EMU light comes intermittently usually when I ease of the throttle as I come off the motorway. Cancells when I switch off. I can potter about the highways and byways all day and the thing stays off. Car is 2000, has done 94k, has always been a bit of an oil burner, rattled at start up but I still getting '40 mpg and still runs sweetly when warmed up, so I am thinking can't be too much wrong, faulty sensor perhaps? I don't want to fork out 50 quid at a vauxhall dealer to have it checked out but I am I being too complacent ?
I do have a plentiful supply of paperclips though.
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I do have a plentiful supply of paperclips though.
Unfortunately they won't do you any good, as I believe your Vectra is too new to perform the paperclip trick to read out the fault codes. Only can be done on Vectra's up until 1999.
When you say "comes on intermittently ", do you mean it just briefly flashes; or occasionally comes on, but it's intermittent in that it sometimes stays on, sometimes not?
If the former, then I suspect a fault code won't be stored, as the light needs to remain lit for at least 8 seconds for a fault to be logged in the ecu's memory.
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When it comes on it stays on. I have revved it hard on the drive way, blasted it up the local hills and not a twitter, but on average three times a week as i come to the exit slip on it pops. No detectable change in performance, just the same steady eddie vectra.
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My money is on either the camshaft sensor or crankshaft sensor. That's not to necessarily say the sensors themselves are dodgy. It's previously been known for the plug / socket connections to become corroded and give false signals. As the light is coming on, and staying on, then it would really be best to have the fault code read out by a garage that has a code reader.
The following info on the camshaft sensor is for a 2.0 litre engine. I have no idea if the same applies to a 1.6 though.
tinyurl.com/ra29r
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Among the things that are happening while you decelerate on a slip road are;
The engine will rock forward on its mounts - check to make sure the wiring loom isn't rubbing anywhere
The manifold absolute pressure will be very low - check the piping to the MAP sensor, (I tend to take the piping off, and check I can blow through it - same with the stub on the manifold - make sure it isn't blocked) and check the sensor's output with a voltmeter.
The best way forward is to find out what the trouble code is (I'm sure you'll find someone who can read it for less than the extortionate £50).
Bear in mind, that obtaining the trouble code is the starting point for further diagnosis - the trouble code tells you which area of the system may be at fault - it can't distinguish between a simple wiring fault like a rubbing wire that takes ten minutes a cable tie and some insulation tape to fix, or, the expensive sensor at the end of the wire. Too many mechanics just blindly fit the device that is mentioned in the trouble code, rather than checking it out properly. Sometimes, they are right to do this, but that's only a fluke, it isn't diagnosis.
Number_Cruncher
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