Suzuki Hatchback Range

You could be looking at any number of causes for this, and some of them herald the demise of your engine. Get a mechanic to check the car out. They will probably do a compression test, a leak-down test and have a close listen to the engine both at idle and under load.

If the cracking sound is a backfire or misfire, you may have an ignition problem. But the smoke is a bit more involved as it depends on the colour of the smoke. Black smoke suggests poor fuelling, but blue or grey smoke often means internal engine wear.

It is indeed a dangerous situation, especially if you’re trying to pull into fast-moving traffic when the engine suddenly cuts out. Frankly, there are literally hundreds of causes for this, so the best advice is to go back to basics and try to find anything wrong with the fuel or ignition system. An electronic scan of the car (if it hasn‘t already been done) is a good idea, too, as it might pin-point the problem area.

You could be looking at something as simple as a poor earth connection or a blocked fuel filter. That the car runs properly in the meantime, suggests that it’s an intermittent fuel or electrical problem rather than an inherent mechanical failure.

There are a few things to check here. The first is that even though the battery has been recharged, has it been load tested? This time of year is very hard on batteries and even though it may seem to be holding a charge, when you actually put a load on it via the starter motor, it can go weak at the knees and will not spin the engine over.

The clicking you can hear is probably the starter motor’s relay which controls the power to the starter. But what about the starter motor itself? Has this been tested for correct operation. Sometimes the problem can also be what’s called the throw-out mechanism which is a solenoid that forces the starter motor’s teeth to mesh with the engine’s flywheel teeth and, therefore, turn things over.

Perhaps an auto electrician is the best place to start. Their first job will be to test a range of things and rule out possible causes one by one.