Vauxhall Corsa B (1993 - 2000) - 98 1.0 Injector problem?

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Sat 4 Oct 2008 20:24
98 1.0 Injector problem? - motherinlawscorsa
Hi all,

First post and used to old mechanical cars so please be gentle!!

The mother-in-law has a 98 1l Corsa that she keeps at ours for when she visits. It has two problems:

* Speedo doesn't work (think this is the sensor on the gearbox)
* Runs slightly rough at idle. When running there is intermittent hesitation which I can best describe as if trying to drive an older car with the choke out.

She has taken it to the local garage who have 'put it on the computer'. They are saying it needs the sensor and a new injector. For this they have charged her £45 and want £400 for the work.
My question is is this engine that complicated? From what I can see there are 3 injectors and they want to replace 1. Does the replaced injector have to be programmed to the car or is it a swap out? The car only cost £450 in the first place with 9 months tax!!!

Thanks in advance for your answers

Simon

Edited by Pugugly on 04/10/2008 at 22:22

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Sat 4 Oct 2008 20:36
98 1.0 98 Corsa 1.0 Injector problem? - elekie&a/c doctor
I think I would be checking the basics first.Speedo not working could be a fuse(if it has a cigar lighter does it work,it's on the same circuit.Rough idle is a common feature of these 3 cyl engines and although annoying usually does not affect the drive.Hesitation could be a number of things;air mass meter,spark plugs or coil pack,or even engine timing chain wear(another common fault).As for an injector fault,I would think highly unlikely.hth
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Sat 4 Oct 2008 20:51
98 1.0 98 Corsa 1.0 Injector problem? - motherinlawscorsa
Ah that's interesting as a previous owner has either retro-fitted or rewired the cigarette lighter.
Have been having a look about and it seems to me that if it were an injector (the management light is on but I believe this could be the speedo fault) then the part should be fairly cheap. Do you know if the injectors on these can just be swapped?

Thanks very much for your reply
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Sat 4 Oct 2008 21:06
98 1.0 98 Corsa 1.0 Injector problem? - elekie&a/c doctor
New injectors for these are not cheap .Iwould guess at around £80-90 each.They can be swapped around and they are not coded to the car,but honestly leave the injector theory out of this for the time being.hth
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Sat 4 Oct 2008 21:14
98 1.0 98 Corsa 1.0 Injector problem? - motherinlawscorsa
Agree with you about injectors being at the end of the queue. Initially trying to see whether this garage have seen a little old lady coming in and are trying to take her for a ride. I now find out he said had the same thing happened to another customer the day before and charged her £600 and she went away happy! Now he wants to charge my mother in law £400 o what a good deal!! Strikes me as taking the wotsit ;)

Ok folks all that said where do you think would be best place to start? New plugs and leads?
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Sat 4 Oct 2008 21:21
98 1.0 98 Corsa 1.0 Injector problem? - elekie&a/c doctor
I think the best place to start is to take to somebody that knows what they are talking about and not try to bolt on the most expensive parts first.
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Sat 4 Oct 2008 22:04
98 1.0 98 Corsa 1.0 Injector problem? - topbloke
if the speedo aint working correctly how is it supposed to give the correct mixture fix the speedo first then see how it is, change throttle bodys on these quiet often for various faults the erratic idle you could live with if she only uses it once in a blue moon just try the sensor first see how it drives after that

Edited by topbloke on 04/10/2008 at 22:08

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Sat 4 Oct 2008 22:17
98 1.0 98 Corsa 1.0 Injector problem? - motherinlawscorsa
Cheers Topbloke,

Tbh I would live with it as it's not that bad and the car still returns good mpg and is reliable enough for a 400 mile round trip :)

Any good links for sensors?
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Sun 5 Oct 2008 11:32
98 1.0 98 Corsa 1.0 Injector problem? - motherinlawscorsa
Thanks for that all,

Just been having another look.
Firstly have removed the speedo and cleaned up the connector block which was clean anyway. Replaced and all the same, i.e. everything on the dash works except the speedo. I can see the sensor on the gearbox but haven't found where to buy one just yet.
In the engine bay I've not touched the injectors or spark plugs yet as I don't have a star driver big enough to remove the rail above the plugs. However what I did notice was that the plug for the EGR valve was removed. Previously a mechanic friend of the wife had had a look and managed to plug the lambda into what I now know was the EGR socket. I had put the lambda back in place but at that time couldn't see where the other (EGR) went. Anyway that is replaced. I also then disconnected the battery for 10 minutes hoping to clear any fault codes. On reconnecting the light flashes once and then stays on, just as before.
After all that I took it for a short test drive. So far there is no hesitation. Idle is still a little lumpy but believe that is common to this engine. Fingers crossed and will go for a longer run later but hopefully that's it

Simon
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