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[stevief]

One night last week the emisions light flashed briefly when sitting in traffic and then again on Monday when pulling out from a junction.

Tonight on the way home I was doing a steady 70MPH when the light came on and stayed on while the rev counter zeroed. The engine was still running but refusing to rev up. The light went out again and the rev counter picked back up to cruising revs.

Apart from a build up of crud arount the sensor in the hose between the air filter and the turbo which has been cleaned up he only noticable difference is that there has been a bit more smoke than usual which is confirmed buy the build up in the tailpipe.

The generic fault code reader doesn't pick anything up so obviously a Vauxhall emision system code, work great on Fords though, so it will be a trip to the dealers to get codes read.

Any ideas in the interim would be appreciated.

Steve

[Auto Addict]

Anyone?

[stevief]

This morning comming in to work all was fine until the temperature came up to about 80 degrees then the light came back on, rev counter dropped to zero and had limited amount of revs to keep moving to get of themain road.

Once stopped it was hunting like hell and would then clear and kept cycling like that when standing still. Carried on driving to at least get to work to arrange a proper scan and it was driving okay apart from the limited revs. After about half a mile it suddenly picked up revs, the light went out and the rev counter started working again.

The first times the light flashed the engine was stone cold so the temperature issue is maybe a red herring.

I'll try and get it booked in today but knowing what the garages are like here it could be days before I can get a scan done.

Any ideas welcome!

Thanks,

Steve

[Boiler Man]

Hi Steve

I'm afraid I am not up to todays or even yesterdays car technolegy. So I can only relate my past experiance with my old 2ltr DTI.

I had probs with engine managment light coming on and the engine revs would drop right down. Will it was on it couldnt pull the skin off a rice pudding

The light would either eventually go off after a while or if I stopped and started the engine again, it would go out and run fine.

Vauxhall told me it was the injectors. £450 later it did exactly the same thing leaving the garage. They then swapped the mass air volume meter which took 5 mins & hay presto, not only did it work but it was like a new car. They didnt give me back my £450 though

I know it's a differant engine and an older car but just a thought.

[stevief]

Thanks for that.

The only sensor I can see in the intake system is the one I cleaned up at the weekend. My thinkingg is along the lines of that if the sensor was on the way out then I may have killed it by cleaning it with electrical contact cleaner (sounds better than brake cleaner) sprayed in from either end only because the torx headed screws have the dreaded center bit which of course is not to a standard size so normal bits don't fit.

The dealer can't look at it until next week and the other garage who had Tech 2 sold it on last year and now have a Sun system which he wants to try on the Meega tomorrow although I am sceptical if it will work. I've also pinged an e-mail away to the dealer I bought my scanner from to see if the flash upgradeable extends to manufacturers codes as well, doubt it though.

Steve

[miggy]

Hi Steve

I'm afraid I am not up to todays or even yesterdays car technolegy. So I can only relate my past experiance with my old 2ltr DTI.

I had probs with engine managment light coming on and the engine revs would drop right down. Will it was on it couldnt pull the skin off a rice pudding

The light would either eventually go off after a while or if I stopped and started the engine again, it would go out and run fine.

Vauxhall told me it was the injectors. £450 later it did exactly the same thing leaving the garage. They then swapped the mass air volume meter which took 5 mins & hay presto, not only did it work but it was like a new car. They didnt give me back my £450 though

I know it's a differant engine and an older car but just a thought.

Had a simular issue with my 2002 dti, got the maf off ebay, brand new gen part for £25.00, changed it and the issue went away.

 

[stevief]

Would I be right in asuming you are referencing the sensor in the hose between the turbo and the manifold?

I have been trying to see if there is a common pint where it goes and was getting really set on when it reached 80 degrees. I threw a cople of minor wobblies on the way up to 80 deg and when it is sitting betwen 80 and 85 degrees it is at it's worst. Once over 85 degrees it runs perfectly.

To be on the safe side the EGR has been pulled and cleaned, seems to be working okay and vacuum feels okay as well.

At a loss so full scan will be required over the next few days.

Thanks for the ideas so far.

Steve

[Boiler Man]

Hi Steve

Yes, Sorry I didnt make myself very clear.

The Mass air volume meter or sensor, is in the short plastic tube fitted in the hose between air filter and tubo.

There is an article in FAQ section all about it.

Good luck, let us know how you go on, I may be have the problem again with my 2.2 DTI.

[stevief]

Just had the car scanned and am extremely dubious as I am always wary when doors get shut on you. No codes given only a description of the posible cause which he gave as the shaft in the fuel pump which provides the RPM pickup for the rev counter and that is why the rev counter is going to zero or there is a breakdown in communication between the pump and the ECU and recommends a pump recondition.

Now, please correct me if I am wrong, I would have assumed that if it was the pump failing then it would be unlikely to be temperature related and intermittent but at the moment if I start the car up from cold I can predict exactly when it is going to throw up the warning and after which point it will clear itself.

There was also a proprtion of the blame levelled at the tuning module but as the same issue occurs when it is switched to bypass the unit it still reacts in the same way and at the same temperatures. The company are a remap agent so their thought on plug ins are well known as being negative but i'll disconnect it tonight and try again anyway.

Thoughts on the pump being the cause will be very appreciated as I obviously dont want to go changing pumps and then have the same problem.

Hopefully get it tech2'd tomorrow afternoon which may either help or hinder the decision process but if they also say the pump is going then at least I have to give it some credence.

Steve

[davlad22]

I was about to say MAF sensor before I read the replies above. They are quite expensive from dealer though iirc, ebay is your best bet. Not sure if they can be cleaned actually? Isn't it a carbon sensor? Am I talking tosh?

Have you given it a good thrashing? The DTi's do get choked up to the point where often they don't pass the MOT emissions first time, after full throttle through 1st 2nd & 3rd they do seem to run a bit better  

[stevief]

Tha FAQ on them clears it up.

A good thrashing was the first thing tried and to be honest I thought it had worked but, no, a week later it was back with a vengance. I have no doubt they will be expensive but no way as high as a pump unit so I know what I am hoping it is.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Steve

[davlad22]

Yep, new fuel pumps are bad news money wise, some cars you can write off straight away, I would budget £500+ if it turns out to be pump.

RE the MAF sensor, I would buy one anyway, it probably will fail eventually so get one bought to rule it out. They often degrade and as you have found out, it is critical for smooth running on diesel. As a rough ballpark figure I would say £80-£90 from VX but around half that from 'the bay'. Anyone care to elaborate on prices?

Best of luck  

[stevief]

Yep, new fuel pumps are bad news money wise, some cars you can write off straight away, I would budget £500+ if it turns out to be pump.

RE the MAF sensor, I would buy one anyway, it probably will fail eventually so get one bought to rule it out. They often degrade and as you have found out, it is critical for smooth running on diesel. As a rough ballpark figure I would say £80-£90 from VX but around half that from 'the bay'. Anyone care to elaborate on prices?

Best of luck  

Might as well wait and see what comes up tomorrow, I'll give the lad the benefit of doubt as he has a pretty good reputation for the work he does, he runs a 2.0 corsa with a proper blower with all work done by himself so either relatively switched on or extremely brave. :-/

The design of the MAF location leaves a lot to be desired on these units due to the rocker cover vent being so close to the sensor there is certain to be more oil mist floating around than in other designs, especially after switching off the dead volume of air will drop out the entrained oil where ever it touches. This point is backed up by the fact that the mesh at the inlet of the MAF housing has very little crud on it but the MAF itself was filthy. Added to that the oil drop out in the entire length of the inlet tract is not great either, all for the exclusion of a seperator on the vent.

I haven't looked yet but is there a sensor on the cat and what is the reliability like of both the sensors and the cats? Any ideas?

Steve

  

[Boiler Man]

Does anyone has the part number for the MAF sensor on an 2003 2.2 DTI?

I think I may invest in one, as my old one went around 120,000 and my new motors getting on for that now.

[stevief]

Does anyone has the part number for the MAF sensor on an 2003 2.2 DTI?

I think I may invest in one, as my old one went around 120,000 and my new motors getting on for that now.

Is there a usual sort of mileage they go at? Mine has only done 48,000ish.

Steve