Car Mechanics Advice

[grapes_collector]

Our poor old 1996 Holden HSV Senator has just about had its life me thinks.

For a while it has been doing strange things. Engine management light comes on, and either engine cuts out or it has trouble engaging gears..no guts.  However when the engine is turned off for a couple of minutes and then turned on again everything is fine.

Today we went to pick some ebay purchases and on the way home we get on to the M4 (Sydney) the car starts shaking. Hubby says its the road, but it gets so bad we think we have a flat tyre. Pull over, get out and there is a strong smell of rubber.. but no flat tyres.  We managed to get home but the old problem of no guts again.

Pulled in to driveway, but then after we stopped... nothing. Started engine again after a couple of minutes & everything was fine...no engine light and no probs.

We will be taking it for a good check next week, but does anyone have any ideas as to what the problem might be?

Ta

[viewmont1071]

If it is a v6 then that is possible Carl

Toooo much "good cheer' last night preparing for the world cup footy.  aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi..

I forgot to differentiate that the Crank angle sensor (which picks up only crankshaft position ) getting hot

scenario is  a V6 problem because v6's do not have a dizzy they have 3 coil packs with two terminals on each. Another

sensor is required to pick up camshaft position to provide relative base ignition timing

The senator however should be a 5litre (minimum) V8

The V8 has a dizzy with a hall effect sensor and ign module inside the dizzy. The hall sensor is also a

crank angle sensor but picks up crankshaft position from a slotted wheel in the distributor The distributor is "driven" from

a spiral gear on the camshaft which when matched correctly to the hall sensor signal also provides relative base 

 ignition timing.

Gotta love China I cannot believe how cheap a complete dizzy has become 49 buckeroos  search

HOLDEN COMMODORE V8 SERIES 2 VP VR VS DISTRIBUTOR ELECTRONIC READY TO RUN

A hall sensor is about 50 from jaycar and the module about 80... It has me thining how can they do them so cheap and

therefore I question reliability.

if you search vs v8 distributor you can see a marked varinace in prices... Those 124 buck ones seem to sell pretty well

They are a little tricky to fit. The retaining bolt is hidden and you have to pull off some covers to get access. so maybe

an hours labour. Add an hour for diagnosis as well. If you have a good rekationship with your mechanic  then a phonecall may elecit the normal response.

""mate for $49 for a dizzy its not worth diagnosis just buy one and I will just whack it in""

I am a leaning towards dizzy and centre bearing rubber cactus V8

Having typed all that a poor/burnt/corroded main wire top lug connection from the back of the Alternator to the postive

side of the battery can give sort of the same scenario although not so predictable.as the ECU needs a constant rather

then fluctuating voltage source ( like your computer at home) to interpret the signals correctly.

[viewmont1071]

sorry about the "spellun" shoulda put my glasses on