Hello,

I'll start with a bit of background info i suppose

My car's been misfiring for a while now but i've just had to put up with it while i've had to deal with other finances. Regardless of wether these two problems are related i thought i'd mention it just incase. Anyway i've got a weird problem here, i was on my way to Perth one morning and i'm stopped at a set of lights with the music loud - unaware that the car stalled...The light hits green and i realise and start my car but instead of the revs calming to rest around 750 it keeps falling and stalls again. Try again - same deal, i had to drop it into D quickly and stomp the loud pedal to get out of everyones way. The car ran as per usual once it got off the line but once i came to a stop it pulled the same stunt. Turns out for the rest of the drive i had to manually keep the car idling with my right foot, was a pretty tricky drive through all the lights.. Parking is great fun too.

Anyway ive looked under the bonnet for a fair while and i cant see any loose hoses or plugs etc etc. But i've noticed that when i reset the ecu (assuming this is the result of unplugging the battery for about 15 minutes) it starts up and idles on its own. Turn the car off and try again - no luck.

Weird problem, any ideas?

There was another thread like this a lil while back, I'll see if I can find it. As I recall he bought a new ECU and it fixed his problem which was similar to yours.

EDIT: never mind, I was wrong.

But i've noticed that when i reset the ecu (assuming this is the result of unplugging the battery for about 15 minutes) it starts up and idles on its own. Turn the car off and try again - no luck.Not quite sure what you are saying here: did you reset the ECU and now you have the trouble?

It may hopefully be that the ISC (idle speed controller) hasn't been trained properly yet, or it could be that the ISC is blown.
Try idling at home, the turn on aircon and see what happens. Turn on high-beam and see what happens. Use the brakes, turn the wheel, etc., etc.
Accelerate in your driveway (or whatever is handy), stomp on the brakes. Repeat with aircon on, repeat with lights on, etc. But if it feels like it's going to drop the revs too far, back off a bit, the aim is to try to train it so that it remembers how to boost the revs to counter these occurances. Hopefully you should soon be able to throw anything at it and not get the revs so low that it dies.

That's my understanding and experience, anyway. I do this whenever my power has been disconnected for a while, and to me it's a rapid surefire way to eliminate the stalling when you least want it (eg. on a roundabout or going through a tight bend).

You think yours is bad, try a manual, when you have to accelerate whilst also using the brake and clutch!

dead AFM? going off stock map when ecu is reset, then reading wrong off the afm and stalling?

oh and auto would be worse than manual.. imagine trying to start the car in Park, then quickly flip to Drive, and nurse the accel and brake, just to reverse out of a parking spot :P

Cheers for the replies guys

I reset the ecu after the problem started occuring just to see what it would do. Are there any ways to test the MAF or ISC and determine wether either are dead?

EDIT: the ISC has been a bit suss for a while now, sitting at the lights the idle wont be consistent when the thermos start up. Also rougher idle with aircon on at idle too. Could be that its just finally died?

hey

not sure about the second gens because i haven't had this problem on my second gen (yet?!?) but never mind on my first gen i had this same problem was a pain in the ass not good at all, turned out to be the intake manifold gasket was blown $120 later and it was replace, although with my knowledge now i would just do it myself for free :)

hope this helps

Hey thanks for the reply, but it doesn't explain why it goes back to normal after resetting the ecu?

your right it doesn't but it could always just be coinsdence, but just to check you could get a can of the aerostart or any other fuel and spray it around the gasket if it stops with that then you would know and if it doesn't then it must be something else.

Any more ideas people?

Cheers :)

Almost certainly the isc

Do a search for it or for idle speed servo, or stepper motor and you will find how to test it to be sure.

Rob

My auto has only ever stalled when the Fuel Relay Pump died, stop started a few times then it went striaght to the mechanics and died

my ts used to stall the same isc and high flow fuel filter fixed all

hey guys. i have the exact same problem (but manual). The car was off the road for a while and the battery somehow went flat, i think to do with the alarm. i had the nrma jump start it, drove it around for a day getting it rego'd and new tyres and it was fine but then the following day half way to the shops with the aircon cranking it suddenly staled as i went to pull into a carpark and has been doing it since. can someone please run through the proper way to reset the ecu as per the manual coz i cant find mine. thanks.