Vectra that won't start without a hit of starting fluid

Stampman

Hi, I would be grateful for any opinions on the following:

We bought a 2000 Opel Vectra last month to take us to France as our own car was broken down. The car went great and took us the 850 mile drive to our destination without complaint, it even obliged us with another 400 miles travel in France, before breaking down. In the few hundred miles before breaking down, we had noticed that it wouldn't always start first time, and was a bit jumpy going up through the gears, especially when the revs were below 2,000.

When it conked, we managed to get it started after a while, it took us a mile or so, then conked again, and this continued for the 10 mile journey back to our campsite. We got it looked at by a French mechanic, who said there was a problem with the fuel pump so he replaced that and a few relays under the bonnet (which communicate to the engine that there's enough fuel in the tank???). Got the car back, it started fine (but always only on the second try as the mechanic did something strange which resulted in this little quirk) and didn't cut out, though there was still the jumpiness going through the gears.

Next day, the car wouldn't start again. The mechanic took it away again, ran a diagnostic, but found no problem with the car. While he couldn't find the problem, he did find the solution, which was to spray starting fluid into the engine intake and then start the car (again, with ignition on the second attempt). We were well overdue home at this point so accepted this "fix" in the hope it would get us to the ferry, which it did.

I had great plans to sell the car straight away after our holiday, but now I'm left with a lemon that refuses to start without getting a hit of vapours. It's actually a great car apart from this substance abuse problem, so if anybody has any ideas of what the problem could be and if it would be cheap to fix (said he hopefully but not expectantly), I would be very grateful.

Thanks

hiluxman

is it a diesel or petrol?

Stampman

Petrol, 1.6l engine.

Chimaera

Sounds like an ignition fault to me. Try a new set of plugs?

Stampman

Thanks Chimaera, would that still explain it cutting out in the first place while driving?

jimmyw

The fact that it will only run with the fluid is indicative of a fuel fault.If the problem was on the electric side, spraying the fluid would make no difference.

That fluid could cause more damage if its used too often.

Stampman

Thanks jimmyw.