Vectra Diesel problem

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Thu 29 Jun 2006 16:55
Vectra Diesel problem - Slamdunkagain
I have a 2.0 DTI Vectra Hatch, T Reg, Early facelift version with 82k on the clock.

My journey to work is about 30 miles, the first 20 are on country roads/through built up areas. After this I get onto motorways.
I notice that immediately after the first bit of 'hard' acceleration the car starts to experience what I can only describe as similar symptoms to fuel starvation. As you try to accelerate it jumps and jerks, starting to accelerate then 'dies' for a fraction of a second (not enough to cut out), then picks up for 2/3 second before dying again. If I slow right down to less than 50 mph and keep the revs low it seems to be OK. If I stop, turn it off and wait a while, it is OK until I accelerate hard again.
The car is serviced every 10,000 miles and it was doing this periodically both before and since the last service (Fuel filter has been changed every service since I have had it).

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Thu 29 Jun 2006 21:04
Vectra Diesel problem - prm72
Sounds like the MAF sensor, not cheap i'm afraid, but easy to fit.
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Thu 29 Jun 2006 21:56
Vectra Diesel problem - Cymrogwyllt
Worth checking the vacuum pipes. I found one routed so that it chafed on the bulckhead. Some of the vacuum valves can also ingest oil and become U/S as a result. In my case easily checked vy romoving the pipe from the valve, blocking it, and running the engine to see if the dreaded light comes on again. I found the MAF to cause the electrics to go AWOL either under hard accelleration of high revs.
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Fri 30 Jun 2006 09:25
Vectra Diesel problem - Slamdunkagain
OK thanks, but the dreaded light is not coming on at all when the problem occurs !!

Regards
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Fri 30 Jun 2006 09:23
Vectra Diesel problem - Slamdunkagain
OK thanks, but I thought that if this was the case (a) The engine management light would come on if the MAF was playing up and (B) That the car would go into safe/limp home mode not the jerky/jumpy way it does ??

Regards
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Thu 29 Jun 2006 22:02
Vectra Diesel problem - debugslife
Hi

You mentioned the fuel filter. I had a petrol Cortina that done the same thing. At speed the engine used more fuel than the pump could throw into the float chamber, consequently the car stuttered and slowed down. It eventually filled the float chamber going at a slower speed and repeated the same if trying to speed up again. The reason that I mention this is that I changed the fuel pump filter and another in line filter in the engine compartment. This didn't cure it and eventually it went into a garage. They found that it was an inline fuel filter but it was one close to the fuel tank which was not mentioned in the good old Haynes manual.

Anyway, maybe an unknown fuel filter or perhaps the fuel pump itself. Sounds like fuel starvation to me.
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