Car cuts out when I'm stopped at traffic lights?

Question

My Rover 400 frequently cuts out at traffic lights & roundabouts. Engine seems to shudder momentarily before completely cutting out and sometimes its an ordeal trying to restart it. To avoid it, I put the handbrake on and keep revving it until I can move off but this is not the answer....any ideas?

Forgot to mention everything was working fine until my father in law decided to do me a 'favour' and clean my car...inside and out! I think (but he won't admit) he rinsed the computer part underneath the bonnet when cleaning it

Answer 1

Idling speed may need turning up, quick and easy repair.

Answer 2

Firstly there is no idle screw It works via a stepper motor so the computor has control If and if your convinced that your inlaw did under the bonnet check all the wiring connections are on or not dislodged at the throttle body which is central rear of the engine.Around that same area will be small bore black plastic pipes,listen for air sucking sound and follow them to each end and check fitment The ecu silver or black box 4 to 5 inch square under the bonnet could have water so use a hair drier and slowly and note the word slowly warm this up If this cures it the central band aroud the ecu,seal with something like aquarium clear sealer Stay lucky

Answer 3

the problem could be due to your fuel mixture and the timing and idle speed. try this list of tests/observations to eliminate possible causes and let me know what the out come of them are and i might be able to give you a more accurate solution to the problem. 1) check to see if all your wire connections are tight and are not brokenincluding the one from your ecu (electronic controll unit this could be sited on the passenger inner wing or at the back of the engine bay near the window screen on the passenger side) it has a large block connector a bit like a scart lead for a tv connection. 2) if the engine idles and your car has a rev counter on the dashboard then see if it idles at about 1000 rpm if not ask a garage to do an idle speed test and at the same time ask if they could do an emmissions test as this will tell you if it is due to the fuel mixture being either too rich or too weak if it is too weak then this could cause the problem if it is too rick then it is flooding the system which will cause idleing and starting problems they may charge you for this but it will sort out 2 possible problems the other thing to test is that your timing is set right as if it is set too advanced then it will not fire at the right time as the fuel will be getting pushed out on the exhaust stroke causing a lack of power if it is too retarded then it will be fireing too early and you will not be getting an ideal smooth fireing causing splutering at low speeds 3)check your spark plugs and leads are in good condition as this could lead to poor fireing resulting in power loss and missfireing
i hope that this helps you if you need more help then let me know the results of theses tests .

Answer 4

Its called a stall, your engine keeps stalling.

Get your clutch plates checked out at a garage, the momentary shuddering is the engine labouring and it stalls to prevent any damage to the engine.

Instead of putting the handbrake on and revving, try dipping the clutch all the way down and revving.

Answer 5

take off air filter pan, ( 3 screws and a couple of hoses underneath) you will see the throttle assembly ( sounds scary! but it aint that bad.) you will see a half moon shaped piece of metal or plastic, on the bottom of the flat side of this you will see a bolt/screw give this a couple of turns clockwise this the idle screw adjuster if the half moon shape moves slightly the you have the right screw, start your car up and try it, leave it running to warm up, but now you know what the screw looks like, reassemble the air filter pan ( don't forget the hoses underneath) and you might need to re-adjust the idle after the car is warm so take for a spin round the block to get it warmed up.

Answer 6

I'm not a cleverclogs when it comes to cars. I dont know how to repair this one but I do know it sounds like something that happened to me some time back, and that was the idle speed needed to be altered. Its a simple thing to do, like turning a screw or something so a garage would be able to do this simply and quickly for you.

Answer 7

1

Answer 8

First I'd have the throttle plate and Idle Air Control (IAC) valve cleaned to restore the idle. You may also have a problem with your fuel injectors needing cleaning. http://www.BGprod.com service centers provide the required cleaning in the USA.

Answer 9

you need to have the computer scanned on it to see if it has any bad sensors that will cause this to happen,there's a lot of things that can and will cause a car to do that, a bad gas filter will cause this,also a bad set of plugs will do it ,an idle air control valve will do it also,if you have it scanned it will save you a whole lot of money,other wise you,ll wind up buying parts you really don't need for it,good luck with it.

Answer 10

Vacuum leak.
Look around the engine for a small hose that came off the engine and is allowing the engine to suck raw air.

Answer 11

Sounds like fuel starvation, check idling speed.