Diesel Vectra won't start

boomshackala

Just got my car back from the mechanic. Told him to check among other things why it was slow starting. This was only happening when cold. When restarting even after a few hours no problems. Mechanic says did'nt notice problem. Now my car won't start at all. Its a 03 2.0 DTI Vectra. I know he adjusted something to do with fuel pump / timing as I also complained of bad fuel efficiency. Says he checked all glow plugs and they're all ok. Noticed a burning smell coming from the engine today while trying to start it...not good. Any ideas?

mike65

Has the car been running lamely at all recently? It could be that the engine managment system has defaulted into limp home mode. The Exhaust Gas Recirculation valve is prone to failure and this causes the limp-home mode to trigger.

Mike.

boomshackala

Its running fine when it goes and when I start it after say being stopped for 1 hour. Its only when cold this happens....doesen't sound like limp mode you talk of

furtzy

had the same problem on my 03 2.2 DTI a while back. It was a combination of a hole in the protective cover around the mass air flow meter and perished fuel return pipes. Had the pipes replaced and the cover repaired and problem has gone. Another symptom was that the car would enter limp home mode under acceleration in fifth. This is a known problem with diesel vectras and most Opel garages will know what you're talking about when you mention the fuel return pipe problem

scudster

this can be solved by attaching a lift pump to the infeed hose to the injector pump. wire it so it begins to pump when the ignition is switched on so by the time it preheats there is diesel at the pump. I've seen it done on a '91 1.7D vectra and a '00 2.0 DTI vectra and there has been no probs since.

boomshackala

Mechanic has checked hoses and air sensor they're perfect. The idea about fuel leaking back sounds interesting... I park on a small slope, I wonder would that have any affect?

Another possibility is that the glow plugs are not being told to come up to temperature by their control device / sensor..any ideas on this?

mike65

http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:9ibA_hsTBXAJ:www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm%3Ft%3D15433%26v%3Df+vectra+2.0DTi+wont+start&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&client=opera

I have read of cases where a car is parked nose down or up and the starting is better or worse, depending.

Mike.

scudster

The small inline lift pump works a treat. Its simple to install and is cheap. its well worth a try!

Dilbert75

On my old 97 Vectra 2.0 Di, I had a problem that sounds similar to this. Car was running fine one day, next day it wouldn't start. Turned out that the return lines from the injectors to the tank were leaking, causing the fuel lines to get airlocked. Replaced the lines (done FOC by the local dealer, though out of warranty), hey presto it was fine. Known issue on that vintage of Vectra Di.

boomshackala

The arguement for changinging the injector return lines seems overwhelming even if they look fine on the face of it (a small leak or defect will be hard to see)

It also sounds plausible that adding a start pump will solve the problem, but surely this is not eliminating the root cause, no?

furtzy

Definetly sounds like the return pipe. As i said once I mentioned it to the Opel mechanic he said it was a common problem. Got it replaced as part of my service for no extra charge. Starts first time every time now.