Vauxhall Astra 2007 petrol Trouble shooting code P0303

ams2ash

Hi,

I had this Vauxhall Astra more than a year. About 6 months before I have done the new head as Cam shaft was stuck. After that everything OK. Just couple of weeks before, the engine management lights comes up and it reduces the engine power as I can feel that car is not picking the power. After that engine management light, which is normally flashing and then it moves to repair sign.
I bought a scanner who told me that it is the code, P0303 which is 3rd cylinder malfunctioning. It could be plugs or could be a sensor.
Can someone had this experience before and share with me or any advise from anyone.

Thanks

Moto2

Before you do anything else do an easy check and swap spark plug 3 with another one to make sure it's not that simple.

arcon5

If it's invidivual coil packs or HT leads also swap these around. Also swap injectors around.

Then you need to perform a compression test.

Marktheshark

Is it losing ANY water from the expansion bottle.

angrycrow

P0303 is just a generic cylinder 3 miss fire code which does not tell you much.

Unfortunately I thing these have a single coil pack rather than 4 indivdual coils so you cant swap them over. Do you know anyone with an the same car who could let you borrow there coil pack.

My concern here is you mention having to change the head due to the cam jaming in the head. Two reasons for jammed cams are lack of oil or warping of the head due to overheating. If the later occured it could have damaged the block so you could be looking at head gasket failure. Best way to check this is a sniff test of the coolant and a compression test of the engine. If you are handy with spanners the compression tester costs about £20 and takes about 30 minutes to do a full wet and dry test.

ams2ash

Thanks everyone for your suggestion. Really appreciated