2000 Astra Power loss & poor idle

These engines were bad for coil packs. But if you change the coil pack, also change the plugs at the same time (had a couple where changing either didn't have any effect on the misfire, yet changing both did).

"moray" wrote in news:enee01$hla$1$ snipped-for-privacy@news.demon.co.uk:

Right. He has AA home start cover, so I think he's gonna call them out for a bit of free (well, prepaid ;-)) diagnosis. If that doesn't lead to anything, I'll be sure to pass that tip on.

The course of action he *was* contemplating, was finding a suitable donor vehicle at a breakers and taking all engine sensors from it to swap with his one-by-one, thus finding the problem by elimination! :-o I doubt that that would have been the cheapest remedy, even using a breakers, not to mention that success would not be guaranteed!

Cheers,

Stu

Fashion a small plate and blank off the EGR valve to start with. Its free and alot cheaper than a coil pack as Moray mentions. Try it. If not different, then go down the coil pack route.

Tim..

"Tim.." wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@bt.com:

Thanks, Tim. I'll take a look at that with him, if he didn't get any joy from the AA. I would imagine that one of their guys would have no problem locating a dodgy EGR, though.

Stu

Ha! I witness the outstanding skills of AA (and other!) patrols on a regular basis, and the first thing I do with the breakdown reports is throw them in the bin. Or if it's one I know, keep the report for mickey taking purposes :-)

But yeah, the EGR valve can cause rough running issues, and blanking it off is far cheaper than a coil pack.

And it'll run much better without the EGR too.

Tim..

"Tim.." wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@bt.com:

He's been round this evening - the verdict was the coil pack. He's getting one from Autovaux at the weekend. I passed on the advice re a plug change at the same time but he's choosing to ignore this as they were already replaced just 1k miles ago.

The new coil pack is costing £65 from Autovaux, so it's a damn site better value than my new MAF >:-( I just got it and fitted it this evening. I've disconnected the battery so that the ECU can relearn the most appropriate trim settings from scratch. Hope the quality is OK - it's German made and constructed identically to the BOSCH, except that it appears to be a wire type, rather than a film one like the BOSCH. i.e. it has two small components, like resistors in appearance, instead of a plated PCB.

Cheers,

Stu

Fail enough if plugs are only 1k old, but whip them out to inspect colour and check gaps.

Let us know how the S70 is going after fitment.

Tim..

"Tim.." wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@bt.com:

Doubt he will but I passed on the advice so it's his lookout.

Seemed OK today. IME, you never quite get full performance straight after wiping the ECU settings. But I haven't had the chance to check it properly due to the traffic. I'm working Saturday and will be on the road at 5.30 so I should get the chance to open it up properly then.

I'm sure it's a damn site better than running without one, which is what I've done for the past week. Virtually no boost (wastegate solenoid open permanently) and complete fuel cut-off when closing the throttle, hence a feather touch on the accelerator has been required to maintain smooth progress. These issues aside, it actually did a pretty good job of fuelling the engine, to say it was having to guess at the air quantity.

Stu

Stu wrote in news:1168040759 snipped-for-privacy@sp6iad.superfeed.net:

After this morning, I would say that the performance is normal and satisfactory, although the boost isn't kicking in quite as savagely as it has done at times in the past. It may be due to placebo effect, but I tend to find that the cars performance alters subtly according to the manner in which it is driven. Lately the driving pattern has been town driving with a few minutes of motorway cruising in-between, so a countryside blast may be required to get the wick turned up fully.

Put it this way, a very short (