6
« on: 08 March 2009, 19:21:16 »
Hi, I'm a newbie, and I need help!
I'm the lucky owner of a V reg Omega 2.5 V6, who's not feeling particularly lucky at the moment.
The car stalled several times about 3 weeks ago, with the engine management light (EML) coming on indicating there was an engine management fault, and eventually I had to have Green Flag tow it home for me. I arranged for a mobile mechanic (from a credible firm) to come out, and he did a diagnostic check of the ECU and the fault code it came up with was for a faulty crankshaft position sensor.
A week later he came back with a new crank sensor, and replaced the faulty one, and dah! dah! ... the car still wouldn't start.
So, suspecting the problem was with the idle control valve, he took this out, cleaned it (and cleaned all the associated piping), put the ICV back in, reconnected all the pipework and dah! dah! ... again the car still wouldn't start. The guy eventually spent over 5 hours trying to solve the problem but to no avail (fortunately he only charged me for the time spent in fitting the crank sensor).
The strange thing was though that with the ICV fully connected the car wouldn't start at all; but when the rubber hose which connects to the other end of the ICV was disconnected temporarily then the car started and the engine ran. Reconnected the hose - car won't start; disconnected the hose, car starts OK.
We wondered whether the ICV itself was damaged and was therefore the real cause of the problem, and so a few days later I bought a brand new (and expensive!) Idle Control Valve, fitted it myself (because it's quite simple) and dah! dah! ... the car still wouldn't start, unless the bottom hose was disconnected. Fortunately I got a refund on the ICV!
So, having trawled through the various Forum posts here (I must say this is an excellent forum) but to no avail (though learning a heck of a lot about my car that I never knew before) I guess I'm near wits end.
I don't want to call a mechanic out again until I have a better idea what the problem might be. The previous mechanic suggested it could also be an air leak (hopefully not though - but if so, how do you test for it?) and I've seen other hints of what the problem might be from other posts I've read here (e.g. blocked Small Breather Jet? Butterfly Valve problem? Restricted airflow caused by some other blockage?).
Any helpful suggestions / answers would be gratefully appreciated.
Also, I need to check that this has no connection with the running of the SAI (Secondary Air Injection) valve, since the mechanic noticed there was a kink / narrowing of one of the hoses connected to the SAI valve (the hose connecting at the side nearest to the battery) on the bend of the pipe (someone at some stage in the past had, I think, replaced the original Vauxhall Part hose with a generic one - the original is no longer available I think - but whereas the bends on the original were fortified, the replacement has no such stiffening), and I am concerned that there is restricted air flow here (but not sure what impact if any that might have).
My apologies for the length of my "virgin" post, but I wanted to include as much details as possible because I know how hard it is to answer queries if facts are missing.
Herb W
