April 2009
Hi,
My wife has a driving school and I had to argue a bit with V/Hall re this problem and eventually had to get involved direct with the office and support staff of:
Bill Parfitt, Managing Director - Vauxhall Motors Ltd & Executive Director - UK, Ireland, GME Fleet/CV.
In fairness once his team were involved it got resolved quickly.
My wife has had 3 cars outwith warranty which had free engine replacements due to this fault and the first one we paid for labour not realising it was a common fault.
I also know of two other instructors who had had new engines free due to this, one was within warranty and the other is outwith.
My understanding is V/Hall are well aware of the problems associated with the timing chain tensioner faults re lubrication and this causes premature wear in the camshafts. It will be cheaper for them to replace engines for customers who shout loudest if there are problems when out of warranty. Let's face it how many customers would know to argue about it if the car is older but just getting to the associated mileage with this problem.
One of the cars I am aware of which got new engine was less than 60,000 miles all others were over that.
Feel free to PM me if you need any other information.
Cheers, Brian
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Hi Honest John,
Seeking your help. I have a year 2000 Vauxhall Vectra LS 2litre 16v petrol manual. The engine cuts out intermittently. This happens more frequently on warmer days, and has become more frequent of recent - many times each journey. However on other days it doesn't cut out at all ! I am concerned due to safety since I lose power steering and transport two small children.
- Cut out happens when foot is off the gas and clutch not engaged - eg. when static at lights, or when changing gear, particularly at slow speeds.
- Another sympton observed is that sometimes when stationary at lights, the revs will suddenly jump up for a couple of seconds and then return to normal idle.
- Also observed is on occasional journeys, the engine warning light will come on for limited periods of say 30 secs to 2 minutes. This does not always happen though.
- When this problem first appeared I took the car to a garage who ran diagnostic test by plugging into the ECU, and they found no fault.
- I've checked hoses and breather tubes - no leaks observed currently.
Could this be anything to do with a Mass Airflow Sensor ? I welcome any suggestions to get to the bottom of this problem.
{edited to include make of car, and to make use of the full width of the text box, and not just 2 thirds of it.} Read more
Hi you've done the expensive stuff first and missed the inexpensive fix you need to remove all the pipe work from the throttle body then release the fuel line if you then clean the under side of the throttle body it will reveal a tiny pin sized hole which will be blocked spray this with carb cleaner and give it a poke with a pin then re spray to clean out re assemble and your vectra will run like a dream :-D
...
Been lucky enough to have one to ride over the summer (friend going abroad to work needs it "airing") I rode a VFR 750 many years ago and loved it - will I love this bike ? Read more
I've had two VFRs, the first was a 95 750 fs (in red) which was a fantastic bike. Would still have it except for a driver trying to occupy the same space as i was in.
As that was written off I treated myself to a Vtec 06' on which I've just completed a 1500 mile tour of Scotland - fantastic time and the bike performed faultlessly. As Refred commented - I can't think what I might replace it with....
Hi, just bought the above for the wife from BCA Bridgwater today with one owner 103k, 9 Honda stamps to 100k. It is utterly MINT and totally unabused and has come direct from Howards Honda of Weston S Mare who supplied and serviced throughout it's life. It's a one owner and drives like new for £3956 inc Buyers Premium. I know prices are crazy at the moment, however I think it's a good deal, do you ? The reason for this post is after doing some subsequent research I see these cars can use a litre of oil every 600 miles ? Is this right ? Also, I have seen a post somewhere where it stated to not turn the ignition off when you stop for 10 seconds ( which might save on Turbo longeavity ? ). Any advice about the 2.2 CDTI would be much appreciated. Thanking you in advance. Simon Read more
I have an 04 Tourer Exec 2.2iCTDI from new, and I never use oil between changes. When I first got it the fuel consumption was poor and it used a bit of oil, but once I had done about 9000 miles the consumption improved and no oil used between services.
I get about 40mpg running around locally, and around 59mpg fully loaded on the French autoroutes.
Any chance of attaching a foot pump to a completely flat tyre (apparently let down) and managing to pump it up?
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Not sure what the gas is, might be nitrogen ...
I would guess nitrogen, or possibly CO2 (now there's a way to reduce global warming) - more likely N2. Anything else (other than air) would be too expensive, or flammable.
Hi,
My voyager is approaching 60k miles and is due a cam belt change. I have done this on various old and cheap cars but I am a little nervous about doing the job on my newish expensive daily driver.
My main questions are:
Are there any particularly tricky bits to this job on this engine?
How do I lock the engine in order to get the crankshaft pully off when it has an auto transmission?
Thanks
Jon Read more
Thank you Merlin for taking the time to be so helpful I really appreciate it, The parts are on order. Michael
This may sound stupid but here goes.
What's the difference between inner and outer cv boot's.
I took my car for 2 new front tyres yesterday and the bloke said that my CV boot was leaking. I have read a few posts on her stating that they cost between £20 and £40.
The problem is I dont do mechanics at all and have been quoted £220 by vauxhall to do the job. I am ringing round a few mechanics to price the job up but I keep getting asked if its the inner or outer boots. If I had any idea I could get it sorted!
Fords have told me that it would cost £40 per boot for outer and £70 per boot for inner.
Any help would be welcome Read more
The problem is owing to the clip not being strong enough for the plastic boot, it will almost inevitably snap at some point if it's the original.
I used two jubilee clips set opposite each other so as to ensure better balance.
Looking to buy a late 1990's TDI one of these two. Is there a difference between the Sharan and Galaxy in build quality? The Fords always look tatty to me....
any other reason to pick one over the other?
Many thanks..... Read more
2.3 4 speed auto - Computer says the car does about 22-23 mpg average on cold school runs, trips to town etc. On a fast motorway run the onboard computer reports about 28 mpg.
Aircon (cc) is permanently on all year round. It works very hard to keep the car cool in summer.
A recent diagnostic test (Dealer) produced the following. Any further explanation and idication of cost please (Dealer/non)? There was exhaust work at last Service.
17887 P1479 008, Brake vacuum system, Mechanical malfunction
18320 P1912 001, Brake Booster Pressure Sensor -G294-, Open / short to B+
18528 P2096 002, Bank1, Lambda correction downstream of catalyst, lean exceeded
I've always used a trusted Dealer for servicing so far and seems reasonable faults for age&milesage but see previous fix, below. Am I in for a surprise or is this 'known fault'?
History - original Cat replaced under warranty. Shortly before the last long distance service the Emission light came on (but didn't blink). After a few days the Engine Management light came on and car went into limp mode. Had Service immediately. Warning lights were no longer on and I didn't pay for anything directly related. But there was no 'work under warranty' paperwork either so there is NO RECORD OF PREVIOUS EXHAUST FIX.
Context - 3.5 years old, 77k miles, ~100miles/day - mainly motorway, mainly 95 Ron Shell. Read more
I have a Golf very similar in age and mileage and got the fault P1479 and P1403. Not how bad these conditions are and what the cost is going to be or is this a common fault for Golfs of this age and mileage??
{{Post amended. No one likes to be SHOUTED at!}
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CCleaner version 2.19.900 is reportedly having problems:
forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=21762
That is despite the previous attempt to fix problems:
[1st May 2009]
www.ccleaner.com/download/version-history
v2.19.900
--------------------------------------------
- Added support for Firefox 3.5 beta.
- Fixed IE8 cookies deletion after reboot.
v2.19.889
--------------------------------------------
- Improved support for Google Chrome v2.
- Fixed bug with IE8 cookies.
- Added support for Flash Cookies.
- Added Tool to manage System Restore Files (XP and Vista only).
- Added support to remove Opera Recently Typed URLs.
- Fixed bug which was displaying wrong Total Bytes removed.
- Improved exception handling.
- Fixed virtual function bug.
- Minor performance improvements.
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Possibly legal protection cover on a house or car policy might offer advice, or are you a member of any motoring organisation, as they may be able to help?