Nightmare Journey

[highlander]

My 7 mile drive to work this morning was a decidedly hairy one; Bitchin' Betty (my Coupe's name ) threw a real tantrum.

I was turning left off the main road at a particularly busy T-junction when all of a sudden the steering wheel felt like it was made of lead and wouldn't turn at all. "ESP/ASR System Defective" appeared on the MFD, and the light on the "ESP OFF" button started flashing. The engine almost immediately conked out. All the while I was getting honked at by an army of increasingly irate motorists as I am now blocking the main road and the side road...

I thought the aux belt had snapped (which would explain the lack of power steering), as mine has been squealing for a week (going back to the garage where my cambelt got changed tomorrow to try and sort this). Thankfully no, so I turned the ignition on again, and she fired back into life - including the steering.

However, I now get everyone's favourite "Anti-pollution device defective" message - and I didn't even think you could get that on a petrol (thought this was FAP or HDi-specific). The Engine Management light also stays on. However, the car drives normally.

The only odd bit of behaviour I've noticed is the car's tendency to idle at strange revs - it normally idles at about 750 RPM - however, this has been wavering around anywhere from 800 to 1500 RPM. However, I think that was happening before today, and I was attributing it to the cambelt change (the guy said it might take up to 1000 miles of driving for the new belt to bed in properly).

Can anyone tell me what the hell happened today?

What would cause "Anti-pollution device defective" on a petrol-engined car?

Why the hell did the steering decide "f*ck it, I quit"?


I am going back to the garage tomorrow morning (this was booked on Monday due to the aux belt squealing, not as a result of today's peculiar behaviour), what should I ask him to look at? The list so far (before today's incident) was:

1) Aux belt squealing (will probably be a new belt and/or tensioner)
2) "AIR BAG" light constantly on, not flashing (they repaired the horn control on the airbag pad; maybe something to do with that)
3) Hand brake (just about doesn't work at all)

Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated, as always

Cheers
Graeme

[no2lurch]

cant really help with the whys, but the eml will stay on till its cleared.

[Gary406]

power steering pump ? its a possibility

[highlander]

Aw crap. Power steering pumps sound expensive.

It drove fine the rest of the way to work though, steering felt just perfect after restarting the engine.

Maybe I'm clouding things a bit - if the engine decided to stop, then the aux belt won't be turning, and the power steering won't be working.

No idea why the engine might have stalled, but maybe that's the reason I got the issues with steering/ESP?

[steve_earwig]

Not sure about the ESP (hey, I can't move anything with my mind!) but yep, that was my first thought - you might not actually have noticed the engine had died, particularly if you've got the radio going, but suddenly finding you don't have enough muscles to turn the wheel is a bit more obvious...

[Welly]

The PAS pump would get noisy if it was crapping out, I don't think it will be this. More a case of the belt slipping and the engine stalling.

ANTI POLLUTION messages are to do with any of the engines controls. I wonder whether the cambelt change has disturbed a sensor for example the crank-angle sensor or camshaft position sensor, that kinda thing.

Seems a huge coincidence that everything was ok BEFORE the belt change

[highlander]

The radio was, indeed, going, and quite loudly (to try to cover up the irritating "squeek squeek squeek squeek squeek" of the aux belt)... so yeah, I've decided that's it.

Would the aux belt slipping really stall the engine? I thought it might just piss the power steering or aircon off a bit, and if it snapped altogether I'd expect the power steering and air con not to work at all, and the alternator wouldn't charge the battery any more.

Hopefully the garage will sort it all out tomorrow and not require me to part with any internal organs for the privilege - I'll definitely be stressing the "it was all fine til you guys changed the belt" line to try and get as many freebie fixes as possible.

Bitchin' Betty is definitely the right name for this car.

[Rammstein406]

I wouldn't have thought an Aux belt could stall an engine, as you say.

Sounds like maybe you've had an electrical fault, the engine's stalled and you've noticed this through the lack of steering.

In the past with my cars, when things start flashing randomly all over the joint and the car splutters or fails the first places I look are the high voltage points (coil, ignition leads worn/earthing, battery terminals) and also the engine earths (could've been disturbed during belt change or engine movement with mount off). Have a check of these and make sure they're not faulty or short circuiting into other electrical systems... like the ESP control module or such.

My two pence,

Scott

[Welly]

I meant that if the belt was slipping enough you would lose the power steering occasionally (but it would have to be slipping pretty bad).

Hope it gets sorted without too much fuss.

[plod]

Not a pug, but I was driving our works transit, and the Aux belt crapped out on that and the engine stalled
Don't understand why, but...................

[jansengeorge]

power steering pump? its a possibility

These faults are often quite difficult to track down and require a keen and alert diagnostics engineer....

[highlander]

Bitchin' Betty is now in the garage; just waiting for the guy to call back.

Thanks for your information and insight everyone - much appreciated, as always!