First Stagea Problems

[huddy]

ok had my stagea for around 2 months. been awesome.

had an alarm fitted a few weeks in, all good, and just enjoying the car as it is.

But in the last couple of days i've been having problems.

Firstly - driving along in a carpark slowly, braking to go over a speed hump, when to accelerate again and noticed there was nothing - then noticed steering was heavy and dash lights were on. Car turned off!

So i managed to pull it over, put it in park and start up again - fine.

Kept driving all day with no dramas.

Next day - my missus took the car, got to the end of the street, started to pull out, and again the car cut out - she managed to pull over on the wrong side of the road with the hazards on before restarting.

She thought to herself, ok - maybe just a once off, so kept driving a little more up the road - and it happened again!

Yesterday - i went out and came home numerous times with no problems whatsoever, so wtf?

Today - driving around and noticed with slight acceleration when i was going around a round-a-bout the car jolted as if i did a bunny hop in a manual. (no change of acceleration peddle). I didnt see dash lights come on - and kept driving.

I cant seem to pin it down to cold / warm / hot temps.

I had the dvd/cd off

and A/C off to try and pin it down to something like that.

We drove the car from melb - adelaide which is 800km's and had no dramas at all in the last 2 months until a couple of days ago.

I'm thinking it may be a broken wire / bad connection on the alarm/immobiliser somewhere??? and it is cutting all power to the car.

It seems to be very inconsistent, so i cant even try to locate if a certain area, my guess is the alarm???

ANY HELP????

thanks

-Matt

[skidkid]

Has it happened at idle? If you are able to dissconnect alarm yourself, do it and start it up/ take for drive. I worked on an RB30 last week that had a similar problem for months. I didn't find the cause. All I did was make sure dist., coil, sensor wires etc. were clean and fitted tight. Last I heard it hadn't missed a beat!! Hope you work it out easlily.

[66yostagea]

There have been a few posts about this type of thing happening. For different reasons.

The day I picked up the S1 it cut out on a slow turn into a servo, going over a speed bump. She cut out, but immediately re started. It happened a couple of days later, similar circumstances. Cut out, restart immediately.

Hasent done it again for 10 months. Peculiar.

With mine I think it was old petrol and residue needed to be flushed out. Some of the Stageas sit for months in Japan before being sold.

[munchstagea]

Could be a blocked fuel filter? Probably not as that would have been changed at compliance...

If it was the imobiliser wouldn't the alarm sound? Could just be a bad connection in the circuit though, take it back to the installer and get them to check it as they should know where to look right away.

One tip though, rather than having to stop and get it into "park" to restart, try "neutral" and you should be able to keep it rolling rather than stopping which takes a lot longer and gives you more chance of being collected by some idiot not paying due attention.

Cheers

Luke

[revvy59]

I've had a similar experience with a Mazda. Same type of symptoms but was sometimes hard to start. It ended up being the alarm itself. Part of the alarm is to cut power to the crank angle sensor, this threw a code to the computer that the distributor was not working, hence the engine would shut down. I had to turn the alarm off and reconnected the wires to the crank angle sensor so it didn't go thru the alarm.

Edited January 6, 2007 by revvy59

[qikstagea]

Sounds like a vacuum/afm problem like mine had. are u running a pod filter? and check ur vacuum lines to ur manifold etc. Mine had the exact same symptoms. I found myself driving along and having to slid it into nuetral mid-turn, restart it and carry on driving. embarassing.

[muck]

One tip though, rather than having to stop and get it into "park" to restart, try "neutral" and you should be able to keep it rolling rather than stopping which takes a lot longer and gives you more chance of being collected by some idiot not paying due attention.

a rolling start lights up the 4wd light on the dash... from the one time i tried ... had to stop and restart......

i guess the computer doesnt like the car to be moving and started at teh same time

[Silverback]

First thing is to check whether the car loses all "Power" i.e. loses dash lights etc. I had this on my car twice before it stopped completely. First thing I checked was the battery. It looked clean as, but I cleaned the inside and outside of the terminals, reconnected and "hey presto" good as gold. It also reset my ECU too!

It might not be that simple in your case, but it might be worth checking.

[fcruz3r]

mine did that on several occasions on a cold start...didnt actually die..but when turning the steering..the revs will fall really2 low..then back up again ..have since replaced the battery and it hasnt done that again since...then again ..i have done up my AAC and coils ..so that could have contributed to the problem.

[huddy]

crazy - thanks for all the replys

it did it again to me yesterday :S

i have got in contact with the alarm installer - he said it sounds like a sort of cut aswell - so wednesday the alarm is going to be disconnected to try and pinpoint it to that.

the car has a brand new battery in it, and the terminals all look nice and new aswell - but i will disconnect and clean all connection areas.

i'm pretty sure the car doesnt lose all power - as the first time it happened i didnt even know the car was off (coz its so quiet inside, and i think i had the radio on)

I'm not running a pod, still the stock air box. It has a new clean panel filter in there.

I will check the vacuum lines again - i did have a quick look but couldnt find anything.

if it is the immobiliser, i'm not sure if the siren would sound... it literally may not be on for that long? it is very much like it is stalling, but without the drop in rpm (ie it will stall out with acceleration sometimes)

I am pretty sure that the fuel pump would've been changed not too long ago with compliance, also the fuel in the tank isnt very old at all - a week tops of premium.

It has not stalled at idle.

I will re-check all electrical connections and connectors are all together properly.

thankyou again

[wagon]

mine does it when the BOV vents to atmosphere.

Do u have an aftermarket BOV?

[huddy]

no it still has stock pretty much everything

[MrFlex]

i had the exact same problem ur talking about, in the end i just played with the battery terminals coz they were a little loose and it hasnt happened again.

[huddy]

hopefully that is it - coz i did wiggle some wires and its been fine for almost a week! and then it did it to me twice

only lights that came up were oil / engine / battery...

will disconnect battery and clean all terminals and re-tighten

[Terminal]

I just had this problem with my '01 corolla. diagnosis was a faulty distributor. i know stageas don't have them, but i'm sure whatever gives the signal to the coils (power inducer or something?) could be playing up? i'd be checking your ignition system for a fault, not the alarm.

[Silverback]

Had exactly the problem you first described happen to me in the middle of turning at an intersection. I started it again, and away it went. I then started to notice that the radio was cutting out as I was driving, and then when I stopped it sometimes wouldnt start again.

I just pulled off the battery leads, which I had cleaned up fine, but then pulled off the plug connected to the positive terminal and it really needed a good clean. I sanded up the terminals to ensure a good connection all over, and reconnected. No probs so far, but will post again in a week or so on how it went.

[loymclure]

yeah same problem here i have been told its the airflow meter but i havn't had time to take it into the see how much a new one costs

[lanky71]

I've got the same issue in my R34 GTT, i reset the ecu and disconnected the battery it worked for like 3 weeks and now is playing up again... I am taking it a autoelectrician tomorrow but he said these things are very hard to diagnose as this is the 4th time this issue has arisen and he has looked at it once already.... He did mention that maybe it was the alternator, either faulty or the alternator is putting too much power thru the car via the battery when firstly starting to accelate or slow down and hence the car for safety reasons cuts out so not to fry anything, will let u know what he says tomorrow providing i get the car back then...

[loymclure]

again i recomend checking the airflow meter it basicly sets your air fuel mix if there is dirt in it or its poked then it will give u a crap reading and make your car idle all screwy and shut off some times. im unsure if you have checked your factory induction kit but the foam around it some times degrades and all that stuff goes into you airflow meter and sticks to the wire inside but this is only my suggestion from a mate that use to idolise his gtr b4 he got old. hope you work it out cheerz

Edited January 15, 2007 by loymclure

[Tangles]

on a side note, yesterday I mucked around and readjusted/tightened a belt (one closest to battery). started car and she just wouldnt run right, stalled at low rpm etc. with that belt just a fraction too tight the engine had issues. I know its not the same problem, but a sidenote nonetheless.