Stalling Then Won't Start

[artie480es]

I have a really beautiful white 1994 480ES 2.0 Automatic with 66k on the clock. I have owned the car for 8 years and in all that time it's hardly missed a beat. About 2 months ago it started having starting problems. At first a quick blast of Easy Start did the trick but that didn't last long and then it wouldn't start at all. The mechanic came out to it and sort of squashed the distributor cap a bit and hey presto it started. He said it should be domed and ours had gone flat. He took the car and changed the distributor cap and plugs and everything seemed fine. I took the car for a drive the next day to make sure the battery was charged up. I pulled up at traffic lights, the fan had come on before I stopped at the lights and was still running which I found a bit odd as I had been moving all the time. Lights changed, I put my foot down to move off, the engine coughed a couple of times and died. It wouldn't restart and I had to push it up onto the pavement and called car breakdown recovery to take it home.

It was a couple of days before the mechanic could come out and embarrassingly it started with the first turn of the ignition. He checked it and the only thing he found was that the reservoir was about 3/4 empty. Topped up the water and when the engine was revved it seemed to suck some of the water out of the reservoir, it was topped up again and the level then stayed steady. He kept the engine revving and told me to take it for a drive round the village and he would follow me. The car ran perfectly well - not a hint of a cough or a splutter. Mechanic had a look at the reservoir and it now had the antifreeze coolant in it so he was happy that the coolant was circulating ok. The fan came on while the car was stood with the engine running (temp 93). Temp was 91 when I left him and I headed home. Turning into the road where I live it spluttered a couple of times and died. I didn't notice whether the fan was on or not at that point - I was just fed up. Rolled it to side of road and walked rest of way home. Went back to try and start it about 2 1/2 hours later. Temp was showing 66 and it wouldn't start. Went back again after another 2 1/2 hours and it started first time and I drove it home.

On each occasion that it died the engine had been running perfectly for about 30 mins. It seems that it will only restart when its flat cold.

Sorry, I've rambled on a bit but I love this car and when it broke down again at the lights I was ready for calling the scrappers to come and get it. It was the wife who called the breakdown recovery instead to get it home.

In summary then:
Wouldn't start at all.
It has recently had the distributor cap and plugs changed
Now it starts and runs perfectly for about 30 mins then coughs and dies
Fan came on before it died the first time and also while with mechanic before it died the 2nd time
If left long enough until flat cold it will start first time and, presumably, run for another 30 mins before dying again.

I am not mechanically minded at all and would really appreciate any pointers as to what the problem might be.

[jamescarruthers]

Did he change the rotor arm, inside the cap too? I'd assume he would, but as you don't mention it, I thought ask.

[doingitsideways]

Could be the engine temp sender.

Helpfully, 480s have three. One for the guage/info centre, one for the ECU and one for the fan.
Actually, Turbos have an extra one for the auxiliary water pump. But 2.0s don't have these.

The one to point the finger at while swearing is the ECU sender, to the right of the cylinder head when viewed from the front. I think it has a red plug, and the cable comes from it towards the radiator wrapped in grey tape.

I had a similar problem with one of my Turbos, all be it with extra thirst, as the cable had broken where it enters the plug on the sensor.

This COULD explain why you can only start from cold, as with no signal from the sensor the ECU presumes the engine is cold and keeps it on choke, thus flooding itself, even when you try to pull away.

Oh, stay away from easy start. That stuff destroys perfectly good engines!

Good luck,

Steve

[artie480es]

have spoken to the mechanic and he did change the rotor arm at the same time but thanks for taking the time to reply

[glasgowjim]

I would go for the engine temp sender in the first instance as doing..... said

oh on an afterthought the next time it stalls and wont start go to the petrol cap loosen and listen for a sucking sound as sometimes you can get a vapour lock.

[artie480es]

Thanks to those who took the time to post their views as to what the problem might be. Replaced ignition coil and, fingers crossed,it now seems ok