem :rotfl:

Sorry :)

Whatever it is it sounds like it's not too catastrophic as it restarted. I would probably try disconnecting the battery a while to re-set any of the electronics on the car, reconnect it and see if the problems re-occur.

[Uncle Fester]

I would probably try disconnecting the battery a while to re-set any of the electronics on the car, reconnect it and see if the problems re-occur.

Tryed that, but no luck :(

[mjr600]

The Freelander is the problem, sorry to say but they are riddled with mechanical and electrical faults. Outside of manufacturers warranty they can be pricey to run, I have visited he factory and been on the production line, the current model is less problematic but an old one can be a money pit.

Try an ECU reset, disconnect the battery for an hour (make sure you know the radio code) then reconnect and take it for a long run for the electric and engine management to adjust.

Buy a Rav 4.

[jap200]

We broke down just before Christmas on a motorway with exactly the same 'symptoms'. It turned out to be a coil that was faulty. The recovery man suspected this, but could not confirm without a diagnostic machine. The garage did confirm it. We have a Citroen Picasso which apparently has a coil per spark plug, so both sparks and coils needed replacing. (Please excuse me if this sounds like nonsense as I don't know much about car engines - but I'm just trying to remember what I was told).

Citroen charged £162 for the repair in the end, but we probably could have had it done for much less elsewhere.

By the way, this was our first chance to test out 'AutoAid' breakdown and it was fantastic. Got a recovery truck to us in 20 mins (had young kids in the car). Had to pay for recovery, but got the full amount back in less than 7 days - could not fault them.

[epninety]

Go to the Freelander Owners Club website and join their forum. Maybe someone there has seen similar problems in the past?

www.freelanderclub.co.uk

[dnc1781]

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/index.php?url=/carbycar/index.htm

[Chaufeurse1956]

We broke down just before Christmas on a motorway with exactly the same 'symptoms'. It turned out to be a coil that was faulty. The recovery man suspected this, but could not confirm without a diagnostic machine. The garage did confirm it. We have a Citroen Picasso which apparently has a coil per spark plug, so both sparks and coils needed replacing. (Please excuse me if this sounds like nonsense as I don't know much about car engines - but I'm just trying to remember what I was told).

Citroen charged £162 for the repair in the end, but we probably could have had it done for much less elsewhere.

By the way, this was our first chance to test out 'AutoAid' breakdown and it was fantastic. Got a recovery truck to us in 20 mins (had young kids in the car). Had to pay for recovery, but got the full amount back in less than 7 days - could not fault them.

Hi Jap,

We have a Renault Megane and they are notorious for faulty coils - the only people who fail to recognise this are Renault of course. We have had more than one go out on our Renault since we bought the car in May 05. My dad owned it before then and he had to replace all of them in one swoop. My local garage charged me £60 to replace my coil - and that was a very fair price. Sickened off with it I bought 4 brand new coils from Ebay at a cost of 50 quid for all 4 - put two in the car and gave dad two for his Scenic Megane that he bought when we got his Megane. His Scenic had only been in his hands for a few month when that knocked out a coil - luckily it was under warranty and the garage replaced them all free of charge. Replacing the coils (on the Megane's) is a doddle. I am not exagerating when I say a couple of mins - the time consumable part is determining which coil is dodgy - but certainly not 60 quids worth of time!

My Renault is also on the LPG conversion and when the last coil packed up it caused a few probs. When I went to the garage to have the parameters re-set on the LPG the owner was telling me that he actually lost count of the number of coils his wife's Renault got through.

Anybody with a habitual coil problem could substantially decrease their costs by learning how to change the coil, if possible, and then buying a couple.

Regards,

Chris

[Uncle Fester]

Update: I took it the Garage on Friday, they could not find anything wrong with it...They told me that I will have wait until its gets worse :(

So, went to my local Wilkinson and got some Redex Petrol Injector Cleaner, put half the bottle the tank and the car's been okay since... :o *Touch Wood*

[Uncle Fester]

It happened again today, I don't know whats wrong with this car??? :confused:

The garage is unable to find the problem aswell! :(