HEADACHE! ADVICE PLEASE!

[blueyes]

Hey guys, so ive been a user on here for years, and always found it helpful .. Ive now had some trouble with my CC..

I was driving to work today, car suddenly lost ALL power, slowed to a halt and then cut out.. There was some nasty juddering coming from the engine, which when i looked turned out to be the exhaust knocking against the car. After waiting 2 mins i started the car back up, all seemed fine car was driving perfectly, then again loss of all power and the nasty judder while idling and then just completely switching off.. Also just to add ive had numerous warnings since - mainly the ANTI POLLUTION FILTER warning and once came up with the CATALYTIC CONVERTER FAILURE -which cannot be right as it was brand spanking new 5 months ago..

Any ideas on whats causing this problem.. Im slowly getting absolutely sick and tired of the car!

Many thanks in advance.

Just some history on my car.

Its had a new catalytic converter about 5 months ago.. New brake discs, pads, new driveshaft, suspension arm.. the list is endless with this car...

[gazza82]

Soundd electrical so check the earth cables to gearbox and chassis and that stupid quick-release clamp on the positive battery terminal .. the wrong one to be quick released!! Negative first ...


PS all the things you have replaced ... Normal wear & tear on any car ..

[Capncol]

I really wish people would give proper info.
We don't even know if were talking about a petrol or diesel here!

[IanL]

I really wish people would give proper info.
We don't even know if were talking about a petrol or diesel here!

If it's petrol, I would suspect an intermittent ignition problem.

[gazza82]

Colleague at work had something similar and it was that positive battery clamp. Failing to grip properly and would come loose after a few road shocks.

Temp fix was to pack it out with spamspam foil to get it to hold and three months later it was still like that and hadn't cut out or failed to start once!

[Capncol]

Yep that spam spam foil is good stuff!
Does anyone read the red bits at the bottom of my posts?

[blueyes]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies!

Sorry i forgot to mention its the Petrol, 1.6 model. its also a manual, one previous owner, loads of receipts/ work done on it.

will do a few of the checks mentioned and let you guys know how i get on.

[blueyes]

Soundd electrical so check the earth cables to gearbox and chassis and that stupid quick-release clamp on the positive battery terminal .. the wrong one to be quick released!! Negative first ...


PS all the things you have replaced ... Normal wear & tear on any car ..

Thank you ill check the battery but where can i find all the earth cables?

[gazza82]

Follow the thick negative cable down to the gearbox and body.

[Capncol]

My money is on coil pack. Mind you, we don't know how many miles it's done or what year, so cambelt could be overdue and skipped a tooth.

[blueyes]

its a 02 plate, covered around 140,000 miles .. sorry should of made it all clear in my first post.. Appreciate the suggestions though

was busy today so didnt have a chance to have a look, but will check earth cables tomorrow.
anything else i could look out for? check?

[gazza82]

Capncol's suggestion about coil pack is worth investigating as we lost power like that but not all. Just like two cylinders were out. But before you switch check the make of coil pack and your spark plugs if you can. There are known issues with certain packs and NGK plugs.

[Slo]

Apart from rust the catalytic converter should last the life of the car, if its destroyed internally its because unburnt petrol is reaching it which is down to ignition problems and the main culprit as already mentioned is the coilpack failing on at least 1 of the 4 branches.

The petrol gets soaked by the cat then ignites which in turn burns the cat away and the fragments that are left fall apart and block up the exhaust internally which makes the car cut out.