Drove 20 miles. Stopped at the shops, inside for 1/2 hr. When returned to car, engine fault light (yellow engine pic. with "Zap!" sign on it) was illuminated, continually flashing, engine she not start. 'Phoned RAC from shop tele (5 mins), RAC on way. Outside to check.... engine fired up! Much joy. RAC cancelled. Back to car. She not start! Flashing engine fault light, lots of cranking, no go. Called RAC again, towed to garage in middle of night. Car dumped on forecourt by RAC man, still wouldn't start. RAC man, he say fault with key chip/reception unit thingy.
In a.m., self to garage, with spare key. Car started no problem. Also started on main (normally used) key as well as spare. pink fluffy dice Garage checked on diagnostic kit - "carried out Tech 1 check, found intermittant fault with ECU. Light now off, if prob reoccurrs, will require a new ECU". Is this flannel?
So. This car phutted out at a roundabout 3 weeks ago, re-started after a minute or two (can't remember fault light being on). It re-started OK after, no trouble since. On this form, a sticky air valve has been implicated.
I drove the car back 10 miles from the garage - no problems (3 stops en route). It started just now. Will the thing go TU again soon? Is there anything I can attempt to fix? Garage have estimated £440-ish to fix - more than the car's worth.
Any ideas?
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 25/10/2007 at 00:33
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FT
What does the handbook say about flashing MIL lights? It's the "key not recognized" warning on the later stuff; but has an M-plate even got a chipped key?? Don't think so?
If this is injected; then the fuel-pump relay by the battery or water in the ECU plug would be my first checks.
Followed by the ECU earth [wiper motor?] and the coil-mounted amplifier and the Hall sensor. Oh; and the fuel-pump.. and the crank sensor...
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but has an M-plate even got a chipped key?? Don't think so?
Depending on the model, it was introduced in May 94 for the SRi, CDX, & Turbo; and Nov 94 for the rest of the models.
www.thatcham.org/security/pdfs/categories/Passenge...f
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The handbook is not helpful from my perspective - "If this light flashes, take it in to be fixed".
The car starts and runs fine., except the time when the engine fault light flashed. It started this morning!
The car key has a chip in it, a small oblong pressed into the inside of the key, on the opposide side of the key shaft from the light. There's a thing surrounding the ignition lock (under the plastic cover) which (according to the RAC man) is an "induction loop", and some sort of signal is "reflected" from the chip in the key and received by some gubbins that detects whether it's a correct key
I *think* it's an X20XEV engine. The red cover on the top of the engine says "Ecotec", and is straight from left to right.
My big problem is that I don't know whether the thing will fail somewhere away from base & leave me & the lad in the lurch.
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whatever you decide do not scrap the car, that red top engine is worth big bucks on ebay for fitting in corsas ,it certainly sounds like an immobiliser problem,another thing those cavs used to do was burn out the ignition part on the key barrel,if your car is on its first one then it might be wise to swap this (only from a dealer though,no copies)
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I thought it was the C20XE (L shaped plug cover) that was sought after, and the earlier the better.
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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no idea DP my hat always faces forward ;-)
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"I thought it was the C20XE (L shaped plug cover) that was sought after, and the earlier the better"
I agree - I think the earlier Red Top & the later Ecotecs are different engines.
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FT, if you want me to amend the subject header to correct whatever "whoas" is meant to be, then fire away. DD.
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By '94 all 2.0 Cavaliers used the X20XEV which had a straight red plug cover with the legend "ECOtec".
The earlier,highly regarded, 20XE and C20XE (aka redtop) were homologation specials that made it into production. They had an L-shaped red plug cover. They are sought after but are so old and rebuilt that they're probably over-valued.
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do you want me to amend the subject header to correct whatever "whoas" is meant to be
It was intended as an HJ-esque play on words... woes/whoas (think horses - Whoa!). I contend that my actions were influenced by alcohol at the time, m'lud.
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The flashing ECU light when cranking means ' you are trying to start the car with the a wrongly coded key' on all the VXs I've owned in the last 10 years, it does sound like the ECU is somehow forgetting the right key code - or just maybe the actual sensor in the ignition barrel is intermittant. Sorry I can't think of any easy fix at the moment.:-/
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OK well, the garage couldn't find anything wrong. They (presumably) poked about in the vicinity of the ECU.
Today I noticed another problem - the engine fault light was lit, going along. Having found where the ECU lives, I got the plastic rtim off, and fiddled about.
The whole ECU was dangling - even though there are holes for it to be bolted to something - is it supposed to be like this?
After the fiddling about, the fault light does not now come on when driving along.
Could these two incidents be related (please see original post if need be)??
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Presumably one of teh wire sthat the ECU is hanging from will be teh one communicating the key code back to teh ECU, so yes, it does sound possible that the incidents are related.
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I agree, it's possible.
I always remember Car Mechanics magazine were fond of the "wiggle" test which involved wiggling all accessible connectors and wires when confronted with an intermittent problem, and seeing if there was any change in the running condition of the car. Assuming there is, the exact location of the offending wire or connector can then be pinpointed, and corrective action taken.
I don't know the details of the Cavalier, but the idea that the ECU should be supported by its wiring loom does not sound realistic. It sounds to me like someone has removed it and failed to refit it correctly.
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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