Entervan engine cutting out

[drake11457]

We have a 2.8 diesel Entervan which has developed a problem of the engine cutting out randomly when driving. After stopping the engine will restart immediatly, have changed the crank sensor and fuel filters to no avail. Has anyone else had a similar experience .
Mark

[ex-Gooserider]

No relevant experience, but I know that those vans are supposed to have the ability to talk to one of the OBD code readers. First thing I'd probably want to do is get one of the readers (they aren't terribly expensive) and plug it in so that I could keep a constant eye on what "codes" the van is throwing, especially when the problem happens. This will hopefully get you more info on what the problem is.

ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/tools.htm

Essential tools... Orange thing from ebay at end of page. very cheap! Very useful...

[phatboyroy]

Hi Mark,
it's Roy Bamford here.
Is it MJ04 that's cutting out? (it didn't cut out when we had her)
But, you may recall we had similar on our new (newer) 2.8 and it's been a pain since we purchased it last year; cutting out; radio playing up; ramp and door not functioning properly; air bag light, you name it.

Actually, we’ve just got back from the garage now, and it appears they’ve resolved a couple of snags.
As regards cutting out, they put the 'tester' on it several times over the last 12 months, and it hasn't thrown up any errors at all. HOWEVER, the auto mech drew on his experience, and correctly diagnosed a burnt out fuel heater plug and socket on top of the fuel filter. the heater gets too hot for the plastic housing and it eventually cracks allowing air to be sucked into the top of the housing. It also causes difficulty starting sometimes, we had the ‘glo-plugs changed last winter thinking it was that.
Anyway, costings, they also replaced the actual filter, (i think it's a redesigned housing but they replaced with a new filter anyway) £84, analysing £79, new plug and loom £15 with £120 labour. £220 and change ex vat, of course we don’t pay VAT.
the mech said that what also happens is that when they replace the filter, (annual service etc) the 'o' ring is not immediately apparent, so it often gets left in the housing. the 'inexperienced' mechanic comes along and puts a new 'o' ring in there so now there's 2 ‘o’ rings. of course this doesn't seat properly which also allows air into the filter and fuel system.
so if the cutting out has occurred since a service... go for the 2 'o' rings, if it's a random thing pre-service then i would plump for the fuel heater housing.
also by way of info, the radio cutting was the result of the boot trim panel holding (grey plastic) pin (along the back of the boot) was pushed through into the body work... and it took the speaker cable with it. can you imagine the force the gorilla needed to push the pin and the wire through the locating hole, no wonder it stripped the insulation. of course this allowed an intermittent short, ergo no sound.
the air bag light looks to be the 'clockspriing' behind the steering wheel. Another £200 inc labour.
anyway, you have my number, if you want to chat, (i've lost yours) i don't mind in the least discussing it all with you.

kind regards

roy

[Burgerman]

When hand controlls are fitted the drivers air bag is removed. They put a simple wire link in to fool the van into thinking its still there. If it makes bad contact or falls out you get the light.

[phatboyroy]

ha ahhhh.
worth noting.
tho ours is a standard wheel, no hand controls.
i've also heard that when the pax seat is removed they fit a 'jump' to fool the system into thinking the seat has an occupant, therby satisfying the airbvag/sesat belt & pre-tensioner systems.
regards

[ex-Gooserider]

Check w/ Chrysler on the clock-spring repair, at least in the US that was the subject of a big recall and free / discounted repair for some year models. IIRC, the cost varied a bit depending on the vehicle age and mileage. Certainly won't hurt to ask...

ex-Gooserider

[phatboyroy]

hi ex-goose,
checked with Chrysler UK and guess what... they don't have a recall for the UK market for this item.
it appears that we, (us Brits) are 'softer' than the 'American Market' and therefore they don't feel the need to be overly nice.

[ex-Gooserider]

hi ex-goose,
checked with Chrysler UK and guess what... they don't have a recall for the UK market for this item.
it appears that we, (us Brits) are 'softer' than the 'American Market' and therefore they don't feel the need to be overly nice.

Mostly they don't do it to be "nice" even here in the US... It is usually done because they are forced to do so by one of the US gov't agencies that collect data on vehicle problems, especially safety related ones, and order recalls to repair ones that are viewed as particularly serious / likely to cause an accident. There can also be some cases where the automaker will do the recall first on their own, but often it is because they are just trying to head off the government from doing it.

Apparently the clockspring had been blamed for some unexpected airbag firings, and erratic operation of the cruise control - since both could cause accidents, especially the first, they ordered a recall to replace them....

ex-Gooserider