Hi all

We bought this car when it was six months old, it's done 92K, and never failed once. It's serviced annually by yours truly, and I replaced the cam-belt at 50K.

My daughter was doing a lot of charity work, picking up important stuff for hospitals, OAPs. She was up and down the M4/M5 all day on Saturday. As she came up the slip road and stopped at the traffic lights, it cut out and would not start again. We had the car recovered, and the guy couldn't open the bonnet. The key would not release it, which is the first time it has done it. The recovery guy suggested the cam-belt had probably gone. I have used a screwdriver to release the lock and will worry about it later. The cam-belt is fine; I cannot see any issue with it.

I'm not familiar with fault finding on these cars, but I intend to follow the spark, air and fuel routine.

Please, could you give me a few pointers on where to start; are these cars known to have specific issues? As I said, it has never failed before, so I am looking at its first breakdown.

All advice will be gratefully received.

Thanks

I had the same issue with the Mk2 it was alternator failure 

I assume the starter motor is turning the engine? As if not I assume you would have said. If starter motor is working then it’s not the alternator. In what way have you checked cam belt? When stater motor turns engine are both camshafts turning. I’m not aware of any specific issues. 

Is it a MK2 or a MK1.5?

If it's a MK2 I would start with the instrument cluster multi-plug pins, common problem with these, the solders crack on the board giving loose connections.

Have you been having warnings lately about reduced performance etc?

If you get to plug the car into a reader and it shows any communications faults or Theft detected, it's the cluster.

You can send it away for about £60 and have it re-soldered

Failing that, then the alternator could've gone down or the coil pack

Not sure the Mk2 had even been thought of in '98 let alone built!  

 

Is there petrol in it?  Gauge might be faulty...

Crank sensor would be worth checking.

Can you hear any compression?