I've got to be honest. I hope I get all these kinks sorted out, but my first few months of Bentley ownership have not been pleasant.

To recap: a 2006 Bentley Continental Flying Spur with approximately 35,000 miles now. Recently went in shop because it was idling rough, CEL, and the vacuum pump was constantly running. After some digging, technician discovered notorious vacuum hose leak.

Spent about $4,500 replacing vacuum lines, and a few other things while it was in the shop. Replaced rear brake pads and rotors, replaced front control arms, replaced bad check valve in vacuum pump, etc.

Picked the car up on Friday from the shop (technician is about 2 hours away from me). Driving fine when it's running. Stopped for lunch halfway through the drive back home and when I started the car after lunch it idled rough for the first five seconds after startup then smoothed tight out. Running fine. It did this once or twice more on different startups over the weekend but idled fine after a few seconds and ran great. Then check engine light came on remained on for the weekend. Monday morning check engine light was off but I took it back of the shop so they could pull the codes. Showed a couple of misfires and has not come back on. Technician said it was probably just a fluke. However, on my way back home today I also stopped for lunch. When I came out to the car it started but stalled immmediately after startup not even enough time for me to give it some gas. Did this three or four times and on the fifth time (luckily) it stayed running. Once it is running seems totally fine. Has repeated the exact same problem every time I try to start it since. So far I can get it to stay running after several tries. Stalls four or five times right after turn over... sputters out. Hopefully I can get it running this week and get back down to the shop again this week. Any thoughts?

 

Any codes ?

 

No. CEL has not come back on... it's just stalling right out 5 times or so and then usually by the sixth time I can get it to stay running and then seems to run fine. No CEL or anything has come back on as of yet.

 

I should note that, so far at least, it does not do it every single time. I'm trying to find excuses to run out and do errands. Just a few minutes ago I ran to the bank and it started fine on the first try.

 

Just out of curiosity, do you know when the last time the fuel filter was changed?

 

No idea. Think it is worth doing? If so, something I might be able to do myself in my driveway?

 

I have been having the same problem with my 2010 Supersports, It only has 45k miles on it. I finally got to take it to the dealership today & they told me that it was the famous vacuum lines & that it would cost me right at $7,500 to replace them. If Bentley engineering puts so much time & thought into making these cars, why would they use such cheap vacuum lines & put them where no one can get to them without pulling the motor out of the car.
It seems to me that they do this type of thing knowing what has to be done to replace the lines, but they don't make any changes to that part of the system so that you have to pay the prices that they want if you want to be able to drive a Bentley around. I keep seeing this same topic come up in a lot of forums so there is no way that Bentley hasn't heard of the issue, & since it would be safe to say that they do know about the problems, why wouldn't they put out a recall & fix the situation in order to keep their customers happy

These are just my thought & comments though..

 

@sleever3 ......the Bentley OEM replacements are the same plastic .How ever having said that like other marques , owners and car clubs come up with better aftermarket parts / fixes .....and the good independents start to adopt .In this case metal pipes can be easily made .I understand a Bentley Indy in NY does a metal pipe fix and few others .70 s Ferrari world has loads of none OEM “ better “ parts ......sold alongside the still available crap OEM stuff .Thats the beauty of car clubs = share info .

@ Barry ....have you refuelled it ? Thinking poor fuel ? However if this is eliminated then take it back to the repair place .Theres so many pipes / unions etc of all sorts + electrotwackery it’s easy I guess to not quite refit something or trap / snag and pull another while refitting the engine or rack .
If it’s was a just a rack out job ....l..then maybe more chance ( working in almost gynaecological access conditions) Something’s been snagged .
Even for later modals without the Vac lines going over the gearbox the official Bentley fix by the book is engine out for clear access .
This “only the rack out “ fix a Indy fix and the guys need to be very experienced.

 

One more thing I noticed this morning while taking the kids to school, sometimes the power is reduced. For example, going up a mountain today I floored the gas and it took off with full power. I did it a few minutes later and barely picked up any power at all. More and more it seems like a fuel supply issue.