Well that wasn’t a very nice experience!

Was driving my 53 VRS along the dual carriageway with my 18 month old lad in the back & all of a sudden the engine cut out, the revs dropped to 0, the speed gauge dropped to 0, the temp & fuel gauge dropped to 0, the power steering cut-out & the brake pedal hardened.

However, the lights, dash lights, radio, heater & indicators remain on/ok.

There were no warning lights on dash - it just all died.

Then I stopped (sorted glided to the side with my hazards going), I took the keys out & restarted the car. Everything started as normal & was ok.

Drove back the remainder of the journey (about 5 miles) & it didn’t happen again.

Does anyone know what might of caused this? Has it happened to anyone else?

Btw- it actually happen at the exact precise time my wife called me on my mobile (which was in my jeans pocket) - coincidence?

Cheers

The EDC15P ecus aren't known for their sensitivity to RF interferance but you never know..

Kev

Blimey, Imagine if that happened in the outside lane of the motorway though..........

We could debate likely causes till the cows come home. Get is scanned for fault codes.

were there any strange lights in the sky at the time?

It wasnt on a Skoda a Rover infact but a very similar thing occured and the earthing point was at fault, so its worth check the main earth.

I had this on a Focus! Did it a few times on the same day but then never again!! Check your battery earths maybe?

did you bump the ignition key with your knee or something?? that's what happened to me once when i was driving a renault clio (to the scrapyard as it happens)

I would suspect Radio frequency Interference, but with the cold weather recently it might be condensation on an electrical part.

Get quite a lot of RFI round here (NW London). I've experienced exactly the same thing regularly. Usually, its like a momentary and monumental engine stutter which causes dramatic decel and throws you foward in your straps. Never experienced anything like this with my non-ecu 1981 Golf.

I'm convinced that a strong locally produced radio signal momentarily scrambles data in the ECUs working area of memory and so the ECU does a partial reset to clear the corrupted data out. When it happens to my car , the system crash to restart takes only 2-3 seconds, so that usually my car usually keeps going. I'm pretty sure it ain't the battery 'cause I had to change it for a new one a couple of years ago and the problem still persists.

The symptoms in my car are a bit like a sticking engine valve, but Ii'm sure that this wouldn't cause all the guages to zero.

Probably a public service vehicle, Mini-cabber, or mobile radio ham went passed you and pushed his "Press to transmit" button as he did so, or may be you passed through the path of someone's local microwave link - though, its pretty unlikely that they would be set that low down. Even an overflying aircrafts radar altimeter could theoretically do that.

I know that in the '90s that was a favourite prank amongst mobile radio hams - especially with BMW drivers.

I believe that due to a shortage of availble bandwith for the more recent mobile phone signalling systems (3G), the signalling systems are designed to employ a protocol which ensures it gets a connection in a busy cell, or busy time of day or where there is other RFI, by attempting to over-top any competing signals by raising the signal strength until they get a connection. Did you go past a local wi-fi hotspot at the time you took the call ?

That said it worth checking the security of your fuses (Panel to RHS of dash) as some members here have reported similar effects arising from pourly inserted fuses. Also there have been reports of issues with marelli manufactured ECUs concerning the fuel pump and immobiliser .

Had a quick look on the web and apparently Volvo XC90 (USA) , Ducati motorcycles, some Peugots, Vauxhall corsas have been having similar problems . Makes me wonder if the common link Marelli ECUs ?

Nick

Edited 17 January, 201016 yr by Clunkclick