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MG MGF Technical - ENGINE CUT OUT ON MOTORWAY

My wife was going to work this morning, when the engine cut out in lane 3 of the motorway.
She managed to pull on to the hard shoulder safely, switched the ignition off, left it a minute, then tried to restart it, which it did. The car ran ok again after that.

She said that all the warning lights came on and the indicators still worked.

The distributor cap and rotor arm were recently cleaned (2 months ago)during replacement of radiator and heater hoses.

Any ideas out there as to where I should look?
Russ

A few years ago I had a problem on the f where if you moved out of lane and put the foot down the engine would die. It could happen on a large roundabout or any where a sudden change of stabilty occoured. Mg dealer had it in 4 times replacing ecu and outehr things, very expensive< turned out the last time it happened the rac came out and while he waited for a relay truck he hasd a look.
It turned out that the wiring at the couil had been getting damp and had started to corrode the terminals ( not easily seen unless you took time and looked)the treminals were replace and the fault never reapeared. Mg garage said 'rubbish' on no you cant get your money back.
SYMTOMS WERE CUTTING OUT...LEAVE FOR A WHILE THEN STARTED AND DROVE, ALSO ALL LIGHTS ETC WERE OK OK.
hope this helps
gerry

please dont slag the spelling...greasy fingers from chippy lunch and in a hurry
gerry

Thanks, Gerry. I'll have a look at all the electrical connections over the weekend.
I think I'll change the distributor cap and rotor arm whilst I'm there too (having looked back at previous threads).
Does anyone know if this fault will show up on testbook. Also the car has stopped 'superlocking'. I have checked the boot wiring and fuses, and that is all in order.
Thanks for any help.
Russ

Hi Gerry, my wife had the same symptoms on the same sliproad onto a motorway, and we EVENTUALLY put it down to her knee knocking the ignition key around one click. She sits so close to the controls, being shorter than myself that her knee comes very close to the keys, and we believe that rearranging her seating position slightly for motorway "cruising" caused the keys to be knocked.

Nice cheap problem to resolve! ;-)
Tony

Hi All,

I’ve done exactly the same thing as Tony’s wife, after joining the motorway, getting up to speed, you ‘settle’ into the driving position. At this point the engine cut, all lights came on etc. I made it to the hard shoulder, thinking that I had a serious problem only to discover that I had knocked the key with my knee! I’m only 5’8”, so it’s not like I have very long legs!!

I’m not sure such a problem will be cheep to resolve, could involve a change of wife, not cheep! ;-)

Regards,

Mike.
MG Mike

Thanks to all for your comments. I checked all the ignition connections, and changed the distributor cap and rotor arm. Since I have been using it, it hasn't as much as hiccupped, so I am going to investigate how close her legs get to the keys when she is driving.

Unfortunately, after a head gasket failure, EPAS resetting, burst cooling hose, hydragas reinflation, 2x wheelbearing replacement, blowing fuses etc, she has decided to sell the car (just as the sun starts to shine again!), as she now doesn't feel too confident driving the 40 miles to work every day, in case something else goes wrong on the motorway.

Thank you to all who contribute to these Technical threads. I have learned so much from them, and have been able to fix all but the HGF myself because of this new found knowledge.

Thanks,
Russ.
Russ

This thread was discussed between 19/07/2007 and 07/08/2007

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