Hey everyone I'm hoping you can help me with my problem. It started a couple of weeks ago and has got worse since. (seems to be worse on cold or humid days compared to dry hot ones) When I'm driving the engine will suddenly cut out, revs hit 0 and I lose power steering, however nothing happens to the lights or stereo. Sometimes it will turn on again straight away without me doing anything other times I have to stop and crank the engine.

Now when it stops either it will start straight away or it will just crank and not fire and Ill have to leave it for 5 or so mins before it will start again. It seems to be happening randomly and sometimes I can drive with no problem at all, other times it will happen 4 times in 15km's

BTW its a 1996 TE Executive 2.4 4 cylinder

So far I have replaced fuel pump, Checked immobiliser connection and changed fuel filter. Has anyone got any ideas before I take it to a work shop and spend $$

My next guess would obviously be ECU or Distributor as it has to be something electrical.

Fuel pump would be a good place to start.

Not sure what else it could be. Can you make it happen, or is it a completely random thing. Do your revs go funny at all?

If you replaced your fuel pump that's definitely not it.

It's not your idle speed control because that would cause you to only stall on idle at intersections or lights not during driving

It's not your alternator or battery otherwise you wouldn't have lights or radio...

I'm quite perplexed however I don't recall seeing this problem on a magna before or in these forums

Use your spare key. Primary could be faulty.

Plausable theory there.

Perhaps a fully clogged fuel filter is causing distruption to fuel flow.

I have an inkling that this is a fuel issue rather than an electrical one.

If it's electric, it would be the dizzy or ECU. CAS?

^OP said fuel filter has been changed.

sounds like a coil, im not familiar with these 4 cyl magnas, but im guessing there is a coil there?. if its the same type of dizzy as a V6 3rd gen magna the coil is inside the dizzy, you will see a wiring harness connected to it. perhaps spray that connection with electrical cleaner first and see

^OP said fuel filter has been changed.

Derp. Fuel pressure regulator?

MangaL you were right on the money!

I drove around last night and this morning with the spare and haven't had an issue since, Ill be convinced after a couple of days but I think your right.

Ziek I had a suspicion about the coil as well, I checked the wiring harness and it was clean and tight. It could have been shorting out inside the dizzy though.

Thanks for all the replies guys.

EDIT: Did it again... :( see next post or more details.

^I think it's a coincidence. Look at other options.

Ok so no good, happened again tonight. When it cut out, it cut back in almost straight away. seems like the ECU is still running the engine as if its on but there was no spark. Looks like ill need a new distributor.

BTW I have had no error codes on the ECU, have checked twice.

After the car has been at a workshop and playing up, It appears that when it wont start there is fuel pressure, spark but no injector pulse. looking at the wiring loom, it seems it could be the ecu or MAF.

Does anyone know a way to definitely check which one it is?

The MAF should not have anything to do with this - my understanding is that you can disconnect the MAF while the engine is running and the engine will still run (though very poorly, in limp mode). During starting, the ECU ignores the MAF anyway as there's no reliable flow signal until the engine fires and starts to rev up to normal operating range. Instead the ECU uses internal tables based on the CAS signal to prime the engine and supply adequate fuel to get the engine started.

Without a functioning microprocessor in the ECU you won't get spark, as the processor reads the CAS signal and then generates the timing signal for the distributor. The injector driver circuits can fail, and I've heard of older ECUs suffering electrolytic capacitor failures.

Thanks WytWun,

I'm now looking at the Immobiliser again, Sooooooo many issues with them and the third gens. As I have a spark, and fuel pressure but no injector pulse could the immobiliser be to blame?
From what i can gather on the forums the third gen magna immobiliser stops the ecu from pulsing the injectors correct??

My understanding is that the immobiliser arrangements are different in the E & F series to the later 3rd gens. I would be expecting the immobiliser to cause the ECU to shut down the engine via the engine control relay as it does in the H and later series though, which should mean you have neither injectors or spark. Apart from the immobiliser and intermittent contacts in connectors and junction/fuse boxes, I also wondered about the auto trans safety switch though I don't know how problems with that might affect the behaviour once the engine is running and the car in motion.

Hmmmm this is driving me nuts, It has to be some kind of connection somewhere as its so intermittent.

Any other ideas?

Dud ECU that is shorting out on something would cause this exact issue. Immobilisor problems are most renowned on Tj's.

damn, it could possibly be the ecu then.

Does anyone know what the avg price for a new/recon ecu is?

Something to consider...
http://martybugs.net/articles/magna-stall.cgi

Yeah I had seen that before. as I didnt have a chance check it all before it went to the workshop I gave a copy to my mechanic. will be hearing back from him this arvo.

For anyone who has this issue in the future, it turned out to the be the distributor (coil), still didn't show any codes on the ecu, but it has been replaced and my car is working great.