Last night i came from rawalpindi to islamabad. I stopped at a market to buy some groceries. When i came back, the car just wont start. I tried both on petrol and cng but to no avail. The CEL also came up after couple of cranking attempts and i could hear a poof (sputter) like sound coming out of silencer once or twice while cranking. I also removed the battery and plugged again but same results.
The car was on slope so i put it in gear and slightly moved the car with clutch engaged. Then again tried to crank the car, it started for a second or two and then again died. Afterwards same issue as above.
I then let it catch a little speed on incline and started the car through gear. The engine started but even with full accelerator, the rpm wont go above 1700. The engine sound was weak and clearly had no power at all. I slowly drove it to a nearby mechanic in first/second gear (5mins distance) and when we opened the hood the exhaust manifold was glowing red (not too bright though). He told me there is some electrical problem so we called an electrician from adjacent shop (ustaad g was out so a shagird came).
He removed battery and shorted car positive and negative wire. I told him this will delete the error code so first read through scanner but you know how our mechanics are. Anyway the battery was plugged back in and we took the car for a test drive, it all seemed fine (we drove it for 15mins).
When we came back, ustad g also had arrived so i explained him the situation, he too scolded the other guy for resetting the ecu codes. I insisted we had to find the reason for it so it wont happen again, he started the car and attached his snap-on scanner. There were no unusual readings (according to him, i don't know what are the normal readings e.g timing advance % or pressure etc).
While the car was running, he moved the wiring near advancer and MAP and the car idle would go rough. He unplugged the MAP sensor connector and soon same situation was achieved. The error showing on scanner was something manifold air pressure circuit. He deduced that emulator is confusing the ecu (even though that part was advancer). He cut the wires (blue and yellow) coming from advancer and connected the blue and yellow directly. He said it is all fine now i have connected MAP directly to ECU so emulator cannot confuse the ECU with its own signals. If it was connected directly, shouldn't be the wire same coloured?
He took a test drive and car seems fine, he told me that its fine now and you can go home there will be no issues on mileage or power of car, he also said no need to change emulator (mind you it was advancer wiring which caused engine to tremble). When i was driving the car, i could clearly feel that the power has reduced.
When i reached home, i was obviously not satisfied because he could not give me a good reason to what had happened and his fix also did not seem satisfactory to me. I assumed that the wiring was loose because even after his fix, when i moved the harness from advancer the engine trembled again. So i decided to restore the wiring as it was before. I also removed both emulator and advancer connectors, blew air on em (to rule out dirty connections) and connected everything back in. Gave ecu a reset and fired up the engine. The engine fired up perfectly and there seemed no issues at all, while engine running i moved all sensor harnesses and connectors from emulator and advance but engine kept idling good. I kept it running for 20mins to observe but it was all normal. I was happy and took a good sleep
Today in the morning, i started the car. Engine started smoothly and idled for like 3mins and soon after that the engine started trembling periodically for 2 3 times and then it died. I cranked it up for couple of times and same sputter from silencer could be heard. The engine just wont start. CEL came once but it did not stayed there and did not come up on next couple of cranks.
What exactly is the issue, advancer has started malfunctioning? MAP sensor gone bad or what? The car is sitting there in garage and i cant even take it to a mechanic unless i call recovery truck and after all this, i don't even know which mechanic to visit for such problem....
Please go through the post and see what might be the problem and what are the possible solutions?
@Xulfiqar and others
Edit: Some more info:
- 127k driven
- Plugs were cleaned but mechanic said they require changing. He also said that spark plug seals are going bad so change at next tappets adjustment service.
- Radiator was fully serviced some time ago with new coolant. The temperature needle was at usual position when exhaust was glowing red.
- Exhaust is not blocked.
- Car is giving good mileage
- Fuel filter never been replaced