Engine suddenly cutting out

Hi all,

When driving to work this morning at around 40mph my 306 Turbo Diesel just
stopped. The fuel guage and speedo moved to 0, the radio stayed on, the
accelerator was unresponsive,the brakes seemed not to work and likewise the
steering was very heavy (if not locked) I can't remember if the engine
itself stopped as I was quite shocked by what happened!

The car started up immediately without any issues and was fine on the
journey onwards and on my return journey this evening.

I have it booked into a mechanic on Thursday, but he said over the phone
that if it is just a one-off, it may be hard to diagnose.

Can you guys offer any insights as to what may have caused this and if it is
likely to happen again?!?

Thanks,
Sean

 

Check your cut off switch on top of your diesel pump. it might have a
loose wire on it .

 

I should get the earth leads from the battery to the gearbox and then
to the chassis checked. They may look ok but give them a good tug near
the ends.

 

I've had this happen to me several times in my 806 HDi which turned out to
be caused by 2 small pieces of plastic or rubber in the fuel tank blocking
the small suction intake to the in-tank lift pump! Extremely difficult to
diagnose because the faults reported were always airey fairy intermittent
faults.My cure was tank removal and inspection of same before problem was
cured.Not all that costly compared with finding yourself in the third lane
of a motorway with no brakes, engine or steering!