17 replies to this topic

[Robski]

Got caught in a really bad traffic jam in London today - 2.5 hrs to go about 6 miles! Car temp went up to about 106 and idle got a little lumpy.... Then revs started dropping / rising between 500 and 1000 rpm (for a couple of seconds) and the engine just died! She started up again straight away and was ok for a while but this happened about 5 times! Anyone had similar problems or know what this could be? The car is 6 months old and has 6k miles. I've only had her a week and this is the first problem I've had. As soon as we started moving again everything went back to normal. Advice? ... yeah, yeah... 'don't get stuck in traffic jams'... funny, ha ha! cheers Robski

[Ratspants]

Perhaps not directly relevant but I'll chip it in anyway: Whenever my ancient old Golf gets stuck in traffic all the temperature needles go shooting skyward i just jam the heaters on max and open the windows and this regulates the temperature pretty well! Not pleasant but it does keep the car engine temperature within a sensible range. Given the pants nature of the VX heater though, this may or may not be effective. Ben

[bugsy]

Car temp went up to about 106 and idle got a little lumpy....

I had the same problem yesterday, stuck in traffic jams in Central London.
I was worried for a while , but it went away as soon as I started moving (and the temp dropped below 100).

I'm not worried since I spotted lots of cars that had broken down and I wasn't one of them.

[Spock]

I had exactly the same problem, also stuck in traffic in central London. The engine cut out several times when very hot, once when I was going round a roundabout! Must be a generic problem. Is it possible to set the temperature when the fans come on to a bit lower to keep the engine cooler?

[madasahatter]

Something that used to happen in my old car due to the very high under bonnet temperatures that were created by its huge engine was fuel vapourisation. Obviously, the fuel sits in the fuel lines, and at idle, is being consumed slowly by the engine. Because of this it gets hot and vapourises. There is a chance that this could be causing the problems I guess?

[GR4ZZ4]

Same thing happend to me on M1 yesterday stuck in traffic jam very hot weather just went lumpy and stalled.....? started first time traffic began to move slowly put the heater on full blast and temp came down a bit.... Hope it don't happen again?!

[Robski]

Thanks guys!! Sounds like we do have a problem here - glad it's not just mine!! I think we are probably right in assuming fuel vaporisation. Does anyone know any way of fixing this niggle??? Perhaps some form of insulation on the fuel lines??? If anyone else has had this problem keep posting so we can get an idea of how big the problem is? Perhaps it's down to Vauxhall to come up with a fix??? cheers everyone! Robski

[Steve Crisp]

Hi, Are we talking VX NA or VXT here? Totally different engines, etc. so it makes a difference. Steve

[TURBO-CC]

didn't someone post about a design feature that cut the engine above 106 degree's?

[Bengie]

Mine regularly goes upto 107 in traffic (the fan is on by then), and I've not had any problems with lumpy idle... The book, from what I remeber says that you shouldn't worry about the temperature until it gets to over 120... again IIRC, the display will flash when it gets above 115. I know this doesn't help much.

[Robski]

Steve Mine is the 2.2 NA Robski

[cheeky_chops]

Jase_mk and I queued for 40 minutes to go 2 miles to get into Donnington last week (sunday market traffic ) - mine was at 106 but no higher when the fan came on. Didnt cut out once. Jase didnt say his did.....?? Both NA's. On my old MKII 16v golf, i left it running while chatting to someone. The thermostat switch was bust that switched the radiator fan on.... I suddenly hear misfiring, look down and its at 120c !!!! I switched it off, wondered what to do (ok, needs its mobil 1 running around or it will cook), back on and put the heat on full blast - came down to <100 in a minute or so.

[GR4ZZ4]

Mines a NA and it was hovering around the 106+ figure...

[mart356]

Sounds like all you with the cut out feature should check out your fans/ thermostats. I was stuck for an hour on the M40 last week and it got to 106, the fan kicked in and it went down to 100, did this cycle a few times and off I toddled as it went down to 89/90

[Bengie]

Mine regularly goes upto 107 in traffic (the fan is on by then), and I've not had any problems with lumpy idle...

The book, from what I remeber says that you shouldn't worry about the temperature until it gets to over 120... again IIRC, the display will flash when it gets above 115.

I know this doesn't help much. 

Spoke too soon I suppose. Sat in a lot of heavy traffic yesterday morning, and got the same lumpy idle, though I think the reason it's lumpy is cause it was trying to idle at 500rpm. Also if I blipped the throttle, the revs would drop very quickly.

It didn't actually stall, but I was keeping it alive by blipping the throttle.

[BradW]

Similar problems on another car I had were due to Temperature sensor...though these problems could hit at any time rather than just in traffic.

[benw]

Read this topic yesterday morning and by jove in the afternoon I had exactly the same thing whilst sitting in traffic. Only trouble is, my temp. sensor was only reading 92 degrees Had been idling for quite a while though and I read somewhere that modern engines shouldn't be idled for a long time because you get a build up of gasses in the combustion chamber? Edited to add that I normally start sweating at about 106 degrees but so far the fan has always cut in and cooled down very quickly.

Edited by benw, 20 September 2003 - 08:25 AM.

[Robski]

Thanks to everyone for keeping us updated on this! Mine is going in to be looked at on Tuesday so we'll see if they can come up with a fix... Please update us with any further info! cheers Robski