Welcome to vvon

Pondfish · #1 27-12-09, 21:19

Hi Lee
Glad your back is kinda better! Believe me, i know what misery that can be.

The Vectra has held up for about 6,000 miles, but i have a strange problem now. It's awful lumpy on tickover, and every so often, all the dials start flickering the trip counter resets to zero, and i get the traction control light on, before the engine just cuts. Turn the ignition, and it all fires back into life again. Any ideas???
Sounds like a major electrical problem, but i have not had a chance to investigate yet. As the insurance, Tax, MOT is due in Jan, and it needs new tyres, front pads etc it may be the end of the road for my Veccy!
Know anyone with a Veccy Estate going cheap?
don't know if i know enough to give any help / advice, but as i said, i'll not leave it so long before looking in again - been real busy - but missed the VVON site.

Leeky · #2 27-12-09, 21:41

Thanks mate.

I've moved it to a new topic for you as others will then see it too.

The lumpiness is most likely the ICV (idle Control Valve), its pretty common on your engine to have this problem.

The lights flicking on and off, as well as lights on the dash (assuming they are always random) is likely to be a earth problem.

Are you finding the ABS is kicking in under light braking effort?

As for the earths - In the Vectra the main earths are in the following places:

LH inner wing in front of the suspension housing in the engine bay
The rear of the engine block, near the starter/alternator
The upper LH side of the kick panel
Inside the centre of the dash - Its on the crossmember behind the dash roughly central to the head unit hole)
Underneath the centre console housing (roughly under the handbrake area)
The centre of the rear panel behind the rear headrests
On the front panel, below the LH headlamp
several more on the rear of the engine as well (dependant on engine etc)

I'd be checking the earths as they are easy to check. Its possible if your getting loads of random faults that the multitimer is in fact playing up as well - It might be worth a trip to the scrappies to remove a multitimer from a scrap car to try in yours.

So in short...

1. Clean the ICV out to hopefully cure the lumpy idle
2. replace the multi-timer and check the earth connections (mainly behind the dash, and the triangular plastic housing in wrapped around the front of the passenger strut.

I hope this helps you dude.

Pondfish · #3 27-12-09, 22:45

Thanks Lee

That gives me something to go at! I'm not good with the electrical side - but i can try to track down the earth connections. I can visually check them, but i do not have any electrical equipment to test them.

I know about the ICV problem with these engines, and i can see evidence of some oil in the breather pipes - i'll take the ICV off, check the gasket, and clean the throttle body as well.

If i had to guess, i'd say the problem feels more like a fault from the Dispack / HT leads, although thats just my hunch, rather than any solid reasoning. when the car is going along at a steady speed it feels fine, but once the fault starts the engine becomes erractic and pretty unresponsive. Usually the engine eventually stops, but if i immediatly turn the ignition back on it will fire back into life for a while before the fault evenually comes back. This is getting more and more frequent now, and is getting dangerous as i lose power steering and brake servo if the engine does cutout.
Would a faulty Camsensor or Airmass Sensor cause these problems?
How would the Multi-timer affect the engine / revcounter / speedo etc?

Leeky · #4 27-12-09, 23:10

	Quote:
	Originally Posted by Pondfish Thanks Lee That gives me something to go at! I'm not good with the electrical side - but i can try to track down the earth connections. I can visually check them, but i do not have any electrical equipment to test them. I know about the ICV problem with these engines, and i can see evidence of some oil in the breather pipes - i'll take the ICV off, check the gasket, and clean the throttle body as well. If i had to guess, i'd say the problem feels more like a fault from the Dispack / HT leads, although thats just my hunch, rather than any solid reasoning. when the car is going along at a steady speed it feels fine, but once the fault starts the engine becomes erractic and pretty unresponsive. Usually the engine eventually stops, but if i immediatly turn the ignition back on it will fire back into life for a while before the fault evenually comes back. This is getting more and more frequent now, and is getting dangerous as i lose power steering and brake servo if the engine does cutout. Would a faulty Camsensor or Airmass Sensor cause these problems? How would the Multi-timer affect the engine / revcounter / speedo etc?

The multi-timer when its faulty and or failing will present itself with loads of random electrical faults... There is nothing specific it will do, it will just randomly cause lights on the dash to come on, circuits not to work intermitently and well...no electrical system running through the fuse board is safe. LOL.

Your erratic engine behaviour may possibly be down to the ICV. I would strongly suggest you order a new gasket for it and then remove and clean it thoroughly, and at the same time clean out the oil vapour hoses and throttlebody.

If the crank sensor had failed the engine wouldnt even start. The AFM if faulty will likely cause poor performance, and heavy fuel comsumption. The camshaft sensor will be much the same, possibly causing the ECU to switch to 'Safe Mode' preventing the engine from revving beyond 4k ish rpm.

If it was your dispack or leads, you would most likely get either of two situations happening:

1. The engine would continually fire with only 3 cylinders (in your case with the X20XEV)
2. The engine would correctly fire on light load or during periods of idling, but once pushed or the engine loaded heavily (such as accelerating uphill) it would cause a misfire thus reducing power and firing on only 2-3 cylinders. It is however, very unlikely you'd lose all 4 cylinders at the same time. Its usually 1-2 cylinders that fail in my experiences.

The above list is not exhaustive, and its possible you may encounter other issues, this is just from the top of my head. lol.

I'd get that ICV cleaned first, along with cleaning the oil vapour hosing and the throttlebody then try it and go from there mate.

Tom · #5 27-12-09, 23:15

	Quote:
	Originally Posted by Leeky The multi-timer when its faulty and or failing will present itself with loads of random electrical faults... There is nothing specific it will do, it will just randomly cause lights on the dash to come on, circuits not to work intermitently and well...no electrical system running through the fuse board is safe. LOL.

I can vouch for that 1 lol!

However the multi-timer isnt related to all fuses or circuits within the fuseboard.. iirc there's about 10 fuses/ relays linked through it. I did plan on making a list but as you know the Vec's going tomorrow so wont be able to.

It's a 5 minute job to change one and maybe worth borrowing one from a mate with a Vectra first, to see if that cures any problems you have.. if not- you'll save yourself a few quid.

Leeky · #6 27-12-09, 23:18

	Quote:
	Originally Posted by Tom I can vouch for that 1 lol! However the multi-timer isnt related to all fuses or circuits within the fuseboard.. iirc there's about 10 fuses/ relays linked through it. I did plan on making a list but as you know the Vec's going tomorrow so wont be able to. It's a 5 minute job to change one and maybe worth borrowing one from a mate with a Vectra first, to see if that cures any problems you have.. if not- you'll save yourself a few quid.

Thats very true, I should really have been a bit more specific as you are indeed correct about only 10ish circuits running through it. lol.

Pondfish · #7 28-12-09, 13:11

Thanks guys!
i'll try that multitimer and the ICV and see if it improves things! It's not just the dash lights. The rev counter, speedo, trip counter - everything just flickers and dies.
i'm thinking the ICV alone aint causing all that - the multitimer seems a little more likely or perhaps a combo of both. Leekys earthing also seems a good bet.... maybe a loose connection?
time for a bit of investigation i think

Leeky · #8 30-12-09, 10:26

Hows it going then mate? You had the chance to have a look at it yet?

Pondfish · #9 03-01-10, 23:50

Hi Leeky,

No, although i should have by now!
Borrowed my Dads car for last couple of days, but got to make a start on this.
i'll post when i have had a look.

Leeky · #10 04-01-10, 08:06

	Quote:
	Originally Posted by Pondfish Hi Leeky, No, although i should have by now! Borrowed my Dads car for last couple of days, but got to make a start on this. i'll post when i have had a look.

There was me thinking I was the only one who did that!

(Except I just use of our other cars. lol Speaking of which I really need to strip the EGR on my Saab - Like 4 months ago... pmsl)