Vectra 1.6i 16v misfire

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Fri 23 Aug 2002 16:40
Vectra 1.6i 16v misfire - Diesel nutter
Hi guys,

Sorry if this has been discused here before - my partner has a Y-reg Vectra 1.6i 16v Club with the Ecotec engine and its just started misfiring! When idling, the exhaust can be heard to 'pop' and the engine management warning light is permanently illuminated - when driving (under acceleration) the light flickers on and off. This will be going in under warranty but I am interested to know if others have any idea what may be up?
Incidently the car is often run on optimax (otherwise standard shell) and goes like stink for a 1.6 in a large car - even with the air con on!

Thanks in advance
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Fri 23 Aug 2002 18:07
Vectra 1.6i 16v misfire - crazed
yea great engine and surprizingly sprightly in a vectra in fact not much noticeable difference in practise than the 1.8 with the big advantage of the lower insurance group

not many group 7 cars that size with that performance however the on fly in the ointment is the cam belts snap all the time, the little plastic wheels distintigrate etc etc)

cam belt failure in this engine = new valves and 2 grand bill and they go well before you would expect

maybe some teeth have gone on the belt ?

other than that the engine management light comming on, and a small pop is a \"common\" feature of such vec\'s and I understood it was just accepted by the dealer groups as normal - they will try and read the fault code if you take it in with the light on

good luck
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Fri 23 Aug 2002 19:12
Vectra 1.6i 16v misfire - Dynamic Dave
I used to get this with my old 2 litre, 8 valve Cavalier. BUT only when I ran it on Esso super unleaded. I also used to get a shower of sparks out the back of the exhaust when slowing down and then accelerating again on motorways and bypasses. Resorting back to "normal" unleaded solved my problem. However, the ECU light never came on permanently, it just flickered whilst misfiring.
On a final note, get it fixed sooner rather than later. The misfire could damage the cat.
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