Intermittent engine problem with 03 Astra

roisin007

Hi there, first time posting so please be gentle! I have a 03 Astra 1.4 which has only ever been serviced by a main opel dealer. Bought it when it was just 3 years old from someone I knew who never had a problem with it. Changed the timing belt at first service after I bought it (40,000mls) and since then car went down hill! The yellow emissions light came on and dealer said it was only firing on 3 cylinders so replaced coil pack, emissions light came back on next week so he reset computer. Then the EGR valve went twice in succession - only charged me to replace first time. The emissions light has not come on in the car since late 2007 but there is still an intermittent problem where the car revs high but loses power after driving about 20 miles, this means that as soon as you have to use the clutch (at junctions etc) the car just dies on you. It often doesn't start first time then either and ocassionally has to sit for a couple of minutes. The dealer eventually diagnosed that there was small amount of water in petrol tank which could have caused this problem although no crack in tank, he cleaned out the tank and the car drove fine for several months afterwards. Problem started occurring again now and I have lost all faith in the dealer, the emission light has not come on again though - any advice appreciated. Sorry post so long but trying to give as much detail as I can.

kluivert

EGR Value.

Click on links on my sig and these guys will help point you in the right direction.

Darragh29

roisin007 wrote: »

Hi there, first time posting so please be gentle! I have a 03 Astra 1.4 which has only ever been serviced by a main opel dealer. Bought it when it was just 3 years old from someone I knew who never had a problem with it. Changed the timing belt at first service after I bought it (40,000mls) and since then car went down hill! The yellow emissions light came on and dealer said it was only firing on 3 cylinders so replaced coil pack, emissions light came back on next week so he reset computer. Then the EGR valve went twice in succession - only charged me to replace first time. The emissions light has not come on in the car since late 2007 but there is still an intermittent problem where the car revs high but loses power after driving about 20 miles, this means that as soon as you have to use the clutch (at junctions etc) the car just dies on you. It often doesn't start first time then either and ocassionally has to sit for a couple of minutes. The dealer eventually diagnosed that there was small amount of water in petrol tank which could have caused this problem although no crack in tank, he cleaned out the tank and the car drove fine for several months afterwards. Problem started occurring again now and I have lost all faith in the dealer, the emission light has not come on again though - any advice appreciated. Sorry post so long but trying to give as much detail as I can.

If there is water ending up in your fuel tank, the most likely explanation for this is that the fuel you are putting into your car is contaminated with water. You can't blame a garage for what ends up in your fuel tank!

roisin007

Hi Darragh
Did give the dealer benefit of doubt over water in petrol as it did feel like a fuel starvation problem when driving, stopped buying my fuel at regular garage and only refuel at one garage all the time now, however problem is still happening intermittently - reading all morning on some other forums and it appears that what i've described is a very common problem with Astra/Vauxhall and no-one seems to have a definitive answer to it other than that there is a major problem with EGR valves in these cars.

Mr.Diagnostic

In the UK Vauxhall sell a blanking plate to disable some EGR valves. This is used in conjunction with a software update for the ECU.
Opel here however don’t stock or sell this plate. I imagine they prefer to sell new EGR valves instead.
I cant say if this is applicable to your car as it’s a while since I had any involvement with Opels. Best advice would be to try and find a specialist as in cases like this you will often get better value.

atlantean

It sounds like the EGR valve but you have had it changed twice!

Out of a matter of interest - when was the water found in the tank? was it after we had the flooding? I know of two garages that found water in their tanks after their forecourts got flooded.

Esel

Lucifer to the rescue! I've PMed him.

Lucifer

This sounds like a common problem with the EGR as many have said. You will find the car hard to start, irratic idle and power loss. While you keep having to change the EGR valve, it is usually not at fault, it is getting blocked. Replacing it with a new EGR will solve the problem as the new valve will not be blocked but it is only a matter of time before it will happen again. Some cars it will happen quicker than others. Does your car use much oil? An EGR getting blocked regularly is sometimes a sign that your car may be burning oil. On some cars there is an ECU update available to stop the EGR from working and this will stop the problem from happening over and over again. It is not necessary to fit a blanking plate.

roisin007

Hi everyone, thanks for the responses, really appreciated. Atlantean, call me cynical but I think now that the garage only mentioned the water in petrol because I kept saying I felt it was a problem connected to the fuel, having read through other forums now I'm pretty sure that the Opel dealer involved was well aware that this is a common problem with these cars but didn't want to tell me that! My OH took out the EGR valve and gave it a clean but there wasn't a whole lot of dirt on/in it. Incidentally the car does use much more oil than any other car I had previously and the oil indicator never comes on no matter how low the oil goes but there is no sign that it is burning oil. Car had been going pretty well since the last visit to the garage in January but started creating havoc again yesterday, just totally p***ed off with the whole thing now!:(

Lucifer

The reason that the oil light does not come on is that your engine is not fitted with an oil level sensor, only an oil pressure sensor. An oil level sensor will be an orange light, oil pressure is red, so yours will only come on if there is no oil pressure which will be when there is little or no oil left. If this ever comes on, stop straight away.

Because your car is burning oil, the fumes/soot from this is what is clogging up your egr. Do you know what viscosity oil was used last time you had your car serviced? Check your service book as it may be written in there.

How did your husband clean the EGR valve? When I clean them in work we use the computer to do an actuator test to activate the EGR which opens the valve and allows you to clean it better.