Strange occurrence today, any ideas?

[MattM]

I was cruising home today, in 3rd, car under no real load. All of a sudden, what I can only describe as the car 'feeling like it hit something', the engine management light comes on for a brief moment, then it goes off and the car is fine. Any ideas what this was? Was it a misfire?

It was quite disturbing, I thought the brakes had come on some how, that's how jarring it was, but then it went straight back to normal.

[p fandango]

sounds like it went into limp home for a second or 2, i'd get the codes read as it may be the start of something

[M-R-P]

If your car was 2006 I would say fpr. You'll have a stored code from that event and freezframe data too. Well worth reading the codes on this one mate. Sounds like a brief fault leading to a brief limp mode.

[M-R-P]

Pedro's on form tonight lol.

[p fandango]

Pedro's on form tonight lol.
only because i haven't hit the bottle yet (ok, i have now lol)

[M-R-P]

Me too lmao!

[MattM]

Thanks, I'll see if I can get the codes read this week sometime.

[JamesT5]

Could be throttle body issues or my all time favourite - Coil Packs!

[MattM]

Should be easy to tell from reading the codes?

[M-R-P]

The codes should reveal all mate. Etm won't be an issue on an 05 t5.

[MattM]

Does what I described sound like a misfire?

[shepbomb]

This happened on my c70 and it turned out to be the lambda sensor, although till you get them there codes read it would be a waste of time speculating

[graemewelch]

The codes should reveal all mate. Etm won't be an issue on an 05 t5.

was on mine. just needed a good clean though.

[MattM]

Booked in for 3pm, hopefully nothing serious.

[M-R-P]

Does what I described sound like a misfire?

Not really mate, missfire feels like something's proper broken.


was on mine. just needed a good clean though.

I was talking about the dreaded etm failure from pre-2002 cars. Cleaning my throttle made a noticeable difference although it was pretty clean any way as did adding another grounding cable to the engine.

[MattM]

Car died on the way home from the shops today, power cut out and got 'Anti skid service required', then wouldn't turn over. Called out the RAC and after some digging about, turns out the ECU is loose. RAC guy wiggled the ECU a bit and pushed it down and the car came back to life. He followed me to the Volvo specialist I had it booked in at, and the car died 2 more times on the way, as the ECU lost connection again. It's now with the specialist who will hopefully get it all connected/secure.

[M-R-P]

Hopefully they won't flash the ecu and delete your remap :yikes:
Glad you got to the bottom of the situation. Fingers crossed for a cheap and permanent solution.

[MattM]

Ha yea I don't think they will flash the ECU. It's just not sitting right in the mounting and the area is very wobbly.

[Harvey]

I. Hope it's just this as it should be a easy fix if the connector not been damaged at some point.

[p fandango]

Hopefully they won't flash the ecu and delete your remap :yikes:
Glad you got to the bottom of the situation. Fingers crossed for a cheap and permanent solution.
assuming he's got the receipt/proof of purchase most will put the remap on again free if it does get back to standard

[MattM]

True but I'd rather not have to spend an few hours driving.

[MattM]

Here's what they said.

Basically, he's checked all the wires into the ECU and they look fine. When he pushes down on the ECU it sometimes starts sometimes it doesn't.

He said the next step is to either call out an electrician to check all the ECU wires again at £40+vat/hour. Or send the ECU off to a specialist to check that it's working correctly, at £60+vat, but it will take 5-7 working days.

He's suggested that I get the electrician to take a look, then if nothing is wrong send it off to the ECU specialist.

I really thought it was just a case of the ECU not sitting tight enough in the mounting :(

What do people think?

[Harvey]

Sounds like the firm that did the remap might have damaged the socket,don't you need a special tools to remove the ecu from the box it sits in.
As the ecu locks into the socket inside the box?.
I think a phone call to the firm that did the remap would be top of my list as its not a thing most of us would touch.

[MattM]

The ECU wasn't removed for the remap. It was removed by Tim Williams back when he was trying to figure out an issue. He rewired some sensors into the ECU and put it all back together properly. It's been fine since then which is about 4 months.

[MattM]

Electrician has checked the wires and they are fine. They are now looking at sending the ECU off to a specialist as the connection fault is likely on the ECU side.

Can you buy 2nd hand ECUs and stick them in?

[M-R-P]

Not on P2 ME7 mate -coded to the other computers in the car! :(

[MattM]

Great... Sounds very expensive.

[M-R-P]

I'm really surprised you have a dodgy connection in the ecu. that's one electrical fault you don't hear of with P2 cars.

[MattM]

I know, the garage said the same. Everything else has been ruled out systematically. The wires into the ECU are fine, and the ecu is sitting in the mount fine. So it can only be the ECU that has something wrong?

[M-R-P]

What condition are your grounding points in? does the ecu have a good earth?

Worth another look before you undergo open wallet surgery!

[MattM]

I've given up on the garage, going to arrange for my car to be transported to Tim.

[graemewelch]

Id be getting the ecu tested first. Transporting cars isnt cheap.

[MattM]

Tim thinks it's not worth getting the ECU tested. Been quoted about £110 for transporting the car, and getting the ecu tested isn't far off that.

[MattM]

Pretty bummed about this. Basically the garage is saying they can't fix it really, their next port of call would be to send the ECU off to be checked and if found faulty replace it circa £1000.

I really want to get this to Tim, when I spoke to him on Friday he had some ideas and said he would happy to work on it. Only problem is I've been ringing him since Friday and not been able to get hold of him. Let him a couple text messages and a PM on t5d5. He is an elusive man!

[MattM]

Loosing heart now. If I can't get hold of Tim I don't really know what do to.

[M-R-P]

Maybe wedge the ecu in position with foam and bits of cardboard to stop it moving as a temporary fix? might buy you enough time to drive it to Tim.

[MattM]

As suggested by Tim, the wire bocks were removed from the ECU housing and then plugged into the ECU. This was to ensure it wasn't the mounting that was causing a loose connection. Doing this, and making sure the wires are connected properly into the ECU the car won't even turn over.

[M-R-P]

Bummer mate.

[MattM]

Indeed. I'm confident Tim can fix it, and I don't mind paying the £100 or so to get the car transported to him. I have a feeling he's away on holiday or something as I've heard nothing from him since Friday. I'll just have to wait and use the wife's MX5 for now and find a way to tow my car home for now.

[graemewelch]

Im no expert but if wiring is fine then the next step has to be ecu. If i was in your shoes id get it tested and rule it out

[MattM]

Looks like Tim isn't taking any work until further notice. I can only think to drop my car off at the dealership and let them burn my wallet.

[M-R-P]

Stealers will wanna just replace it and code it. You'll have to have the remap done again too :(

Gutted for ya mate.

[MattM]

My other options is to have the ECU sent off to be checked and if something is wrong with it repaired. This takes 10 days.

If the ECU comes back fine, atleast if I sent it to the dealer I can say the ECU has been checked and is fine.

Just 10 days :(

[MattM]

I may be in luck. Tim has passed my details onto someone who will look at the problem.

[M-R-P]

fingers crossed ;)

[MattM]

Car is booked to be transported to Nottingham tomorrow to hopefully be fixed.

[graemewelch]

Hope it turns out to be a easy fix

[lance]

Dpa?

[graemewelch]

How you getting on with the motor. Any closer to finding out ehatscwrong

[MattM]

ECU is being looked at by a specialist. If it needs repairing, £360...

[silverhorse]

Waiting is the worst time , isn't it? You know that you are going to get fecked over, but you hang on to the hope that it will be something simple, easy and cheap!!
Worst of all, you haven't got your car for a while.
Good luck to you, mate.
Keep us posted.

[MattM]

Thanks.
It's in good hands.

[MattM]

ECU has come back from testing, the board is fried. Apparently it's still possible to clone the ECU, so looking into a 2nd hand one.

[silverhorse]

ECU has come back from testing, the board is fried. Apparently it's still possible to clone the ECU, so looking into a 2nd hand one.

That's a bu**er, mate. Did they give any idea what caused it? Is it going to lighten the wallet much?

[ShadeTek]

Ask them what the quality of the workmanship on replacing the chip was like, if one was resoldered onto the board, as I know of one which had terrible soldering that had to be re-done by a friend of mine. It was causing misfires galore and needed removed and resoldered correctly. It's possible some solder bridges have fried the tracks.

[smithy]

Ask them what the quality of the workmanship on replacing the chip was like, if one was resoldered onto the board, as I know of one which had terrible soldering that had to be re-done by a friend of mine. It was causing misfires galore and needed removed and resoldered correctly. It's possible some solder bridges have fried the tracks.

On the later cars its a flash over job mate .this is what I don't like about new cars all these problems with ecus and etm aswell and its all makes that models talking about.thats what I like about the old models ecus are interchangeable like my 940 and cossies etc .

[M-R-P]

I think Matt's one had some soldering work done on it at some point, maybe that had something to do with it?

[MattM]

I had some new wires put in from a couple of sensors, can't see how that would fry the ECU 3 months down the line.

[Harvey]

Have heard of problems if cars have been jump started and leads mixed up.

[MattM]

2nd hand ECU acquired and with the guys who will be doing the clone. Fingers crossed it works out.

[MattM]

ECU will be done cloning tomorrow so fingers crossed it fixes it.

[M-R-P]

Still waiting? jeez dude :(

[graemewelch]

Will that have the standard map or the autotech. Be intresting to hear the difference between the two. Autotech seems to have a flat spot.

[MattM]

It's a clone, so it will retain the autotech.

I haven't noticed any flat spots, but you do a different map to me.

[graemewelch]

It could be a fault with car. maybevworn maf or lamsa or sumit.

[MattM]

ECU has been cloned, it's going in tomorrow morning fingers crossed!

[stribo]

Fingers crossed for you mate.

[M-R-P]

Let us know mate, after a test drive that is ;)

[MattM]

On the coach on my way to pick up my car. All working now!

[graemewelch]

Who done the cloaning and what was the cost of dont mind me asking

[MattM]

Shark performance did the cloning. Not sure on the cost as I don't have a break down yet.

Got it back now and all seems good.

[graemewelch]

Heard nothing but good things about them.

[MattM]

Yea I was in good hands :) so glad to have my car back!

[V70 Graham]

Glad you have the car back and running well.