Astra 1.4 Problem

Ardennes1944

was driving to work today at about 2 o clock in 04 astra. everything was fine for the first 5 mins of my journey but then as i was stopped at one set of traffic lights it seemed like it was going to conk. i pulled away and had almost no power, then a small lump of power and then none again. took me about 20seconds to get to 100kph.this kept occurring every 2seconds for about the next 2-3mins on the dual carriageway. as i turned off to a minor road all seemed ok again. it was revving up correctly with no delay so i thought phew all is fine.

leaving work at half 6 tonight, all was grand until i pulled back onto the dual carriageway except this time the problem persisted all the way home.

any ideas lads?
thanks

Owen

Flaky coil? Just a guess on my part though. Engines run badly if spark/fuelling is messed up, and I'd be more inclined to think coil than fuel pump. Would be no harm to plug it in somewhere and see if a fault has been stored.

FREDNISMO

Might be the plug rail

david

If it's an early Astra H (Newer Model) they give trouble with both the EGR valve - power loss and coil pack - misfire/not firing on 4 cyl. Bring it to a mechanic, a diagnostic check will return any fault codes.

Ardennes1944

its an astra g. warranty is out 3days!

david

I think it uses the same chain driven 1.4 engine - get it into an opel garage.

Ardennes1944

yeah its the same ecotec engine more or less afaik. im sure my mechanic would be able to diagnose it. opel garage=expensive!

Lucifer

Astra G and Astra H engines are completely different. Likely cause on an astra G is egr valve or coil pack.

andyseadog

Deutschlandfürimmer7 wrote: »

its an astra g. warranty is out 3days!

id still visit opel.

i'd be surprised if they didnt give you a few days grace

dekbhoy

yeah sounds like coil pack , had an asrta and the coil pack failed , very easy to replace if your anyway handy .

O.A.P

As above ^^^^^ The g type astra has a timing belt the H type a chain
I have had this problem with the same car and it was the coil pack at fault. The part cost 150 euros I think but I had it replaced in 20 or 30 minutes.

W.Shakes-Beer

Since its a Z series Mk4 you can try the pedal test which may throw up a fault

how to: press both pedals down to the floor and turn ignition on until the lights come on but not start the engine...then on the mileage if you have an ecn number thats your fault code.

The Mk4's hate EGR's and most dealerships will just blank them nowadays, the car technically doesn't need it. As said as well, could be coilpack related.


Maybe a plug change wouldn't be a bad idea just as a process of elimination.

All the best.

Ardennes1944

andyseadog wrote: »

id still visit opel.

i'd be surprised if they didnt give you a few days grace

i bought it off an independant garage. my bad on the call on astra g/h engine!

will try the pedal trick thank you.
hopefully its a coil pack and nothing else serious.
would you recommend me getting it diagnosed and then going back to the garage i bought it from (in killarney) with the knowledge of exactly whats wrong?

david

I'd be very surprised if your local Opel Garage didn't give you a free diagnosis if you have any intention of getting it fixed there. When I had a coilpack fail on a H I got it diagnosed in the garage for free, they charged me 238 inc VAT for the pack, 4 new plugs (All OEM GM) and €20 labour - changed it on the spot. If you have a plug wrench and hex wrench you can do it yourself in about 15 minutes. For the peace of mind and 1 yr warranty on the coilpack I'd get it done with Opel as it was near enough the same price for spurious parts form my local motor factor.

It's mandatory to swap out the plugs when doing the pack as per Opel service guidelines.

My bad with the engine mix-up. As far as I know MAF, EGR and coilpack all give trouble on both lumps.

Ardennes1944

i understand you can clean the egr valve very easily but am finding it hard to find out exactly where it is? if i need alot of torx heads then **** it ill head to opel

Ardennes1944

noticed another trend here. before at idle it used rev just over 1000rpm but now since the problem it idles at under 1000rpm. this is only when it warms up though. it idles normally when started up at first but as it warms up it drops. is this more evidence that its the egr?