Spanner light stayed on (Vectra) but now off

JustLikeThat

Last week my Vectra cdti 1.9 (08) suddenly became hard to start. After a couple of days, the car with spanner light stayed on while driving. As the brakes were due to be done 4 days later I phoned the local garage about this and they said just wait till they look at it. In the event, they were unable to decide what the code meant and suggested I go to the Vauxhall garage. I was going to do that today, but last night as I was driving I noticed the light was no longer showing! Can I now forget about it, assuming it stays off, or do I need to have it checked still?

Strider590

It'll be something intermittent, with no light the dealership will most likely send you away claiming they couldn't find anything wrong.

I've got a bluetooth OBDII interface for my Vectra, using free android app I can read fault codes from the vehicle. I suggest finding out what codes were stored in the ECU and then joining an owners club forum to see what other peoples experiences are.

Inner_Zone

You can buy a code scanner from about £6 upwards (to use with a mobile phone) or £20 otherwise. Without the code who knows.

Also a Vectra CDTi 150 (07) owner.

Geodark

JustLikeThat wrote: »

Last week my Vectra cdti 1.9 (08) suddenly became hard to start. After a couple of days, the car with spanner light stayed on while driving. As the brakes were due to be done 4 days later I phoned the local garage about this and they said just wait till they look at it. In the event, they were unable to decide what the code meant and suggested I go to the Vauxhall garage. I was going to do that today, but last night as I was driving I noticed the light was no longer showing! Can I now forget about it, assuming it stays off, or do I need to have it checked still?

What was the code the garage came back with? Did they tell you?

facade

Some faults that are not critical put the light on, then if the fault doesn't reoccur, after so many ignition cycles, the light goes out, but the ecu stores the code, and it can be accessed with one of the £20 eBay scanners.

A good moneysaving tip is to get one, you can save a lot of money reading and clearing your own fault codes, and with the help of online forums you can even fix a lot of the problems youself (usually sensor related)

Tucker

Is the turbo kicking in OK when the light is on?

The vauxhall spanner light is different to the EML. I had a corsa CDTI that had the spanner light on and it was actually a knackered glow plug at fault and the light would prevent the turbo from kicking in as a safety measure.

New plugs and it was back to normal.

facade

Best to read the codes.

My brothers vectra diesel (can't remember the engine code) has a snapped off glowplug, whenever the glowplugs kick in it puts the light on, but that is only in sub zero temperatures (it starts on 3 cylinders fine)

It also has a duff crank sensor that kicks it into limp mode with the spanner light on every couple of journeys. When it feels that the sensor is working, it comes out of limp mode and the light goes out again.

jase1

facade wrote: »

Some faults that are not critical put the light on, then if the fault doesn't reoccur, after so many ignition cycles, the light goes out, but the ecu stores the code, and it can be accessed with one of the £20 eBay scanners.

Yup -- I had this when I fitted a universal O2 sensor to one of my cars.

After c. 3 months the MIL came on, then went off after about 5 ignition cycles (I wasn't driving the car). Read out the old code (same as when the original O2 sensor went duff) and the problem has not come back in over 18 months. I think it's OK

JustLikeThat

Thanks for all your helpful responses. I was not told the code and in fact I'm not sure they actually managed to get one, now I recall the way the mechanic reported the situation to me. A family member had a code reader and as soon as the light started to come on he tried to get a reading but was unable to - just no response. I assumed it was a cheap reader and so asked the garage. Although the light no longer shows, the car is difficult to start in the morning. Later it catches more quickly. Up until a few weeks ago it started immediately every time. When asked the mechanic did not think it was anything to do with glow plugs.
At no time have I noticed any radical change in performance, though I have been suspicious about a change in noise etc. However it is still doing 45-50 mpg and shows normal revs at 70mph.
Any more ideas? Just live with it?

fivetide

jase1 wrote: »

Yup -- I had this when I fitted a universal O2 sensor to one of my cars.

After c. 3 months the MIL came on, then went off after about 5 ignition cycles (I wasn't driving the car). Read out the old code (same as when the original O2 sensor went duff) and the problem has not come back in over 18 months. I think it's OK

Likewise. With Subaru for example I think it is three clear runs rather than five.

Maybe the car noticed something out of whack but the fault hasn't reappeared. As suggested you could get old codes stored/cleared for piece of mind.