opel vectra 1.9 cdti 150bhp (any advise)

cam1452

hi lads
thinking of buying a vectra 1.9 cdti 150bhp 04+. looks a fine car with the sri body kits. any minor or major problems with them,

colm_mcm

water pumps can be troublesome on that engine, can fling timing belt off. can have dual mass flywheel, swirl flaps (on inlet manifold), and EGR valve issues too.

bazz26

If you are going for one try and get one of the facelifted models from 2005 onwards, it received major improvements.

richardsheil

Pretty much any other saloon car ever sold on the Irish market is better than an Opel Vectra.

The engine would be the only good bit on them.

colm_mcm

Vectra a good all rounder though, doesn't do any one thing brilliantly but I"d have one over a lot of cars in that class especially if I had to work to a budget.

furtzy

I have owned 3 of them including a 05 150bhp SRi.

The main problem with that engine is indeed the swirl valves. There is a design flaw where the EGR valve fouls the swirl valve actuators meaning they end up sticking. Its a €1k job to fix as it includes fitting a new manifold.

The other issue is the suspension. They are a heavy car and wear out tie rods and other suspension components quite quickly. These are inexpnsive and easy to replace.

The 150bhp engine is otherwise a peach but if you want the looks of the SRi then get an SRi and not a tarted up copy. The SRi suspension set up is fairly hard and not to everyones taste especially on Irish pot holed roads.

Wouldn't listen to the Clarksonesque vectra bashing on here too much as they are a well put together car. I got rid of my SRi purely due to the discount offered on the new Oultlander and the swirl valve issue. If you can get one with the swirl valve work already done then I would recommend it

cam1452

thanks lads
not really sure what to do now. how do you no if the swirls flaps are goin

furtzy

cam1452 wrote: »

thanks lads
not really sure what to do now. how do you no if the swirls flaps are goin

Symptoms can include a hesitation on acceleration. A visual inspection by a mechanic should show up the fouled EGR valve. In fixing this issue a modifed EGR valve with a blanking plate is fitted so as not to foul the actuator so a visual inspection by a trained eye would spot if the work has been done.

I got the the error code P1109 on my scanner after the car started hesitatiing on acceleration which is the swirl valves sticking. This only affects the 150bhp version and not the 120 version

Leonard Hofstadter

Do the swirl flaps break off and go into the engine like they do with Toyota and BMW diesel engines, or do they just stop working properly?

delly

Just as an FYI I currently drive a 1.6 '06 Vectra from new and the only real issue has been an e/w actuator going. I've put up about 132,000 KM and have to say its been bulletproof the entire way.

furtzy

captainspeed wrote: »

Do the swirl flaps break off and go into the engine like they do with Toyota and BMW diesel engines, or do they just stop working properly?

No they don't break off they just stick resulting in a engine management error thus putting the car in limp home mode

Zonda999

bazz26 wrote: »

If you are going for one try and get one of the facelifted models from 2005 onwards, it received major improvements.

Very true, not really much better to look at, but much better to drive

Ardent

I have a 04 vectra 1.6 petrol a little over a year now. Good solid car and great all rounder as said before. Suspension is quite hard compared to other cars.

I recently replaced the steering rack tie rods (eBay) and rubber bushings on all the ARBs (main dealer) - the parts were very cheap.

It is recommended that you replace the timing belt every 40,000 miles.

si_guru

I had a 06 Vetcra Sri - no problems at all (okay it was new then).
I had the engine remapped to 205bhp--- haha then it was fun. and still returned over 55mpg for the 20,000 miles I had it!