A610 cutting out

by **666baddy** » Thu May 21, 2009 8:22 pm

I've re purchased an old A610 of mine a couple of weeks ago and was told the car sometimes cuts out when hot. This happened to me last week and again today. The relays inside the car have already been spaced slightly away from the engine bay. I drove the car today and left the cover off inside the car and still had the same problem. My 1st A610 had this problem and from memory it was down to a loose connection in a big multi plug inside the engine bay. The plug was located on the right hand side near to the water bottle, could this be causing me a problem on this car or is it likely to be something else? Any help would be appreciated as I'm hoping to take the car to Manchester on the 2nd June and don't want the other half having a go :-)

by **mettersl** » Thu May 21, 2009 10:24 pm

Hi Ben,
You've stumbled on the problem with the most fixes on these cars. The A610 cutting out problem is quite common but no one can agree what causes it.
Does yours re-start immediately after it has cut out?
Does it do it when in slow moving traffic or have trouble re-starting after being parked on a hot day?

I have heard the following suggestions (in no particular order)..

1) Change or clean the injectors
2) Change the battery (yes really that worked for someone)
3) Check and repair the engine loom (similar to your plug suggestion)
4) Provide more ventilation on the ECU
5) Provide more ventilation for the coil
6) Replace the flywheel trigger sensor

More advice here...
http://www.renaultalpineownersclub.com/ ... ht=cutting

Cheers

Lee

by **666baddy** » Fri May 22, 2009 9:54 am

Hi Lee,

Thanks for the info.

When the car cuts out it restarts straight away with a flick of the key.
I removed the ecu cover yesterday and it didn't seem to make a difference and it wasn't a hot day either.

I'll give the other suggstions a go and see how I get on.

Cheers
Ben

by **Stunned Monkey** » Fri May 22, 2009 9:59 am

I've seen 3 Venturi 300's woth cutting out issues. One turned out to be the coil, the other two were both ECU-getting-hot problems. My 610 also suffered the same issue. You say the relays have been spaced away - this isn't enough, you need to take the ECU off the rear wall.

Not saying other things may be the cause, but there's definitely something in the ECU that has a thermal trip and either isn't present or doesn't get as hot on the GTA. I drove around with the lid off and could hear the ECU switch off the injector/fuel pump relay. If you coast for long enough, it cuts back in, alternatively you can do an ignition reset, but it then cuts out more readily, pointing to a thermal trip.

by **JohnC** » Fri May 22, 2009 10:07 am

The relays inside the car have already been spaced slightly away from the engine bay.

My understanding is that the ECU is behind the relays hard up against the bulkhead according to the manual. Are you saying the relays are air spaced away from the bulkhead but not the ECU. If that is the case, try air spacing the ECU, then run with the cover off for a while and see what happens.
In my experience no Electronic Black Box (be it an ECU or other Electronic unit) likes getting too hot, as all semiconductor devices have limited temperature tolerances, and this intermittent fault that most 610 owners experience does seem to be temperature related.
If I were going to try and isolate this problem, having read previous threads on this subject, I would put a towel, or something as protection, over the rear of the center consul, detach the whole Relay/ECU assembly from the bulkhead, lay it on the towel, and run around for a while, and see if the engin still cuts out. If it does, then at least you have ruled out overheating of the ECU.
The only thing to remember about my comments........I have never seen a 610 :cry:

....but going by the manual I think it possible to attempt :wink:

by **JohnC** » Fri May 22, 2009 10:11 am

You say the relays have been spaced away - this isn't enough, you need to take the ECU off the rear wall.

.......SNAP!!!... :lol:

by **Stunned Monkey** » Fri May 22, 2009 3:28 pm

.......SNAP!!!...

by **mettersl** » Fri May 22, 2009 9:36 pm

BTW Ben,
Did the car come from Cambridge? there used to be a similar number blue one over here
Lee

by **666baddy** » Sat May 23, 2009 11:08 am

Thanks guys for all your help.
I've taken the car to a good auto electrian and given him the workshop manuals and all your comments so hopefully it will all be sorted before my wedding next week. Not sure the wife to be will be too happy with it stopping every 5 mins (especially when she doesn't know i've bought the car yet).

I bought this car back from John in Leeds. I sold it to him about 8 years ago.

I'll let you know the outcome of this problem, hopefully we will see a pattern emerging but i doubt it :-)

by **BIG_MVS** » Sat May 23, 2009 11:14 am

Not sure the wife to be will be too happy with it stopping every 5 mins (especially when she doesn't know i've bought the car yet).

by **666baddy** » Sat May 23, 2009 3:21 pm

trust me, it will be ok :-D

by **phildini** » Mon May 25, 2009 8:42 am

My early GTA on the rear ecu cover it has holes on the top, then again my later gta it does not....... :roll:

by **JohnC** » Mon May 25, 2009 10:27 am

This apparant ECU overheating seems to be a common theme to this cutting out problem. If I had a similar problem like this. ( which I have had on similar pieces of equipment ) I would cut a 40mm hole in the top of the cover, and fit a small cooling fan (see below) connected across the 12v supply to the ECU, with a small grill at the bottom front. The fan would come on whenever the ign is switched on. But I would also air space the ECU off the bulkhead to allow the air to pass all around it. All done for under a tenner :wink:

by **Stunned Monkey** » Mon May 25, 2009 10:49 am

My next step was to have been glueing a heat sink or several to the back of the box, but simply removing it from the bulkhead seems to have cured the problem.

by **JohnC** » Mon May 25, 2009 7:11 pm

My next step was to have been glueing a heat sink or several to the back of the box,

Martin, not too sure I can agree with you on this one. Once you have created the air gap, the last thing you want to do is to place anything within it, as all that you would be doing is effectivly reducing the gap. Radiated heat from the bulkhead would heat up the heat sink, so in effect negating the gap unless air is being blown across the sink.
Secondly, the use of glue to attach heat sinks is not recommended as the glue layer will not conduct the heat from the ECU to the heat sink efficiently. All heat sinks are either bolted, or clipped to the heat source, and a paste called "Heat Sink Compound" is used between, which is a heat conductive compound, which helps pass the heat to the sink. You might have seen it under sinks, it is white in colour.
However, if you have cured your problem just by spacing the ECU off the bulkhead, thats got to be good. You most probably notice I tend to go for the Belt and Braces approach :lol: