03 Astra (Mk 4) Problems

jonuk7

I apologise if this has been on before but ill be honest i didnt have the patience to look through 178 pages and the search didnt find anything..

basically i own a 03 mk4 astra 1.6 SXI, i purchased it in sep 05 and the waranty etc ran out on 30 November 06 so i cant use that..

At the begining of last week the car was fine, then on the Tuesday it started playing up, firstly: ill be driving "normally" within the limits etc then at the 2500rpm upto about 3000/3500rpm it will kangaroo quite harshly and at this point if i dip the cluth or have to stop and drop the cluth the car cuts out, sometimes it will restart and be fine but moreso it will not restart as it should, when i manage to get it going i need to either sit and rev the hell out of it (i mean upto the 6000rpm) or if its an "open" road basically hammer it for a stint and change gear up at the red line area after a minute or so of this it returns and will be fine for another 100/200/300 miles but it has started becoming more frequent.

Then to add to the problem, on Friday the engine management light illuminated, the one which relates to the catylitic converter, i read the manual and it simply says if it illuminates consult vauxhall and if it flashes then this could result in "Destruction" of the CAT. since this light came on the power output is terrible, there is no acceleration or mid range power regardless of where the revs are, Also if you put ya hand by the exhaust it feels/sounds like a popping sort of noise/blowing? The light hasnt as yet started "Flashing".

So on Saturday i go to the local Vauxhall (Nottingham) and ask if a mechanic could have a quick look as im sure a specific vauxhall mech would simply know what it is by listening or having a quick look. the guy on the "Desk" simply said "NO, We cant fix problems by looking, it needs a ECU Scan" this sounded fine until he comes out with thatll be £45 and leave the car with us for an hour or 2, not a chance am i paying £45 for them to tell me something that i already know It has a problem.

After getting home i did the good old get on the net and look for answers and the first good thing i have found is the scanner/reader to "scan the ECU" as vauxhall said it need and there is a few on Ebay at £20 (Instant Saving of £25).

Just wondered if anybody has had any similar problems that could direct me straight to a solution before i end up having to re finance the car to fix it. im going to order the ODBII Scanner as it gives the same codes as Vauxhall would get using theres so at least thats a small saving.

Thanks alot in advance guys.

Jon

roswell

first off the £45 is only payable if no fault is found i think (but check).

I had a similar experiance with my 2001 2.0 DTI astra, (thank fully in warrently) it took vauxhall 3 weeks to fix the problem they started out with replacing engine managment sencors the the full engine managment and after that the replaced the oxygen sensors and injectors .... the list went on.

At the end it turned out to be the fuel pump apparently a common problem, it may be an idea to take it to a non Vauxhall garage to get there opinion first.

Had i had to pay for my repairs the bill would have been more than the car cost.

roswell

As a tip you can clear the engine managment light and see if it gets triggured again this is what they did the first time i took mine in.

Put the key in the ignition and turn 1 click, hold down the odometer trip buttom and turn key till dash lights up. keep depressed till it flashes "INSP" then it will flash "- - - -" to show its clear, start car up as normal.

kitchpoo

To diagnose the fault codes the ECUlogs it needs to be run on Tech 2 diagnostics - held by Vauxhall and also by a few indipendants, some of which are not too far from Notts - Thorney Motorsport, LMF, Regals to name a few.

Once its been on Tech 2 it will announce the fault, which is more than likely the sensor on the Cat Converter, a bit of a premature failure admittedly, but you may struggle to get Vauxhall to pick it up under warrenty as exhaust systems are usually exempt. Alternatively if it isnt the emissions sensor for the Cat which is giving the false reading it is more likely to be the Air Mass Meter, this usually develops a notable rev drop when coming to a complete stop which almost stalls the car.

All this and much, much , MUCH more can be found at https://www.astrasport.co.uk - where I am a moderator and an avid Astra/Vauxhall owner.

kitchpoo

roswell wrote:

As a tip you can clear the engine managment light and see if it gets triggured again this is what they did the first time i took mine in.

Put the key in the ignition and turn 1 click, hold down the odometer trip buttom and turn key till dash lights up. keep depressed till it flashes "INSP" then it will flash "- - - -" to show its clear, start car up as normal.

True, this will remove all the previously stored diagnostic logs on the ECU - which I wouldnt recommend at this stage as I think you need to find out what it is reportedly saying is faulty. The "INSP" method you have listed there also resets the service interval reminder to 10,000 miles / 1 year - so they would lose this current data for when the next service is currently due.

Oh - and there are a few unscrupilous people selling that information (resetting the INSP' display) on Ebay for £1.99 a go!!

kitchpoo

jonuk7 wrote:

since this light came on the power output is terrible, there is no acceleration or mid range power regardless of where the revs are, Also if you put ya hand by the exhaust it feels/sounds like a popping sort of noise/blowing? Jon

This is the limp-home mode, the car uses a secondary ECU map which over-fuels the car and restricts power output to prolong engine life and reduce further wear, once the light issue is resolved it will return to normal.

ps - during the car being in limp home mode you will also notice an increase in fuel consumption.

jonuk7

Thanks so far guys but sure if it was a sensor it would cause the mass power drop or "stalling" of the car would it? sorry might just not be thinking outside the box enough, i did pick up a spare fuel filter the other day as it was an oppurtunist thing and it was only £5 figured handy for spares.

Kitchpoo: with regards to running the Diagnostics test and getting the eroor codes this is the reader i am going to purchase myself which is only £20 and ill get the error codes the same as there "fancy" machine.

when the guy told me it was £45 i did ask why i had to pay so much etc and he said that was standard regardless of the problems they find. basically i had to pay it regardless of what they found. so thats kind of what hacked me off with them.

jonuk7

one thing i didnt mention was in september last year i fitted it with a K&N 57i induction kit, dont know if this could have any bearing?

kitchpoo

I dont take our VX to a the main dealer. I've used OBD and in many cases it will give an indication to the fault it isnt as precise as TechII. TechII sometimes appears on Ebay and the cheapest I have seen it go for was £500 for that reason. OBDII is OK, but I expect it might not tell you which sensor is at fault, whereas TechII will.

As for the the power drop - The Emissions sensor could result in these problems, as could the AMM. And if the emissions light is on - then the limp home mode would also give the same characteristics.

kitchpoo

K&N 57i kit causes some problems to the 1.6, the engine bay of the Ecotec engines is quite high, and the K&N system takes in too much warm air (warm air contains less Oxygen). If the filter is dirty or not doing its job properly it could be a result of particles getting in to the air mass meter (the black tube between the air filter and the throttle housing).

If you want more performance form the 1.6 - look up the Vectra C air intake pipe modification and fit a K&N panel filter - most people find this provides a better performance as it doesnt intake as much warm air.

Vectra C air intake modification

jonuk7

according to the manual the light which is illuminated states: the emissions are exceeding the recomended or required standards.??