Hi folks. My 1998 (estate) MPI has played up for months and now refuses to run at all. Initially it would cut out when warm and our local diagnostic man found a duff lambda sensor which was replaced. This helped the tickover but the problem persisted. We then replaced the crank sensor (on the basis that it must be this or the coil) it then became much more reluctant to start and found the (twin connector) ECU was soaked! How? This was thoroughly dried and replaced but now the car will fire up for about two seconds then stall. A friendly breaker allowed us to try a secondhand ECU but this was the same. On the basis there is not much else to replace is it a coil problem or something else? Any thoughts appreciated....

if it runs and stalls it's probably an immobilizer problem, you cant just 'swap' an ecu and go, you need to code it to the immobilizer

Agreed.

You would either need to code the immobiliser to the ECU or get the immobiliser control unit from the car that the ECU came from along with the chip from the key.

Phil

Thanks for your guidance - time for an update and further help please.

The car started today from cold first time using either key but then refused to start again when warm having been idled not driven. The original ECU is still in. The crank sensor has been replaced, the fuel pump can be heard working and the coil is giving a healthy spark. Another known to be working coil has been tried a while ago with no difference.

The car restarts when cooler and was again left idling - after a few minutes the revs increased markedly without any input and we switched off before it could damage itself. Any further suggestions would be appreciated.............

Valve clearances?! Temp sender?!

throttle body alignment? coolant sensor?