problem with astra

superfish

hi I have a 01 1.4 opel astra, of late ive noticed when traveling longer journeys the car will jerk for a moment, its like it loses power for a split second bit of a judder is the best way i can describe it. this is usually around 60mph also maybe once a week it takes bit longer than normal to fire up but it never fails to start. a friend suggested that there could be dirt in my fuel tank. im unsure what to do as i have the nct due in march and dont want to go spend big money on fixing this problem only to find out it needs other work doing to pass the nct. so any ideas what it could be and should I be ok to drive it around until then because its driving near perfect this is the only issue. thanks in advance

Lucifer

Likely to be an EGR valve or a coil pack. Only way to be sure is to have it checked by a diagnostic computer.

starbelgrade

I had a similar problem with a Seat a few years ago... turned out that the cover over the spark plugs was letting in water when it was raining hard.

Could be any number of things though. As Lucifer says, have it checked by a diagnostic computer.

superfish

thanks guys I did give it a service there last week myself (my god opel are a pain to service) and notice one of the plugs was covered in oil I dont have a clue what this means if anything at all but a full service Oil plugs air filter and oil filter did not stop the problem. if its the coil pack like you say would this show up or affect my car during the nct ?

Stheno

If it's due in March you can do the test now and see whether or not it fails?

That way you will know if there is work to be done on it?

superfish

Stheno wrote: »

If it's due in March you can do the test now and see whether or not it fails?

That way you will know if there is work to be done on it?

oh really i was not aware you could do the nct before its up thats a great help. ive heard talk that as of 2011 any car older than 10 years is only entitled to 1 year nct is this true and if so would it affect my 01 being bang on ten years old, again cheers for all the help

Stheno

superfish wrote: »

oh really i was not aware you could do the nct before its up thats a great help. ive heard talk that as of 2011 any car older than 10 years is only entitled to 1 year nct is this true and if so would it affect my 01 being bang on ten years old, again cheers for all the help

You can do it up to three months in advance for the second test onwards, and six months in advance for the first test.

See Citizens Information ref the change to have ten year old cars tested every year. This is not coming in until June, so if you do the NCT and pass you will get a two year cert, then in 2013 it will go onto yearly tests afaik, someone else will hopefully correct me if I've gotten it wrong.

From June 2011, cars over 10 years old will be tested each year.

dazza27

Super fish ,not sure where your based but if you want to pm me your details I'll try and hook you up with an Opel dealer for a diagnosis which I suspect will indicate an egr valve or coil pack ad previously posted !