My 98R Vectra 2.0 16V estate has started to stutter and cut. Beyond topping up oil and changing the odd bulb and wiper blade I leave my maintenance to a small one man garage, but he has not got any diagnostic stuff, so tommorrow I am going to bite the bullet and take it to the local dealer for a tech test (at £50!).
In case I get a whole load of flannel followed by a very expensive quote, if any one can shed any light on what may be wrong, or rule something out I would be very grateful. Here are the symptoms:
Day 1. After 15 minutes urban driving from cold, stalled at low revs. ECU light comes on. Try to start, engine turns but does not catch, try again with loads of gas, catchs but sounds rough, and then cuts out 4 more times on way home. 3 hours later, same again, but this time call out RAC. Arrive after an hour, car starts fine, and drives home fine.
Day 2. Drive to work 15 miles and 20 minutes rural A road. All fine no ECU light. Drive home, after 10 minutes car judders once, ECU light comes on stays on, but car seems to be driving fine. Leave it idling on drive when get home, cuts out after about a minute.
Day 3. Same drive to work. Starts normally, no ECU light. After 10 minutes judders once, ECU light comes on and stays on and again car seems to drive fine. Then after another 10 minutes engine dies completely in the space of a few seconds. Try to restart, fail and then leave it for 2 or 3 minutes. This time engine starts smoothly, ECU light is off again and drive home.
All suggestions welcome. We did get a new key the day before the first failure. Could that have been coded wroing and upset the ECU or is it a red herring? If anyone can suggest a good independant vauxhall specialist or diagnostic specialist near Salisbury that would also be great.
Cheers
|
You don't need to take the car anywhere to have the fault codes read - use the 'paperclip method':-
www.topbuzz.co.uk/info/fault_codes/fault_codes.htm
Having had two Omegas with the X20XEV engine my first thought would be crank sensor, these tend to cause all sorts of random starting / running problems. If it is the crank sensor they are about 100 quid from Vauxhall or 50 quid from autovaux.
If you really need a specialist then it may be worth giving Pat's Garage in Lyndhurst a ring - they are a proper Vauxhall dealer, but on my last two jobs were cheaper than the local indpendant. Not too far from Salisbury either.
|
|
|
|
Idle Control Valves are notorious on these along with Crank shaft and cam shaft sensors. I had both the sensors go on mine (possibly multiple times .. can't recall now) and my MIL had the problem with the Idle control valve which caused stalling at idle and when slowing for junctions etc . If you search around you will find info on cleaning the valve .. there was also a breather modification that was designed to stop the valve getting contaminated by oily residue.
|
|
Idle control valve was my first thought, but the car will normally re-start instantly if this is the problem, hence my suggestion of crank sensor. I agree if it isn't the Idle valve or Crank sensor it's almost certainly the cam sensor. I think that's about 95% of ECOTEC faults covered ;-)
|
|
I have been looking across a number of forums at this. The EGR crops up quite a bit, as the problem only seems to kick in when the engine has reached its operating termperature, would that make it likely culprit.
|
|
|
|
The engine hesitation and apearance of the ECU light a short while after a cold start is exatly what my Vectra did when the camshaft sensor was on the way out. Mine would always continue to run OK though, sometimes on the rev-limited limp home mode. An engine stop and restart would put the light out, and it would then run fine. A colleagues car (same fault) would behave as yours though, sometimes failing to restart.
Surely dealer shouldn't charge separately for the Tech test if they get the job to replace the faulty sensor. It's £150 job, or thereabouts, by the way.
Won't be the key - that will either let the car start or not.
JS
|
Its been to the dealer and had the tech test. They said that there were 4 fault codes: camshaft sensor, rpm sensor (which they said was the crankshaft), and both ignition coil sensors. I said it was odd that all 4 could go at once and they suggested that if either the camshaft sensor or crankshaft sensor went, the other one could overcompensate and then fail as well, so I should have both of those done (£150 each), and that hopefully that would then clear the ignition coil faults, but that if it didn't it would need further investigation.
I'm planning to go to my regular garage to get the work done. Any suggestions on what combination. Do I really need to do both crank and camshaft together? Should I do the coil pack at the same time? If I only do one which should I start with. Again any advice gratefully received.
|
It maybe be worthwhile getting the relevant sensor connectors cleaned up and reseated before going for replacement. One of my 'camshaft/crankshaft' limp home incidents coincided with a large pothole .. (the '98 Sri had rock hard suspension) and I'm sure something just got knocked loose. I would note this was a solid failure rather than your more intermittent symptoms though. The Car by Car breakdown www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/index.htm?p_make=VAU...=
%20432
mentions the possibility of moisture being a cause too.
|
|
|
Assuming the Vectra is much the same as the Omega ( apart from the engine being turned through 90 degrees) then the camshaft sensor is fairly easy, cambelt cover off and there it is. Half hour labour I should think.
The crank sensor is a whole world of pain on the Omega with aircon, took my local mechanic 4 hours....maybe it's easier on the Vectra.
In both cases I would do as already suggested & check the condition of the connections with the loom ( they should both be easily accessible from the top of the engine bay)before shelling out serious dosh.
|
camshaft sensor is fairly easy, cambelt cover off and there it is.
Info here:- snipurl.com/lchv
|
Thanks for the input guys. I will be getting my local independant garage to do the work, so that bit will be fine. But in what order should I do it. Should I change everying: cam and crank sensors and coil pack together or one at a time. If one at a time, what order should I go in. The dealer said that a bad sensor can make the other one fail. Does this mean that if i replace them one at a time, if I replace the wrong one, they will all fail again or is the dealer talking rubbish?
On the way home from work tonight the car was worse than ever. Engine died twice at speed, had to wait 5 minutes before it would restart. This is getting a real pain.
|
Personally I reckon crank sensor is a bit more likely than cam sensor, but as previously stated the cam sensor is easier to swap, so it probably comes out 50/50. Getting a garage to do all the swapping could start getting very expensive, especially if they are using genuine Vx parts.
I can't see how a dodgy crank sensor will cause the cam sensor to fail, or vice-versa, but I suppose that if the ECU is having to guess the crank speed based on the cam position, or vice-versa then it could generate false alarms. Maybe Aprilia or Andrew Moorey (sp?) has a view on this, as they've got way more experience than me with this stuff.
Depending on timescales I do have a spare crank & cam sensors you can borrow if you fancy a trip down the B3347 to Bransgore :-)
|
|
Can anyone explain why when I first start from cold the car runs fine for about 10 minutes and then the problems kick in? Does this rule out the coil pack, becauase surely if there was a problem feeding the spark plugs that would be noticeable as soon as the engine is started?
|
|
Some sensors will "fail" when they get hot but work OK when cold.
|
Some sensors will "fail" when they get hot but work OK when cold.
Ineed, my most recent Omega 'issue' meant the car would start & run absolutely fine from a cold, damp start but ran like a sack of PFD once warmed up. Turned out to be a HT lead problem.
|
|
|
|
|
|
