£800 for a new ECU?

Find a new mechanic- ECU's dont go faulty and blow up sensors. The CAS is a simple passive device. Either he's had a faulty CAS, has installed it incorrectly, hasnt routed the cable correctly (there is a service bulletin about this) or is using substandard parts.

Tim..

*Must* be the ECU. Good grief. They almost invariably put 5 volts through any sensor, so would be simple to check. That same 5 volts is used for others which IMHO are likely to be more sensitive to overvoltage, if that's what it is.

But have a look at the ATP site - they'll test and supply re-con ECUs for many cars.

Thanks for that.

Could you point me to the service bulletin? I would like to check where he is routing it.

I had a look last night, and it comes over the top of the engine in some clips built into the timing belt cover, then down and over the (i think) power steering somethingorother (might be AC), draped over the right hand side of it. The exhaust manifold is about 6 inches to the right of it.

Bob

I doubt that the ECU is at fault, but

do an exchange or repair on most common ECU's. About half the cost of new, with a years guarantee. They'll also check an ECU for a nominal sum. Deducted from the exchange price if it is faulty. Mike.

I hate duplicating info already given by others, but due to Tiscali's pathetic news server your post arrived after mine was sent. Mike.

The service bulletins are only available to Vx dealers, and are very unlikely to be found on-line (although I would like to be proved wrong.! ;-) ) Sensor lead has been routed incorrectly, too closely too the manifold. This has probably melted the cable and caused it to fail again. I have seen this many times. If your vehicle has AC, then the cable is very easy to route correctly - no need to remove the pump bracket. If you only have PAS, then it is necessary to loosen the bracket to route the cable.

Take the vehicle back to him, and tell him to fit a new sensor - correctly this time. There is no valid reason to route the cable any way other than the way it was done in the factory. In 6 years of working on Vauxhall's I have only replaced two Simtec ECU's that had permanent crank/cam sensor faults.

HTH

Anthony Remove eight from email to reply.

You beat me to it Anthony, saved me typing all that out! ;-)

Tim..

You wouldn't happen to have a photo of a correctly routed sensor would you?

Bob

I have a diagram, but cannot post it the newgroup as binaries are not permitted. If you email me your address to my reply address, I will send it on to you. It is only a black&white line diagram which gives an indication of the correct routing, and is not of brilliant quality.

Anthony Remove eight from email to reply.

Your address bounced (even without the eight). Mine is bob smith 652 on hotmail dot com

I tood the guy at the garage about the bulletin, and that it seemed close to the manifold, but he still put the replacement in the same place. I can't be bothered to explain to him the proper routing, and it will be quicker to do it myself.

Thanks for the help

Bob

Has he fitted the correct sensor ?. Earlier cars (fitted with Simtec 56.1) use a completely different sensor to later 56.5 systems. They are physically interchangeable and we come accross many cases of garages fitting the wrong one. We have now heard of several cases where a Vauxhall main dealer has supplied the wrong one!. Also ,if the reason for changing the sensor is because the warning light was on and the engine restricted to 4000 RPM max. This is because the Simtec system compares the signals from the Cam and Crank sensors aand ,if they do not correlate, generates a fault code of one or the other. Frequently a Crank-Sensor fault code can be generated because of a problem with the Cam sensor signal. This can even be caused by a streched Cam belt of faulty Cam Belt tensioner ! It sounds to me as if the garage has simply read a 'Crank sensor' fault code - replaced it and ,when the fault was not cured, said 'Oh it must be the ECU'. In which case he is almost certainly wrong. Regards Mike (2)

It did work, for a whole week!

It was difficult to start, and when he fitted the new one, it started straight away. After one week, the light came on again, and it was difficult to start.

Also, if it didn't start on the first (looooong) turn of the key, the traction control light came on too. I assume the TC needs to know the engine speed, and would not be affected by crank sensor / cam sensor reading discrepancy.

Bob