Car Misfires When Front Wheels Move And Cuts Out

[joel]

Hi, I'm having great fun at the moment with my beloved galaxy! The car ticks over and revs perfectly but as soon as the front wheels move it starts to misfire. It also likes to cut out as you drop the clutch up to roundabouts and corners (who knew driving could still be so exciting?). You can even have it jacked up in neutral and it still misfires when the front wheels are turned. I've had it back and forth to my mechanic and so far we've.....

 

1. Had it fully OBD2 tested (showed crankshaft sensor)

2. Changed Crankshaft sensor

3. Changed Camshaft sensor

4. Changed Gearbox speed sensor

5. briefly disconnected front abs sensors (made no difference at all)

 

After 1, 2, & 3 it ran perfectly for about 5 days (such a tease!) but then yesterday it started misfiring again and then the instrument cluster went a bit crazy (oil warning light came pinging on for a few seconds, then off, then on again a minute later etc. the rev needle hit 0 whilst the engine was running (several times) the car kangarood like you wouldn't believe and occasionally cut out.) It was like driving a clowns circus car, thankfully I wasn't far from home but the wife didn't look too impressed sat next to me (they're supposed to have steam coming out there ears right?).

 

I'm thinking it must be the ECU but am open to suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice and has this happened to anyone else?

[daddyfixit]

get it up on a ramp or axle stands; keeping long hair and loose clothes away from anything rotating !!!

 

with the engine running and the sump shield off-----

carefully start wiggling any parts of the wiring loom you can see, anything near the coil packs,all engine sensors, just wiggle the wiring and the multi-plugs that join the looms together. wiring to crank sensors, the gearbox sensors, anything that s wired up !!

 

it sounds like you have a broken wire or even a loose plug some where ??

 

then drop the lower half of the dashboard and do the same, where there are any connectors under dash or even rattling the fuse box itself ???

 

eventually there must be something you wiggle that causes the misfire to happen as you mess with it..........

[alan_131]

Hi Joel

I'm a newbie and not familiar with your problem but I'm sure one of the experts here will be able to point you in the right direction. With a bit of luck, somebody will say this connector/relay or loom where it goes here... I know that on some VW TDI's oil warning light oddities can be associated with rev counter/alternator (don't know if galaxy variants are included) connections, in a small way part of what you're experiencing. My uneducated guess would be loom/connectors somewhere nearish to where the sensors you've mentioned come together or upstream of that heading towards the ecu - just because it went away when those areas were fiddled with.

 

That kind of brings me to the point of this post - those who can help may find it useful if you can give more detail on which engine you have, and what version/mark/year. It might also help if you can post any new codes that have popped up. And, (it's been a bad night and I'm not feeling very bright) when you're talking about this happening with the car jacked up and in neutral, do you mean it happens when you manually rotate a road wheel, or turn the steering wheel? Did it happen at all while it was just idling jacked up, and did it miss always as soon as you turned a wheel? If so, how far/fast did you need to turn it? Misfiring - drops a few beats, then picks up again, or goes into a continuous stutter?

 

Beyond this point (some would say the whole post) is just my uninformed ramblings but maybe you might have one of those "it's not that but..." moments

 

I'm wondering (in a very uninformed way) if this could be connected to the ecu's clever management of the engine when it thinks the car is slowing down but driven by the road wheels - on some cars it cuts the fuel till the revs drop below a certain level. Pressing the clutch should let the engine idle - but if it thinks the clutch isn't depressed, and it's getting bad data from the other sensors, maybe you have your problem. ECU getting bad engine rpm data (bad display, flashing oil light), thinks engine still driven by road wheels at above idle speed, doesn't know clutch is in = fuel shutoff...

 

Good grief, this is a rambling post. I'd check connectors, clear the codes, see if vcds/vagcom can see your clutch/brake/throttle/speed etc sensors and log the data when you test. And if the radio or wipers go off when you slow down (just in case its main relay associated though if it idles ok probably not)

 

Sorry it's such a list - as I say, not feeling very bright....

[Bigjeeze]

Hi, I'm having great fun at the moment with my beloved galaxy! The car ticks over and revs perfectly but as soon as the front wheels move it starts to misfire. It also likes to cut out as you drop the clutch up to roundabouts and corners (who knew driving could still be so exciting?). You can even have it jacked up in neutral and it still misfires when the front wheels are turned. I've had it back and forth to my mechanic and so far we've.....

 

1. Had it fully OBD2 tested (showed crankshaft sensor)

2. Changed Crankshaft sensor

3. Changed Camshaft sensor

4. Changed Gearbox speed sensor

5. briefly disconnected front abs sensors (made no difference at all)

 

After 1, 2, & 3 it ran perfectly for about 5 days (such a tease!) but then yesterday it started misfiring again and then the instrument cluster went a bit crazy (oil warning light came pinging on for a few seconds, then off, then on again a minute later etc. the rev needle hit 0 whilst the engine was running (several times) the car kangarood like you wouldn't believe and occasionally cut out.) It was like driving a clowns circus car, thankfully I wasn't far from home but the wife didn't look too impressed sat next to me (they're supposed to have steam coming out there ears right?).

 

I'm thinking it must be the ECU but am open to suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice and has this happened to anyone else?

 

In addition to the other advice here I would also check your brake light bulbs but most importantly the brake light and or the switch on the clutch ( Cruise Control) pedals. Bizzarely these can have a weird effect when faulty and of course could manifest themselves as soon as you move off or brake/.depress the clutch pedal.