Hello. Sorry about all the writing, I hope it doesn't put anyone off, as I'm desperate for help! Some of the things the car has been doing have made me question whether 'Herbie' the car that drives itself is actually fiction after all.
I have a J-reg Astra that's been put through its paces going up and down to uni for three years and now it seems to think that it's time to retire. It has started doing some pretty strange things!
At first, all that I noticed was that when driving home from work at say 40mph, it would sometimes 'hesitate' a little in terms of the power to drive the car, but only for a second or two. However, I knew that things were amiss and decided to keep an eye on it to see if anything developed. A week or so later, the engine completely cut out as I was parking (which was lucky). It started up again so that was a relief, but I didn't know why it had stopped. Over time, it started doing it more and more often, almost always when I was stationary or in neutral. The engine would just suddenly stop, with no violence or anything, it would just be like the key had been turned. However, much to my embarrassment, considering it usually did it at busy junctions, it would then struggle to restart again. I'd hold the ignition down, and I would hear it turning, and then the very slightest roar of the engine as if it was just starting, but then deciding not to after all, and it would just repeat that over and over again, ignition noise, slight roar, ignition noise, etc., whilst the car vibrated from the effort. It truely seemed like it really wanted to start but something was not letting it! Anyway, after 15 or so seconds it would usually have started by then, and then the engine would run fine, and it would be as if nothing had happened.
I decided to take it to a garage to see what they thought, but they didn't really know what to say. They couldn't get it to cut out themselves (sod's law :P ) and said that they'd also not found any error codes in the ECU, and so they just cleaned out the throttle linkage, etc. and told me to 'stop driving like an old man'!
But it didn't really seem to make much difference. The 'hesitating' had now become more violent, feeling like a car with damp HT-leads is when it's being driven--i.e. a very headbanging ride, and it was still cutting out at low revs. A few days ago whilst coming home at night in the rain it cut out again, but this time completely refused to start up at all. Luckily as there weren't many cars around, I was able to roll backwards down the slight hill to the side of the road, and there it eventually started, but the electrical control warning light was on, meaning that it was having to run an emergency ECU programme instead. Other than that the car was running fine again though, and when I started it up again the next day, the warning light was no longer being lit.
However, the problems were clearly not gone. The 'hesitations' whilst driving were now beginning to also be accompanied by the slowing down sensation you get with engine braking, even though I was not doing anything with the gears. And just this evening, when driving home in a slight downhill section, approaching a junction, I went to change down from third to second gear, but just before I did, it happened again. I lost acceleration power, and, to my astonishment, despite by now being in neutral, the car was clearly slowing down by itself!! The same 'engine braking' sensation, despite being in neutral and going downhill! After a couple of seconds, it stopped with a /huge/ jolt as had become the custom, and I just about made it home, but now even more confused than ever.
So, does anyone have any idea what is going on here? It tends to do it more at low engine temperatures (and they always seem to be unusually low anyway at the moment, I think the termostat may have stuck open or something), but it still does it when it's hot too, just less often. If anyone can help, I will be eternally grateful to them, as no one else I know, including the people at the garage, seems to be anything other than baffled!
Thankyou :).