Fuel Injection Fault Problem

Desprately trying to fix my laguna. Help and advise needed PLEASE!
(2002, 51 plate, Mark 2, 2 LTR IDE 16V Petrol Laguna)
History: April 08 - in traffic car cut-out 'fuel injection fault' light came on. Wouldn't re-start. AA came out 45mins later. Car started and got home without cutting out again. Took to Renault they told me senors needed. Had replaced. OK for 4 weeks. Began to cut-out again whilst in traffic. Wouldn't start. Left to half hour then car started and got home. Car then kept cutting out but re-starting again so regularly I took back to Renault. (Fuel injection fault and ESP lights coming on). They told me high pressure fuel pump needed and maybe spark plugs interfering with perimeters. Had genuine fuel pump fitted by mechanic friend. Still same problem, not the fuel pump. Changing spark plugs and cleaning injectors tomorrow. Any suggestions????

Coils? I've had loads of problems recently with the blighters, they do seem to be a cause of a lot of peoples woes these days.

You especially find the coils work ok when cold then break down as they warm up.

Thanks for quick response I will tell the mechanic to look at coils. Thanks again Nicola.

You have to think about the kinds of faults that would cause rough running, compared to the kinds of faults that would stop the car dead in its tracks..

Very little will actually make it feel like it just turned off..

Fuel pump problem will lead to low fuel pressure, it will stutter and die fairly slowly (over a few seconds), a localised HT problem will cause rough running. Does your laguna have a coil pack on each cylinder or a a single coil and a distributor?


As a point of interest, I have a Sierra with EFI. Its recently been misbehaving. cutting out, stopping, not restarting.. only to start and drive fine for the next 100 miles 10 minutes later.

I found the problem in the end.. the connector for the crank position sensor (positioned under the oil filter - brilliant!) was full of oil, dirt and other cr@p. Cleaned that out and its been good as gold since. Some people would have scrapped it with that problem, as it was not obvious to find. Nothing came up on the ECU fault codes as with the Crank position sensor dropping out the ECU just believed the engine was not rotating and was therefore not fueling or sparking...

The lesson is dont discount the obvious. Have each connector off everything, carefully inspect for any wiring damage and clean out each connector with some contact cleaner.

Particularly if your car is dirty under the bonnet. Its not age that makes an old car electrically unreliable, its dirt that collects more dirt and moisture that does it!

If the ESP light is on what does this mean? What sensors does the ESP use? wheelspeeds, yaw, and an engine speed perhaps so it knows what gear your in and therefore has a better idea of torque to the wheels from engine speed, throttle opening and MAP..? I dont know how advanced ESP was on a 2001 laguna.

A poorly spark plug or injector will only effect one cylinder and so the car would continue to run, allbeit badly.


Best of luck.

Thanks for advise steveC I will pass info on to my mechanic friend to look at. I've had a couple of replies stating coils and someone else advised crank sensor.
Nicola

It would seem likely that the crank sensor is a possible culprit. Be that the sensor itself, the wiring between it and the ECU or coilpack or a connection along the way.

The Crank angle, or position, sensor has a digital output to the ECU. With no crank sensor input the engine will not run. The fact its digital means basically it will work.. or it wont. Not like an analogue temperature signal that can read incorrectly.

Its possible that if the ECU sees a problem it will flag an error internally and light up the warning lights and then stop working completley, until the error flag is reset.. ie: until its been reset by an extended period of being switched off. My Sierra ECU is less sophisticated than this and will fuel and fire the engine whenever it has the correct information to do so fromt the sensors it uses to decide how much fuel and when to fire it. It logs errors to download with a code reader but never refuses to operate if it 'thinks' there is a problem. Again, I dont know what a 51 plate laguna will do in any given situation.

No problem on a fuel injection system is genuinely hard to find.. you just have to work with the symptoms to find the probable casues.

Let us know how you get on...

Car fixed finally. Renault fitted regulator in April, approx 10 weeks ago. When car started cutting out again 4 weeks ago it had the same symptoms and showed the same fault 'fuel injection fault'. I said to Renault that it must be the same problem because it has the same symptoms and same fault light on. (I'm obviously not a mechanic, just using common sense). However, they insisted that it wasn't, that it was just a fault in the same area and that it was the pump. Obviously it wasn't the pump because we had a new one fitted by a mechanic friend and it didn't solve the problem. Renault had our car back for two days and finally re-checked the regulator that they put on in April and found that it was faulty. (Luckily under warrenty). They fitted a new regulator and the pressure returned to normal. So much for re-checking the obvious or your own work first. Computers it seems don't know everything. I have told them that I want the pump money I paid out refunding and the labour costs I paid. They are looking into for me.
Thanks for your help. There is a lesson to learn - check obvious and own work first before moving on to more expensive parts.
regards
Nicola

Hello,

I am having a similar problem with my laguna. Which regulator did you replace? Is that the pressure regulator?

What exactly did the mechanic do wrongly the first time that he had replaced this part in your car?

Thanks for your help.

Ash

Dear Ash
It was the pressure regulator. We had a new pressure regulator fitted 10 weeks ago so Renault thought it couldn't be the problem so they advised to get a new high pressure fuel pump. When we had pump fitted elsewhere (Renault too expensive) this didn't solve the problem. So we went back to Renault who over 2 days finally checked the pressure regulator and found it to be faulty. It was still under warrenty so didn't cost. They tested car over further 3 days and car fine. Pump not needed. This was Renaults typed diagnostic print out -
'Confirmed complaint cutting out and injection light on. Carried out clip test. Fuel pressure regulator and sensor fault found intermittantly fault switching from sensor to regulator. Carried out fuel pressure tests found when fault occurs high pressure part fails. High pressure pump requires replacing. Advise. Spark plugs replace as suspect they are causing interference with injection paremeters'.
We did replace spark plugs but this made no difference. It was the regulator and not the pump.
Hope this helps.
From Nicola

Hi guys, it has been a while since the last reply, but since I'm cracking my head with the same problem, I want to ask nicola another question.
When you first experienced the problem was before replacing for the first time the pressure regulator, and most important was there any sign of any fault when diagnosed with the CLIP module? 'Cause I'm in the same situation, nothing appears to be wrong when diagnosed, but still experiencing the fault, and the engine's rpms are wutomaticly limited to 1800.

Thank a lot.