Hey guy's & girls - I have just purchased an EB series 2 wagon. It's currently running duel fuel, and there is a funny little problem that is interminant but becoming more frequent. The reason I mentioned the LPG is that the first couple of times this happened, it was running on gas. Since then, I have run the car on petrol ONLY, and it has been fine - until today.

THE PROBLEM.

At any time while driving (any revs, speed etc....) the car will cut out, smartlock dash light comes on and stays on (not flash - steady) and there is no power. This all happens in about 1 - 3 seconds, then runs fine! Car does not actually stall/stop - just slows right down for the 1 - 3 seconds with no power, then keeps going as per normal, although smartlock light stays on. Normal power when it returns and all other stuff works fine. There is also a "click-click" sound coming from the dash when it happens. (not sure where from exactly!).

The problem first happend when driving at night, on gas and backfired (blowing the muffler to pieces). Happened 2nd time also at night with smaller backfire and also on gas. Third time was today - but on petrol with NO backfire but smartlock stayed on and "click-click" as all other times! The fourth time later on this afternoon was the same as third time.

It's got me absolutly F#*KED. Options I could think of would be - A) gas system issue (but happened today on petrol!) B) Computer on the way out (but all other times car is AS NEW and runs like new) C) Electrical problem (wiring somewhere maybe f**k!?).

ANY AND ALL help and advise would be VERY much appreciated!!! Sorry for the drawn out post - but the more detail the better the advise.

Cheers all!

Yeah, I would be going for electrical problem more than anything.....
It almost sounds like you are losing the ignition line from the ignition switch.....

There have been instances where people have noticed that the ingition switch starts to die out after a while..... The most notable problem is that the you need to start jiggling the key in the ignition switch, to get the ignition to turn On.....
Try that first, as it doesnt require any strenous activity... Jiggle the key with the ignition turned on, and see if anything cuts out, or dies....

Second check the connectors going down the steering column. Make sure that they are all connected, and that they are tight......

Thridly, check if you have a kill switch.... We have a lot of ex cabs where I work, and they ALL have kill switches in them..... They tend to play up after a while, and when launching over speed humps, its commonish for them to bounce for a second...(When they are worn out) Causing the car to loose power to the ignition system, and causing a backfire, once power is restored....


As an ABSOLUTE WORST CASE, if things get worse, then try running power from the battery, to the Ignition Module, when the car is running, and give the girl a bit of a hard time..... If the problem goes away when you are doing this, then its 100% ignition supply related.
Remeber if you do this to remove power once you have stopped driving the car... For obvious reasons Lol !

Also, as a side note....
The smartlock light turns On after the Backfire happens, because it senses that the Ingition has been switched Off, then Back On again, but it hasnt received a valid Acc->Ign code sent from the igntion switch....
(I.E. Smartlock hasnt been told that the key has moved, even though the ignition has been switched On)......
It thinks that something is amiss, and is waiting for you to turn the key to START, in order to determine if it should immobilse the car (If it doesnt get a valid code from the keyswitch)...

In anycase... I would be betting that the Ignition line from the switch has something to do with your trouble.....

A MASSIVE THANKS M8! Another thought I had WAS ignition related. I'll test your theory out.

Thanks heaps!

Any other comments / help from ANYONE still appreciated!!!

...also, considering your admin' - I donated when I joined - how long does it take to be seen as donator!? (sorry to get off topic!). It was about a week ago! PM me if that would be better! Thanks.

Check buy jiggling key to see if anything cuts out or dies etc... - should I try this when stationary or also when driving!? or doesn't it matter

It shouldnt matter.... But It would be safer if you were stationary. That way if you lost power, then at least you wont need brakes, and power steering..

I would also try jiggling the wiring loom around the ignition column whilst the car is running, but stationary, to see if you can create any intermittant faults there

As for the donating thing, it should be up by now.... Ill get Brad (Waggin) to look in to it for you, as he takes care of all the financial stuff for the site.... In anycase, it should be up within the week..... If it isnt up by then, feel free to send me a P.M.

Let us know how the jiggle stuff goes.
If you need to run a wire to the ignition module, I beleive its the Red Wire, with a green trace (From memory... Ill look it up at work tommorow for you). If you splice in, and connect this to the battery (+), and the car runs fine, then we will need to find out where the ignition wire is getting broken...

Cheers
Matti

Once again - MASSIVE THANKS!!!

I'm happy I came across this site - IT ROCKS!

I'm reccomending it to everyone I talk too - even the local wreckers here!!!

Only too happy to help out with regular donations - it's not much but when you find a good thing, it pays off with advise alone to help it out!

Cheers ~ Matt.

it wouldn't be a smartlock problem would it?
some of the solder joints in the BEM or whatever it is go dry, and could momentarily not be connecting?
but it sounds like you're losing power from or to the ignition circuit.

Yeah, that sounds like were getting closer to the problem "smoke_rubber".

I tried the key thing a couple of times under different circumstances today, and nothing happened (even when driving!). Will keep trying that one though, you never know!!??

Any other ideas?

Cheers - Matt.

Xyphoid - will send you PM in next 5 mins!

Cheers - Matt.

Smartlock light would be coming on due to to the lack of power thru the ign circuit.. I'd also put my money on the Ign switch (easy to change). Else you can always swap in a new BEM, they can be had cheap from the wreckers these days.

Though as matti said, the ign switch is a common failuer, where there have never been any such issues with the BEM as per the description.

WELL - IT'S FINALLY HAPPENED!! THE SAME THING AS IN ORIGINAL POST, BUT THIS TIME - SHE NO START AGAIN!!!
GOT RACV OUT TO LOOK AT IT, AND THEY COULD NOT FIX. THEY SAID THE FOLLOWING:

POWER GOING TO STARTER BUT NOT TO THE SOLERNOID TO ENABLE STARTUP. FUNNY THING IS THAT THERE IS NO DASH LIGHTS AT ALL APART FROM (f**k) SMARTLOCK LIGHT FLASHING. ALL FUSES OK AND NOT BLOWN. INTERIOR LIGHT WORKING FINE, AS IS HAZZARDS AND HEADLIGHTS. ALL WIRES PLUGGED IN, NOT LOOSE AND GOOD CONNECTIONS EVERYWHERE.

DIAGNOSTIC - SMARTLOCK HAS DISABLED ENGINE AS A RESULT OF SHORTING SOMETHING/SOMEWHERE AND CAR WILL NOT START. HAVE TO GET CAR TOWED HOME (WHICH BY THEN WAS 11PM) AND GET MOBILE AUTO ELEC OUT TO FIX IN MORNING!

POSITIVES:

A) LUCKY I HAVE TOMORROW OFF WORK
B) AT LEAST THIS PROBLEM WILL BE FINALLY FIXED
C) I AM NOW A MEMBER OF THE WONDERFULL RACV SERVICE!!!

A LESSON TO ALL - IF THIS PROBLEM STARTS WITH YOUR CAR, GET THE f**k' THING TO AN AUTO ELEC THEN AND THERE. DON'T GET STUCK LIKE I DID.

[/i]

****UPDATE TO YESTERDAY****

Auto elec came out - tested all relays and fuses and all were ok.

He then turned his attention to the wiring loom, jiggled some wires and the f**k thing fired up!!!

He isolated the "problem" to one of the connectors in the main loom, under the bonnet. He could not exactly say which one, but at least I now know the general area that the problem is occuring! (maybe).

HE SAID that it couldn't really be FIXED! Does anyone have any ideas on this? It has to be able to be found and fixed SURELY!!?? I know theres a s**t of wires and connections under there, but there has to be a process of elimination - doesn't there!? Any help / advise is appreciated!

Cheers - Matt.

Yes there is a series of elimination.

The next time it dies, do some research yourself.

Carry a spark plug with you and when it dies, pull any spark plug lead out and plug your spare spark plug into it. Rest the metal body of the spark plug on any engine part (I use one of the four bolts holding the rocker cover on) and crank the motor. If you have spark, this proves the crank angle sensor, coil and ECU is most likely working fine and you have a problem with the injector harness or power getting to the injectors.

Next, put it on petrol and get an assistant to crank for you while you stick a screwdriver on any injector. If you hear a loud ticking about twice a second, the injector loom is OK.

If you have neither of the above, it could be the wiring for the crank angle sensor or whatever ford calls it. It could also be a master power feed giving power to the ECU or something else.

A little diagnosis will help a better sparky than you have fix the problem.