'99 156, 1.8TS, Cuts out *loosing all hope*

Firsty, apologies if the answer to this is already on the forum somewhere, if it is, then I can't find it.

History: Driving to work one morning, engine cuts out while driving. Left it for about an hour and the car started again and I drove home. Called out faithful mobile mechanic and the diagnostic said crank angle sensor.

He said that to change the sensor you have to remove the cambelt, so it would be worth replacing with a new one. At the same time we also did, the variator, the maf and the o2 sensor.

Then he found one of the cams heavily worn (possibly due to running low on oil), Which I knew was due to a dodgy piston ring...etc...etc...

So now, £3k later, we've pretty much rebuilt the engine.

BUT!! IT STILL CUTS OUT!!

It does runs sweet as a nut, but when it reaches temperature, and when the ECU attempts to start the cooling fan, the engine cuts out and won't restart untill it's cooled right off.

Has anyone got any Ideas? Cos I think this fella is taking me up the perverbial.

Crank sensor.
Easy to change, no belt to remove.
It is located down the back of the engine near the starter motor.

Your mechanic got confused with the cam sensor, completely different...

It would have been about £50 inc labour...!

Originally Posted by David C

Crank sensor.
Easy to change, no belt to remove.
It is located down the back of the engine near the starter motor.

Your mechanic got confused with the cam sensor, completely different...

It would have been about £50 inc labour...!

A mechanic confusing a cam sensor with a crank sensor??? I THINK NOT! This has to be a pure case of taking a non technically minded owner for a ride, £3000 would have bought you 2 recon engines.. FITTED, this mechanic should be named and shamed, so that others don't fund his mistakes.

Thanks for the replys guys.

He has done a lot of work, and I'm sure the engine is better for it, but the car wasn't/isn't worth all that money. If I'd have known I'd have scrapped it.
I'm hopefully gonna see him today, if it turns out that he really could have got it back on the road for £50, I'm gonna get upside his face!

The crank sensor failing when hot, stopping the engine, and not working again until it has cooled down, is a very common problem.

Originally Posted by David C

The crank sensor failing when hot, stopping the engine, and not working again until it has cooled down, is a very common problem.

I'll second that. One of the most common problems we see on here, irrespective of TS, V6 or JTD.

did you see the worn cams & pistons? if so then its a bit on the expensive side for a rebuild but not exactly work done that wasn't needed.
ok, the reason for the cutting out would/is the crank sensor (had the exact same thing on my old 156jtd) but even once that would have been changed it wouldn't have altered the worn engine. just a shame he obviously got confused with what is a cam and what is a crank
surprised you couldn't find reference to the fault though as it is a very common problem

Even if it was the crank sensor, the worn cams would still have to be replaced, and chances are the metal from them would have got into the bearings and done some damage, so the engine may well have been wrecked

I still think a reconditioned engine would have been a better bet though, probably from Autolusso, as well as being cheaper.

My guess is he has fannied around trying to diagnose the problem, and charged you a large labour rate for doing so.

He defiantly did all the work, and I’ve got the worn cams, but what my point is that even with the worn cams and dodgy piston ring the car still drove, and could have got back on the road for the sake of just the crank sensor.
If I had known I was gonna spend all that money then I would have junked it.

Thanks anyways lads , I’ll get a new crank sensor on there and let you know what happens.

Update:

It was the crank sensor!

I found a post on the forum, that said the resistance of sensor should be at about 85kohms when cold and it shouldn't go above 100kohms when hot. And thats exactly what it did so I bought a new one from "www.shop4parts.co.uk. Popped it on and now it's running fine.

Thanks for the help lads

Originally Posted by ChocolateBandit

It was the crank sensor!

No surprise there then...!

Originally Posted by ChocolateBandit

I found a post on the forum, that said the resistance of sensor should be at about 85kohms when cold and it shouldn't go above 100kohms when hot.

Just to correct that for anyone refering to this thread
850 - 870 ohms normally

shouldn't go over 1k ohm