2004 Vauxhall Astra Ls 8V Auto

aflannery

HI all,

I wonder if anyone can help shed any light on a car problem?

Yesterday, whilst driving on the motorway, I revved by engine to switch lanes and overtake a lorry. However, one of the warning lights on the dash board lit up and starting flashing and the car has felt juddery ever since. I have made two small trips since then and the light is still on and the car is still juddery.

I have googled the light and it is the 'Malfunction Warning Light'. Does anyone know what this means, is it dangerous to drive and more importantly, will it be expensive to fix?

Thanks!

gabitzul

Best to take it to a garage to have the error code(s) read. You are not going to receive an exact reason from some random people typing at computer keyboards...

Ebe_Scrooge

As per the above, you need to get the codes read at a garage. Basically, the ECU ( the engine management computer ) has detected a fault somewhere. This could be anything from a small sensor, which is likely to be a cheap and simple fix, to something more serious and expensive. Or it could just be an erroneous "error report" - i.e. a component somewhere has reported that it's not feeling very well, when in fact it's fine and it just needs the code resetting.


The cause could be one of dozens of things, the only way to find out is to get a diagnostic run by a garage with the necessary equipment. You don't necessarily need to take it to a main dealer - any half-decent independant mechanic will have the right equipment ( you can even buy the gizmos yourself online, but it's probably not worth it unless you do a lot of repairs and maintenance yourself ).

Muscle750

Possible Lambada sensor (cheap fix) as stated needs plugging in thou, another could be airflow meter, more expensive thou possible cambelt jumped but i doubt it

motorguy

That year / genre of astra 1.6 engine was notorious for burning oil and clogging up the plugs, causing them to misfire.

Likewise it could be a coil pack.

Or one of 1,000 other things.

BeenThroughItAll

Muscle750 wrote: »

Possible Lambada sensor (cheap fix) as stated needs plugging in thou, another could be airflow meter, more expensive thou possible cambelt jumped but i doubt it

If someone were to diagnose a fault with a Lambada sensor on my car, I'd foxtrot oscar and waltz my way over to another garage.

facade

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

If someone were to diagnose a fault with a Lambada sensor on my car, I'd foxtrot oscar and waltz my way over to another garage.

And pay twice???

The pre-cat lambda sensors do fail, I got 100,000 miles ish out of one, but only 60,000 out of the one on my last car.
Never had the eml come on though, both were changed because the fueling was out at MOT, so I guess they were out of spec. rather than failed.

Bearing in mind they are about £20 for a Chinese cheapy- most likely the exact same cheap part sold to the car's manufacturer (and about 2 hours to get the old one out without wrecking the car completely) it might well be cheaper to get one fitted if garage A says it is gone, rather than pay garage B £30 to tell you if it is or not.

redped

facade wrote: »

it might well be cheaper to get one fitted if garage A says it is gone, rather than pay garage B £30 to tell you if it is or not.

or you could take it to garage C, who'd point out that BeenThroughItAll was joking about the "lambada" sensor ...

facade

redped wrote: »

or you could take it to garage C, who'd point out that BeenThroughItAll was joking about the "lambada" sensor ...

Thought it was a spelling error-
Lambada...
Foxtrot...
Waltz....

Doh!!!

Joe_Horner

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

If someone were to diagnose a fault with a Lambada sensor on my car, I'd foxtrot oscar and waltz my way over to another garage.

That'd be one quick step to getting it diagnosed properly. Unless the next garage was in Charleston.

BeenThroughItAll

facade wrote: »

And pay twice???

The pre-cat lambda sensors do fail, I got 100,000 miles ish out of one, but only 60,000 out of the one on my last car.
Never had the eml come on though, both were changed because the fueling was out at MOT, so I guess they were out of spec. rather than failed.

Bearing in mind they are about £20 for a Chinese cheapy- most likely the exact same cheap part sold to the car's manufacturer (and about 2 hours to get the old one out without wrecking the car completely) it might well be cheaper to get one fitted if garage A says it is gone, rather than pay garage B £30 to tell you if it is or not.

Whoosh.

Glad I didn't have to point that out. :beer: