I have had few problems with my car, MY 2000 with 16k miles. But when I do, they seem to be a bit more unusual than most I've read over the past 2 years on the forums.
This past weekend while driving down a backroad, without warning, my car just stopped. I was gently accelerating in second gear and saw a split second flash of the check engine light and the car just died. The lights and electrical system worked fine. The car would not turn over at all. No click or buzz, nothing. It had been running great without any problems. I am meticulous in my mechanical upkeep of the car. The only engine modification is a JR filter.
The car was flatbedded to the dealer who ran diagnostics on it. I was thinking that the ignition might be the source. The dealer called this afternoon and said that they ran diagnostics on it and came up with nothing and now the car is running fine. I am a little apprehensive to be driving on the interstate thinking that this coud occur again with an 18 wheeler on my back bumper.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

Most perplexing, indeed.
Hope this doesn't repeat itself.

 

Could it be a faulty ECU? I have an extended warranty on my 2000, you may want to look into one as it will keep you from worrying about this recent situation going forward.

 

Immobilizer problems?

(concur with morpheus... faulty ECU)

Why wouldn't there be some record of the problem when running diags? Should be fault codes visible via OBDII connector.

No codes might indicate the ECU is resetting itself. Maybe the ECU fuse is loose?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ORIF 1
[B]I have had few problems with my car, MY 2000 with 16k miles.

 

All good ideas....

Thanks guys, I'll let you know of further developments

Mark

 

Not likely a faulty ECU but a faulty transponder. The ECU just compares the reported code to the one in memory; while it could fail, the transponder (an RF device) is much more likely to fail.

I'm afraid, though, that the dealer would probably have to have it happening to diagnose it.

If it's the immobilizer, I think you will still get the car to crank, but it will never fire. IIRC, the immobilizer cuts fuel and spark but does NOT interrupt the starter signal. Can anyone corroborate this?

 

I had the exact same thing happened to me on my old car, a Supra. Once every 3 weeks it would mysteriously shut itself off on the freeway and 5-10mins later it would start back up. I had it towed to a dealer a few time and they couldn't find any codes or obvious issues.

Finally when it happened again I asked them to check the MSD ignition box or disconnect it for me. Sure enough they found a short in the transfomer type thingy that was installed along with the MSD box. They disconnected the MSD system and it never had the problem again.

So, my guess would be something in the ignition system but its just a guess.

R.

 

Check the ECU wiring harness. Maybe it is loose, or partially disconnected. That could also be the reason why it isn't keeping its failure codes.

My brother had an Alfa Romeo Spider that would shut off quite often. We found that we could reach our arm around behind the seat (where the ECU was located) and jiggle the harness, and it would start back up again (without even pulling off the road, or slowing down very much).