Stalling & Rough Idling

[Guest proudy]

Had our C3 nearly a year & it has always suffered from the above but it is worse now. The missus was driving at 30mph when the electrics went off, she was driving over a busy roundabout at the time but luckily got over it, pulled over, started engine & it went fine again. The coil pack was supposed to have been replaced when we got it but I'm starting to think the dealer lied as it wasn't on the MOT sheet included in the parts replaced.Its just been on the diagnostics machine which is saying coil pack. The car is LPG aswell & someone else mentioned the gap between the plugs may need altered. After reading some of the reviews I hope this isn't the start of endless forking out of money :P

[paul.h]

Coil packs do fail on many cars, I used to carry a spare (and a crank position sensor) when I had a Saab 9-5 it was that common on them. On these you could sometimes smell burning when they failed but this may not apply to other makes. Having done the diagnostic test you either believe the results or not and the only way to tell is probably fitting another coil pack.

 

Do you know what caused the electrics to go off or was it just a stall due to coil pack ?

 

Have you also replaced the accelerator pedal ? I did this on our C3 (1.4 sx petrol 2003) soon after purchase since it did not accelerate over the first part of the pedal and was easy to stall when setting off.

[Guest proudy]

Coil packs do fail on many cars, I used to carry a spare (and a crank position sensor) when I had a Saab 9-5 it was that common on them. On these you could sometimes smell burning when they failed but this may not apply to other makes. Having done the diagnostic test you either believe the results or not and the only way to tell is probably fitting another coil pack.

 

Do you know what caused the electrics to go off or was it just a stall due to coil pack ?

 

Have you also replaced the accelerator pedal ? I did this on our C3 (1.4 sx petrol 2003) soon after purchase since it did not accelerate over the first part of the pedal and was easy to stall when setting off.

The diagnostics said it pointed to the coilpack so surely if it had been done by the dealer he would've reset the problem showing up. I haven't replaced the pedal as it seems fine, its only when idling or as my partner found out when driving at speed so far. It done it 3 times in one day then nothing for a few days then once again. Could the electrics be a loose wire somewhere? Its going in for an MOT so I'll ask the garage to diagnose it there. Thanks for your help

[Guest 76cougar0]

Coil packs do fail on many cars, I used to carry a spare (and a crank position sensor) when I had a Saab 9-5 it was that common on them. On these you could sometimes smell burning when they failed but this may not apply to other makes. Having done the diagnostic test you either believe the results or not and the only way to tell is probably fitting another coil pack.

 

Do you know what caused the electrics to go off or was it just a stall due to coil pack ?

 

Have you also replaced the accelerator pedal ? I did this on our C3 (1.4 sx petrol 2003) soon after purchase since it did not accelerate over the first part of the pedal and was easy to stall when setting off.

[BarryK]

I've had this problem on my '04 C3 senso 1.4 HDi intermittantly from brand new - usually happens in cold weather, when the engine is first started. (and very occasionally when the engine is hot)

 

Car starts OK but as soon as I select reverse and press the accelerator, the engine starts to falter and after a second or so the car stalls violently, and I do mean VIOLENTLY, the whole car really shakes - it feels like the transmission has taken a terrific beating.

 

Very occasionally the faltering engine note is accompanied by a ratcheting sound, as if maybe the gear has not fully selected.

 

This started happening within the 1st month of ownership (Sepember 04) and repeated checks by the dealer have failed to find any fault - after 5 years I stopped reporting the problem, it still happens but I now have almost a sixth sense about it and when it's about to happen, I quickly turn the ignition off, wait a couple of seconds and it always re-starts OK - still catches me out occasionally tho'...still scares the s###t out of me.

 

The most annoying thing about this whole episode is that the dealer didn't appear to believe it was happening ( "......it doesn't show up on the computer mate, so it must be your imagination.........." )

 

The car doesn't get used very much (still under 20,000 on the clock after nearly 7 years) but I'd dearly love to find a solution to this problem.

 

:) ............... :)