I have a 2000 Vectra DI (28K miles) and recently the engine management light comes on occasionally for about 2-3 seconds and then goes off again. However, the light only appears to come on when the car is doing about 75-76 mph. It does not ever illuminate at any other speed. The car drives fine and returns about 49mpg. Today though, on the motorway, the light came on whilst the car was travelling at 76 mph and stayed on for about 15 seconds. I put my foot down and normally at this speed the car pulls quite well, but there was nothing there! I backed off a bit to about 70mph and the light went off and all has been well for the last 15 miles home. Any ideas? Why would it only come on at this speed?! I asked a local mechanic who said it may not be long until the light comes on and stays on permanently and said it could be the (I think) 'camshaft position sensor' or something similar. Any advice or ideas would be much appreciated!
Thanks,
Richard
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I had a similar problem with my 2000 DTI. As I understand it, there was a sensor fault. When the sensor detects a fault the engine switches to a reduced power mode ( it's in the handbook ). In my case I had to stop the car and switch the engine off for a few seconds to reset the problem. The garage changed the sensor and all was OK. If you have a late 2000 car you'll have a 3 year warranty.
Mike C
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This happened on my last Cavalier. Engine management light coming on intermittently, traced to a fautly crankshaft sensor. Took car it to have it replaced, only to be phoned later in the day to say that they'd buggered the wiring on the new sensor up, and didn't have another in stock. Kept the car overnight, fitted a new one the next day and all was well.....for eight months, whereupon the sensor failed again.
This is one of the reasons why I didn't buy a Vectra..
Andy
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Common problem.....one of the "they all do that" on Vectras. Easy to fix but it ain't cheap. £34.90 plus fitting and VAT
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Thanks all for your input. It looks therefore like it could be the crankshaft sensor. I imagine that if it gets worse I would be as well to have Vauxhall plug in thier diagnostic computer into the car to see if any fault codes show up. The cost of the part it not too bad, but I think a diagnostic session is about £50, more than the replacement part!! The car was registered on 30th June 2000, I am certain that it only has a 1 year warranty unless people tell me otherwise (I am the second owner of the car since it was 6 months old with 7K on the clock).
Thanks
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Dear all,
I'm so glad that I'm not alone! My light started flickering about 10k miles ago. After having the codes 'taken out' by my garage I have finally had the sensor replaced. and the car is running beautifully However, I would like some advice please. My garage (not a Vauxhall dealer but for whom I have a lot of regard, have finally fitted a new sensor but, I also have a bill for £378 because before they did this they told me that I needed to have the inlet manifold decoked. I have a feeling that if they had tested the sensor in the first place then this would have fixed the problem and the manufold wouldn't have got so coked up. As they had given me 3 year warranty when I bought the car from them they claimed the cost of the failed sensor on that! I feel as though I've come off very second best in this transactuion and just wondered whether they should have tested the sensor earlier, since there were lots of errors when they scanned it, going back some 10k miles. Whilst I will pay the bill for goodwill, I feel like saying that since I reported it all those miles ago they should have changed /tested it and I would not have ended up with such a huge bill, and they should refund me at least part of it. They tell me that they ended up douing that withanother Vectra (ie. this decoke and multiple Forte treatments) which is why I presume they think that it is the coking up of the manifold(?) which causes the problem and not the other way round.
whatbdo you all think?
Many thanks
Trevor
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Thanks for your post. Could you please tell me which engine you have (DI or DTI), the mileage on your car and what the effects of the failed sensor had. e.g. lack of power etc. Was it the crankshaft sensor which was replaced in the end and do you know roughly how much the replacement sensor was?
Thanks again,
Richard
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Dear Richard P,
The car is a Di, and it has now done about 47k miles, and is Nov 1999 registeered car. The effects were a loss of power and as some other correspondents have said, the light would come on and I would stop and it would go off and then feel better when I started up again. However, with the sensor replaced, the car felt totally diferent: lively, powerful etc. I clearly had been driving it with the problem increasing as it were. I don't know the cost of the sensor because they replaced under this gold warranty I got with it.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Trevor C
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Thanks Trevor, just two quick questions please!
1. I tried to send you an email, but the address in your profile did not seem to work.
2. Was it definately the crankshaft sensor that was replaced? Just asking as I may see about acquiring the part and replacing it as a precaution. Does anyone know if it is a DIY job?
Thanks
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Sorry about this, forgot changed ISP! and have been away for a few days
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I have said before that I cannot believe this approach from British repairers/
To summarise, if you had asked them to replace the widget and it didn't fix the problem, that would be your fault.
But if you asked them to fix the problem and they did work which was irrelevant, I cannot see why you should pay the whole bill. Conceivably you should pay some of the bill, since there must be some benefit, but all of it ?
I'd be telling them to stick the coke back in.
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