Car stalls/ engine stops and won't restart - help!

CMF_Martos

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1999 K11. I'm driving on the motorway in rush hour, which is basically gridlocked and there's a lot of stop/starting. I'm maybe doing 12mph in second gear when the engine completely stops, as if it stalled. Cannot get the car to start again. So have to wait for breakdown van and police to tow me off the motorway. About 30 minutes later, after car cools down, ignition starts... so I make a bid for home, bad idea, couple of miles down the road I have to slow down for speed bumps - doing about 15mph in second gear again, engine stalls. Won't start again. Wait about an hour ( for the breakdown truck) and the engine restarts again and breakdown truck follows me home for 10 miles at all sorts of speeds but mainly fast driving. Breakdown guy told me it might be a 'module' overheating but I'm not sure what he meant. Any suggestions welcome, ta.
 

CMF_Bishop

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It's quite likely he is talking like an ignition module or some such.

But, given the Micra is OBD I'd be looking to get a shop check your computer error logs, and see what may be throwing off a failure code in the electronics.

I have just come from owning 80's fuel injection, and random guessing and parts swapping is a pain in the ass, try a shop or if you have a laptop you could just buy your own data cable off ebay, then it should be a lot easier to find what is wrong.
 

CMF_Martos

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Thanks for the replies. Had a brand new distributor fitted 6 months ago but knowing my luck it'll have gone wrong. Is there anything I can check before taking it to a garage?
 

CMF_Martos

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Stuck a paperclip in the diagnostic connector and got 55 - no fault code stored. So, went out for a test drive with my mate following in his car. Seemed okay for about an hour. Parked and left the engine running to if it would cut out. It did after ten minutes idling. Was then unable to start the car until I opened the bonnet and let the engine cool for about 10 minutes, although temp gauge never went past halfway. What I noticed is that the radiator fan never seems to come on. I swapped the relay for the radfan with a working on from my mate's micra and the radiator fan still didn't come on. Do you guys think that this could be the cause of the car cutting out? How do I test the fan is working? Ta for any suggestions.
 

CMF_Dala

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Similar symptoms on my car was the crank sensor in the dizzy overheating.

Next time your car cuts out, check for spark, no spark and you know it's an ignition problem, probably the one that happened to me and a few others on this site.

One of the other guys rigged up his windscreen washer hoses to cool the body of the dizzy when it got too hot untill he could get a replacement dizzy. LOL
 

CMF_Martos

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Connected the fan straight to the battery and it was working, so the fan is okay. It never spins when it's connected normally though.
 

CMF_Martos

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I marked an x on the top blade of the fan months ago. It's still sitting at the top. The fan never kicks in. Does the ECU use the info from the coolant temp sensor to start the fan or is there another fan sensor somewhere?
 

CMF_Martos

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I'm in the UK. Where can I buy a new engine temperature sensor? I've already replaced the coolant temp sensor in the past but can't find this part.
 

CMF_Martos

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This is post becoming a blog as I'm the only one posting, lol. Got the fan going finally. Took the car out for a run. About an hour in I stopped, left engine idling for about 20 minutes, didn't cut out. But wouldn't restart. When I got the engine to start again a few minutes later I got the tiniest flicker of a warning light and then engine okay until back home. Got the paper clip out and got fault code 11 - Crank angle sensor. Does this mean a new distributor again or could it possibly be that I need the ignition timing checked? Any help, ta.
 

CMF_Martos

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Had the car half a year and I'll be on my third distributor. Must be something going on! This one was swapped over but timing was not redone but as you suggest shouldn't give a fault code. Light was on for a fraction of second and off again. Pretty annoying, cause when my micra gets moving it goes like a beast!
 
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