Good day to everyone,
I could really use some real help. My opel astra's check engine light has lit, and after several days the car suddenly had an abnormal loss of power, the torque is very weak and the engine is so 'chuggy' while on idle. I had the engine timing re-adjusted or reset which restores the power temporarily but over and over again the timing still gets way off and power still loses eventually. Eventually as well, there was a leak around the engine, i think near the gasket part or O-ring (in which i have sealed so far). My garage thought it was just simply timing adjustment, or fuel pump, coolant contaminants but these wont do and they say its still far from overhaul, as they themselves are puzzled with the problem and labeled it as WEIRD. I really dont know what is going on with my Astra '99 X16XEL but i have researched that this is common among opel astra models irregardless of whether its a new model or a very old model.
I would be very grateful.
thanks,
mac (myastraneedshelp)
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mac
The ignition timing isn't adjustable on an X16XEL. Do you mean that the cam [valve] timing keeps slipping?
Chugging at idle and loss of power on these is commonly a failed coilpack [around £120GBP.] Has your garage read the faultcodes in the engine management computer?
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I was referring to timing belt area. pardon if it was unclear and basically it's about aligning the engine drive. It is common among Vauxhall (Opel) that engine drive or timing gets mis-aligned that it tends to rub the timing belt and causing it to snap thereby causing further internal damage. But the weird thing here is no matter how it has been re-set (timing) and adjusted for the engine not to be chuggy and run quiet, it comes back eventually.
My garage hasn't told me anything about checking the fault code, but i was told that the mechanic already plugged the car to a computer, and they haven't told me anything yet. Now since everyone is exhausted, what all of us are doing now is to get second opinion. The mechanic fixing my car is getting someone to fix the car, now he employs a method of fresh thinking by not telling the new mechanic of what happened, just ask for his help, and let the new one be alone with it. He wants me to do the same as well, so now I'm trying to get any help as i can, and whatever possibilities. My car has been in the garage, and you might not believe it, for 4 months now.
Thank you so much for the advise. I will have the coilpack checked. Where is this coil pack located in the engine? and could you show me a web link on how the coil pack looks like?
mac (myastraneedshelp)
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mac
That makes things a lot clearer. Your Astra is suffering from cam timing slip. [Forget the coilpack for now.]
There's been a rash of this recently. The locking key in either the crank or a cam shears, or "frets" it's slot and the sprockets move out of synchronization. Usually puts the engine management warning light on for cam/crank sensor relationship errors.
Get your garage to remove the crank and cam belt sprockets and inspect the keys and their keyways.
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Screwloose
Thanks for the advise, the cam was opened and everything seemed fine according to the garage, the turning point of all these goes back to the coil pack/ignition coil, your first advise. When the four sparks together with the coil pack were tested for electrical flow, one of the coil packs, the fourth one is weak in electrical current. Thus i guess this confirms it, the coil pack needs to be replaced.
I just hope its not the computer box, for the garage said that if its the computer box, there will be completely no electrical current on one pipe, similar to their experience with a BMW if a computer box is really defective.
Thanks would like to hear more what you think. I just hope its really the coil pack and nothing more for I've spent so much already.
Thanks
mac
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It is common among Vauxhall (Opel) that engine drive or timing gets mis-aligned that it tends to rub the timing belt and causing it to snap thereby causing further internal damage.
Not sure where you sourced that info from. The main cause for the belt snapping is failure of the tensioner.
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thank you so much for your advises. will check the cam. you mean i have to open the engine now? thanks
I sourced the info from contitech transmissions group. www.contitech.de
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i see i see. yup will check the cam. no need to answer re opening the engine. thanks.
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