What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
Vauxhall Corsa C - Vauxhall Corsa, 'Yellow spanner' light fault - muraduk

Hi I have a vauxhall corsa 1.2 twinport ( Reg: 55 Model )

Recently have been having a problem with it losing power and car shuddering and shaking after a few miles… the diagnostic yellow spanner light then appears..

Has been on the diagnostic machine and shows 1 & 4 as missing

So had spark plugs changed…still missing

Had coil pack changed… was OK for 2 or 3 days, then same problem.

Oil was changed to a 30/0 or less viscous….this again was OK for 2 days then same problem..

Some other parts were changed… worked for few days then light appeared again..

Eventually advise was sought of the Dealership, who advised that as everything had been changed then it must be the ECU ( The brainbox)…. This cost £500 to replace..

They then put it on the diagnostic and detected that the ‘cannister’ was full of water

So TODAY the canister was replaced with a brand new canister..

Back on the Diagnostics….. and still shows a 1 & 4 missing..

Can anyone here help me with this problem please…

Would appreciate the advise… and help, before I am forced to pump more money into this

Vauxhall Corsa C - Vauxhall Corsa, 'Yellow spanner' light fault - injection doc
the misfire could be caused by something as simple as an air leak! it can also be cause by incorrect mixture correction or sensor fault causing those cylinders to shut down logging a misfire.
In your case i think that live data needs to be read and checked, I have experienced some knock sensor issues with these engines sometimes caused by poor fuel.
the ECU's on these also suffer with a poor earth as well as ECU issues, i can understand your concern at having more parts fitted and the problem not solved.
I think you will need to negotiate with your dealer for a garrenteed fix or refund if they are confident its the ECU or find a specialist who may investigate first.

If the charcol cannister was full of water the it may well be that the fuel tank has water content in it, this alone could cause a misfire ! by adding meths to the fuel tank can help disperse small amounts of water
Vauxhall Corsa C - Vauxhall Corsa, 'Yellow spanner' light fault - track

was the coil pack new or secondhand when replaced? They do fail a lot. Id second the above though about how water got into the charcoal canister. Removing the pipe and temporarily blocking it will soon show if the canister is still to blame. Its attached to a little solenoid clipped to the back of the air filter box. Have you compression checked the car? Ive seen a few with very badly worn cams, IE almost square!! Also worth checking all the cam caps are tight while the casm cover comes off, save a snapped shaft in the near future.!!

If it needs an ECU contact me. I have a friend that specialise in these. I can get a complete kit with everything required for a plug in and driveaway job for a much lower cost than the dealers.

Vauxhall Corsa C - Vauxhall Corsa, 'Yellow spanner' light fault - muraduk

Coil pack was brand new, and new ecu fitted now by the dealers... but still misfiring..

Garage people who took it for a drive say that, when on the road the car misfires, but switching engine off and the on in 10 secs , removes the warning and mis-fire for a while.

This would dictate that its a electrical problem and not a water in fuel issue..

Do you agree? or NOT..

Vauxhall Corsa C - Vauxhall Corsa, 'Yellow spanner' light fault - Cymrogwyllt
Methinks that is a red herring. Switching off and then on resets the ecu and it takes a few seconds to pick up the fault again
Vauxhall Corsa C - Vauxhall Corsa, 'Yellow spanner' light fault - 1litregolfeater
A misfire code should be accompanied by other codes which should help in diagnosis. This canister, is it the charcoal canister which is part of the emissions equipment, situated in the driver's wheel arch, or the fuel filter? I thought you could take the charcoal can off and throw it away to no ill effect.

Usual suspects are MAF, EGR, and various sensors, all of which would post codes. Maybe not the MAF. This would be my first port of call.

Could be injectors but I'd expect a code.

How much oil is it using? The oil control rings are very weak and prone to failure especially when oil changes are not carried out. Oil being sucked up and dumped on the spark plugs will cause a misfire and no other codes.

However, two cylinders at once is unlikely.

Otherwise, poor connection, poor earth, somewhere, maybe