Long post not to be read if you don't have time, Part iii

mollydog

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
Messages
929
Reaction score
621
Location
Cambridgeshire
Country
United Kingdom
I filled the car up with fuel and hit the motorway, I was doing around 80mm for a good hour or so when I pulled up for a rest and noticed the car stalling on me but I just managed to get it in to a parking bay, I stopped there for around half an hour then set off once more

doing the max 80 mph limit, it wasn’t long before passed Dijon and thought that the garage had some how fixed the issue, after all their work had cost me 75 Euro’s

well that wasn’t to last, around 40 or 50 miles south of Dijon the car cut out as normal



out comes the tow truck again, notice the hazard lights working just fine, so not a weak battery issue





dropping the car off at their depot





they wouldn’t touch the Elise, so by tea time they got me a taxi that took me to a hotel in a very nice village, the taxi driver said this region was the best wine producing aria in France, (I’ve had others confirm this)













the following morning (Sunday) they said they were finding it hard to get anyone to look at the car by Wednesday as the 14th was a bank holiday (iirc) it would have to be Thursday the earliest,

I mentioned this not acceptable me stranded in France 6 or 7 days especially after all I told them that what the garage had said had fixed the issue wasn’t the case

they agreed and arranged for a taxi to pick me up and drive me 40 or 50 miles to Dijon so I could get a night train to Salerno

at midnight this train set off, and changing only at Milan I got off at Salerno railway station the following afternoon



where after 30 minutes a taxi picked me up an took me back to my home village where my son and his girlfriend were waiting for me

then as I was entitled to a car the following day they got me a taxi from Salerno to pick me up (I’m around 60Km from Salerno) and take me to Sorento (the only location near me that had a hire car available)



I enjoy the rest of my holiday and when my wife and daughter arrive we spend 3 weeks together and I returned with them back to the UK,

the car took a few more weeks to arrive back home







it was good to have her back, and as the battery was dead by now I gave it a good charge with the help of a good battery

the following evening the car drove just fine, for sure the issue hadn’t gone way but driving round the block was OK

then I took her off the road for winter and last week started to go over the car getting her ready for my summer trip

Part iv to follow
 
ECU power relay?
 
ECU power relay?
not familiar with the car but I'd guess something like crank angle sensor, either way it needs to be something that is being affected by heat that is having the problem, the alarm going off randomly may indicate something else altogether, an electrical gremlin regardless by the sounds of things
 
not familiar with the car but I'd guess something like crank angle sensor, either way it needs to be something that is being affected by heat that is having the problem, the alarm going off randomly may indicate something else altogether, an electrical gremlin regardless by the sounds of things
The crank angle sensor wouldn't stop the car from cranking! (I think he has said that the starter motor is also disabled.) Same goes for the flywheel sensor which would be more likely to fail on that engine.

Not sure the alarm is a possibility either, I suspect that also doesn't stop the starter, just stops the fuel injection, although I think the alarm on that car is a Lotus special so I'm not sure.

I can't think of much that would kill both engine and starter...
 
depends on the type of alarm, for insurance here we need 3 point cutout which does fuel, ignition, and starter
I think the alarm can stop the engine from starting, but if the engine is running then it is not able to stop the engine since an unexpected loss of power could be dangerous?
 
this is a tuff one for sure, I have a part 4 to add to this of what I’ve been doing these past two weeks and what I’ve tested so far

my very old multimeter packed up on my last year so I’m going to be buying a new one to test some of the pins, the alarm is a Cobra 6422, (from Cobra Italy) it’s also available for other cars

as it’s a bit late now, I’ll add part 4 tomorrow showing the tests I’ve carried out these two weeks, as I take good care as I don’t want the Elise breaking down (as it did last summer) in Europe, the car is serviced well, I do most of the things that need no test equipment, for those that do (or is above my capabilities) get my local garage, who used to race Elise’s to do all that

on the electrical side I had the HT leads, dizzy cap & points, spark plugs changed July 2017 and last year had a new battery amongst

but as mentioned the car is getting on for 19 years old so things will need looking at and often also need replacing

as I have an MG TF on the driveway that we no longer use (cam belt slipped a few years back and all the valves must be bent) as it’s worth less than nothing, I’ll cannibalise the coil pack of it and see if that could be an issue

I can’t complain as 2017 was 8 years of trouble free trips to Italy and back in the Elise,

on a slightly off topic note, I had the Mini 0906 fitted in the car last summer, on the first drive the the Euro tunnel it recorded the trip to when I got the RAC to take me back home

on my second drive, when I got to my hotel in Reims I took out the micro SD card to see some of the frustrations I had been through that day, only to find the DVR had not recorded anything past the Dartford tunnel,

I’m resting using the mini range for now, maybe I’ll go back when/if they sort out the mount and the micro USB connector breaking contact, shame really as I was very happy with the captured image quality of the mini0906

more to follow tomorrow :)
 
I think the alarm can stop the engine from starting, but if the engine is running then it is not able to stop the engine since an unexpected loss of power could be dangerous?
we're not talking about a correctly functioning item, if working correctly it couldn't do that, if an alarm that cuts ignition fuel and starter were having issues though you could expect it to cut everything
 
...as I have an MG TF on the driveway that we no longer use (cam belt slipped a few years back and all the valves must be bent) as it’s worth less than nothing, I’ll cannibalise the coil pack of it and see if that could be an issue
Can't be many TFs that have a dizzy?
 
My Opel kaddet GT of the 90ties was the only car ever i had a alarm in, mostly for the substantial amount of audio equipment in the car.
You have to be pretty desperate to steal my current little Suzuki.
 
when I went to post this in one complete thread it stopped me saying I couldn’t post a thread with more than 9999 characters, so I split the thread in to two, when I went to post the second part then again it stopped me posting the second thread as it contained more than 20 images in the post, so I had to split that too
 
you know it could all go in one thread though yeah ;)

just been out to have a look, and you're right Nigel, no dizzy cap

so it means it’ll also have different ignition coil pack, nothing like the one on the Elise with a MEMS 1.9 as opposed to the MEMS 3 on the MG TF, that’s that plan down the spout
 
I think the alarm can stop the engine from starting, but if the engine is running then it is not able to stop the engine since an unexpected loss of power could be dangerous?


I think you have a point Nigel, if the key is in the ignition barrel and turned to position II, by pressing the fob the alarm can not be activated or deactivated (this is how it is on my Elise)
 
I'd be having a closer look at your alarm while you're at it


I do think this is a case of getting in a mobile auto electrician in, just not found one local to me but I have a friens who knows someone who might be able to look at it when he's back from his holidays
 
I think you have a point Nigel, if the key is in the ignition barrel and turned to position II, by pressing the fob the alarm can not be activated or deactivated (this is how it is on my Elise)
that's how it is on every alarm, if your alarm is going off for no reason though that's indicative of an issue so would be the first place to look, particularly if it has more than single point cutout, how old is the alarm, do you know what brand it is?
 
yes jokiin, it's a Cobra 6422, the Elise was first registered September 2000, so I would say the alarm must be a good 19 years old now, the only reason I know if the key is in the barrel to position II and you can’t switch the alarm on or off was that when I was checking all the fuse’s the other day, I happened to have also pulled out the alarm fuse which automatically set off the alarm

just so happened the key was at position II I pressed the fob to switch it off but had to take out the key before I could stop the alarm , so I tried it by inserting the key in the barrel and in to position II and trying to turn it on by pressing the fob, but it wouldn’t have it

for sure the alarm will also need looking at, right now I can’t remember if the alarm is activated, if turning the key is like the issues I was having where turning the key and nothing working, no fuel pump priming and no cranking of the engine

if not mistaken,, as once the ignition is turned off the Cobra alarm automatically cuts power to the pump so you can’t start the car, but as it’s been some time since I have made that error I can’t fully remember if the alarm is activated everything goes dead on the car just like I was having last summer

this is where an auto electrician can find out
 
Last edited:
Back
Top