She won't restart if she's still hot!

[Guest]

Hi all... I have recently joined the club with a view to taking my love of Austins a bit more seriously. I have been driving them since 1990 and have had 2 1990/1991 Montegos: both have now sadly passed away ;o( and more recently my Grandad's/Mum's/My 1988 E reg 1.6 Maestro VP Auto. I have always done most of the work myself (it is a great runner still with my only quibble being the fuel consumption!) but the recent problem is a bugger... I am thus resorting to your varied expertise!
She will start and run perfectly for any length of journey. However, if I try and start her again within say 45 mins/1 hour, she will get 100 yards up the road before the engine dies and will not restart for love nor money, i.e. I have to wait an hour between each journey!
I have replaced the old & weak fuel pump and pipes which I thought was the problem and a local grease monkey friend has replaced the distributor module (?), which was his great idea. Neither has made any difference. It is not the cooling system as that is working perfectly as far as I am aware, so what could it be?!
Can anyone suggest another solution or is the old lady simply dying in my arms? I love taking her out on business and pleasure... but I can't sit waiting for her an hour each time... even the missus is quicker than that!!!

[B18 GPC]

hey , and welcome to the forums ..

Does this Engine Have An ECU ?

and does anyone know if these engines have a diagnostic plug ?

[Simon]

Troublesome hot restarts on 1.6 Auto's are often caused by the Vacuum Switch on the side of the carb becoming defective, or Your carb stepping motor seals might have perished, or your coolant temperature sensor might be underreading, telling your car that it is cooler than it really is.

[e692wtt]

I'd say "change the fuel pump" but you have done that. Was it a new pump or a 'good secondhand' one? New is best (and they're around a tenner if you go to teh right place). Having said this, my 1.6s will usually manage a few hundred yards before 'dying' when their fuel pumps get weak - and it never occurs at this time of year.

When the car 'dies', is it just a smooth loss of power or does the engine jerk? If the latter, what is the rev counter doing - does it just drop or does it leap around?

Also, when was the car last serviced? It might just need a check over of the ignition system for example.

Welcome to the forums by the way.

[Guest]

Feedback very welcome!

Hi guys... thanks for your kind welcomes and time taken in replying! As regards a few more points:
Not sure if the Ignition Control Unit (little black box) that I can see is the same an an ECU...!?
There is now a manual choke, not an automatic one...
The fuel pump is brand new... and when she dies, it is a jerky conking out...
It is regularly serviced...
I will have time to check more suggestions out at the weekend, so please add anything you think it still could be...

[G Force]

Hi Alex, the symptoms point more to a fueling problem but still might be ignition related. The carburettor may be flooding after it has soaked up all the engine heat, if this is the case you should be able to restart the engine if you go under the bonnet and lift the carb dash pot piston up using the damper rod while an assisstant cranks the engine.

This may go some way to improving the low mpg you have experienced if it turns out to be the fault. to repair it you would need to fit a new float chamber needle & seat. Equally check the vacuum switch as already mentioned by someone else.

If you can not restart by the above method it would usefull to check if you have a spark when the engine wont start, as the wires in the crank sensor plug have a habbit of either breaking or the female connectors back out of the plug body. This can be made worse by the excess heat build up during the timescale you describe. If the wires are in good order and you still have no spark the crank sensor itself could be faulty.

Cheers gary

[Simon]

I wondered when G Force would reply! His advice has successfully got me out of loads of difficulties in cases such as these (and many others too).

[e692wtt]

...
If you can not restart by the above method it would usefull to check if you have a spark when the engine wont start, as the wires in the crank sensor plug have a habbit of either breaking or the female connectors back out of the plug body. This can be made worse by the excess heat build up during the timescale you describe. If the wires are in good order and you still have no spark the crank sensor itself could be faulty.

That's what I am alluding to. What does the rev counter 'do' when the engine dies? Does it just 'drop' or does it dance around the gauge?

[G Force]

Thanks Simon its good to know that my contributions are sometimes useful . The web site is an invaluable resource for any Maestro Montego owner and has many members who have a wealth of expert knowledge on all aspects of the vehicles.

It can be a nightmare correcting intermittent or obscure faults even when the car is in front of you, so trying to help sort things out in this manner you can quickly end up hero to zero.

I like others first thought when I read the first part of Alex P’s problem thought initially fuel pump for definite, but went on to read a new one has been fitted. It would be unlikely but not impossible that the same problem would happen with two different pumps. The only way to verify if it was a fuel pump fault would be to pull of the outlet pipe of the pump and see if fuel is being pumped when the car wont start. Always catch the fuel in a container, as squirting fuel over a hot engine is not recommended.

With the extra information that was provided in response to e692wwt's reply it pointed more to a period of rough running before stopping and not starting, so hopefully if any of the suggestions don’t come up with the answer Alex will come back with more information and together as a group we might help him get to the bottom of his problem.

Cheers Gary