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[erubus]

HI there guys.  I had s guy come out to the house with an all singing all dancing diagnostic computer.  After charging me a small fortune he told me that I was getting a high voltage fault at the idle valve and was only getting "20" at the air-flow meter instead of "around 100"  (he never said what that 20 was, degrees maybe?) and that the airflow meter was FUBAR and needed replacing.

"when you replace the MAF the idle valve fault should disappear, if not then it's the wiring at fault and there'll be a bad earth somewhere"

that seemed pretty conclusive, so I went and bought a brand new MAF and fitted it.  NO change whatsoever.  So rather than trace all the wires for the ICV I cut out the ICV loom from a spare loom (already had bits missing or I would have changed the whole thing) and wired it directly to the ECU, still no change.  The enigine still runs terribly, backfiring into the exhaust and inlet, runs like it's on two cylinders at idle, cuts out and can't hold any particular speed. 

I've now wasted as much money as I paid for the car and still haven't even driven the thing.  and to make it worse, the utterly perfect bodywork is now wrecked by the damn posty dragging his bag across the front every morning.  there are two 3 inch long gouges on the bonnet right down to the steel and several long scores on the wings, the longest being 17 inches long!  Am I destined never to have a working omega?

gill

[mr ICE man]

did you use a genuine maf?who did the code reads for £100??icv can be cleaned easily.have you had a chip fitted mate?,wonder if thats the problem.pm elite pete and see what he says

[Shrek]

Think i would have had a wee word or two with the postie 

[erubus]

who did the code reads for £100?

think that was a mis-read  he charged a small fortune, the 100 was on the line underneath.  he told me that the MAF was reading 20 instead of around 100, as to it what it was reading at 20 i couldn't tell you, I'm thinking degrees C maybe?

It was a genuine MAF I fitted and I cleaned out the ICV.  It was a new one anyway fitted by the PO and hasn't covered any miles (due to the engine not running)

I'm getting pretty down about it all now, and to be honest the financial stress that my fuel bill is causing me having to use the landy every day is really starting to affect my health.  Rock and a hard place situation though.  can't afford to get something economical as a stopgap due to spending more than my wage in fuel to get to work, alternative is don't go to work but then i don't have any money coming in, so still buggered.  Have an interview for a job in dundee, which is much closer and I can share a car with the other half so that will take the pressure off a little and i could then look at buying a new engine or something.  just hope I get it!

As to the postie, I'm at work when he comes usually, but saw him do it on a saturday morning, but couldn't chase him down the street due to being in my pants haha.  A strongly worded note will be on the windscreen come monday though!!  I caught a cyclist sitting on the bonnet of the landy the other week.  One of the problems of living in the middle of nowhere at the top of a very steep hill.  everyone seems to choose the garden wall/cars/driveway to rest.

[Darth Loo-knee]

Ok I understand that its frustrating when some Monkey gives you the wrong info 
But if you alter your profile to let us know where abouts in the Country or World your from there just maybe someone near you who could lend a hand

[Shrek]

who did the code reads for £100?

think that was a mis-read  he charged a small fortune, the 100 was on the line underneath.  he told me that the MAF was reading 20 instead of around 100, as to it what it was reading at 20 i couldn't tell you, I'm thinking degrees C maybe?

It was a genuine MAF I fitted and I cleaned out the ICV.  It was a new one anyway fitted by the PO and hasn't covered any miles (due to the engine not running)

I'm getting pretty down about it all now, and to be honest the financial stress that my fuel bill is causing me having to use the landy every day is really starting to affect my health.  Rock and a hard place situation though.  can't afford to get something economical as a stopgap due to spending more than my wage in fuel to get to work, alternative is don't go to work but then i don't have any money coming in, so still buggered.  Have an interview for a job in dundee, which is much closer and I can share a car with the other half so that will take the pressure off a little and i could then look at buying a new engine or something.  just hope I get it!

As to the postie, I'm at work when he comes usually, but saw him do it on a saturday morning, but couldn't chase him down the street due to being in my pants haha.  A strongly worded note will be on the windscreen come monday though!!  I caught a cyclist sitting on the bonnet of the landy the other week.  One of the problems of living in the middle of nowhere at the top of a very steep hill.  everyone seems to choose the garden wall/cars/driveway to rest.

You mention Dundee which isnt far from me .... i have code readers that dont cost anything ... where about are you 

[erubus]

my bad, I thought I had updated my details when I got the car.  I'm just a wee bit out of blairgowrie and it's a V reg 2.0 ecotec auto cdx.

The guy that did the code reads does it for a living and had pretty fancy kit .

gonna update my profile now haha.

[Abiton]

Have a good look around the intake piping between the MAF and throttle body, and make sure the throttle body itself, and ICV are correctly seated on their gaskets.

A post-MAF airleak might explain the poor running, and your mechanic's reading of air mass flow rate (assuming it is that, and the 20 is actually way off, I wouldn't know).

[erubus]

i gave the whole intake side of the engine a good squirt with easy start while it was running and at the back end of it when i squirted it the revs rose.  So I have taken the manifold off and given it a good inspection.  I can't see any cracks which might explain things, but the fuel tank vent valve and servo pipe were both in the area where i was squirting, although both seem to be pretty well sealed. 

the faces of the manifold were pretty scored though, and the gasket was wet in the corresponding areas.  whoever has last had the gasket off has gone to town with the sandpaper to clean it off. 

the plan now is to source a new manifold as cheap as possible and replace the gasket, annoyingly i'm sure i had unused gaskets left over from my last cav's hg replacement (i left both manifolds on) but i think they might have been stored in a car thats now been scrapped.

hopefully this whole problem will be as simple as that!

cheers, gill

[erubus]

have now replaced the manifold and still the same.  when i spray easy start the revs go up.  there is one pipe which looks cut, but it comes out of a valve thing on one of the heater pipes.  it seems to be when i spray in the direction of the fuel tank vent valve, but it still does it when the pipe is removed from the manifold and the hole covered up on the manifold. i know there's the white pipe to the dis pack but are there any other vac pipes in that area?  it's really difficult to see at the back of the engine.

cheers gill

[PhilRich]

There's a vac pipe on top of that 'valve thing on one of the heater pipes' (the Heater Byepass Valve). If it's ill fitting or split then that could be the source of your leak? Try being a bit more accurate & sparing with the squirts of easystart, it will make it much easier to pinpoint the leak area

[henryd]

check that your brake servo is not leaking,pop the pipe off and seal the hole.It will play hell with the slow running if its leaking

[erubus]

cheers for that.  I have checked the servo pipe already and it's fine (the connector into the manifold was actually a bit loose originally, although the problem persisted afterwards)

Heater bypass valve, the pipe that comes out of the top of it is only about 6 inches long and the open end is in the general vicinity of where the easy start has an effect on the revs.  Would I be correct in assuming that the vac shouldn't come from the valve end though?  where about should the other end of the pipe be?

cheers again.  feels like i'm getting closer to the root of the problem!

gill

[PhilRich]

There shouldn't be an 'open end' mate, & the vac pipe from the HBV is a bit longer than 6", so you should start hunting around the back of the engine & along the bulkhead for the 'other open end' 

[erubus]

that's vertainly something that needs looked at in any case then.  could you tell me where the other end of the pipe should go?  did a search but couldn't really find anything (mostly about water leaks)  gonna have another poke around and see what i can find.  haven't managed to find any open vac connections anywhere will have another listen with the stethoscope as well.