Dodgy petrol and a still sickly vauxhall zafira.

Apparently not all Tescos and Morrisons were affected. Some-one said it was mainly in South East, but the garage you used should know. Have you got your receipts?

There's too much of this "faulty ECU" cobblers going on these days. Bloody letrics. Bloody "mechanics".

I'm suspicious of water temperature sensors these days since my car needed one recently, and so did my neighbour's. They're relatively cheap to replace so I'd get that tested/changed before buying a(nother!) new ECU. If your engine's running too lean it could well think it's hotter than it is and this would cause poor cold running and confliction/confusion amongst the bastard letrics.

Si

wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@j27g2000cwj.googlegroups.com...

Just had the ECU replaced on my 2001 1.8 Zafira at Hartwells Norwich. I can confirm that they cannot diagnose an ECU fault. They try everything else first then replace the ECU as a last resort. My symptoms were high idling speed when cold (over 2,000 rpm, normally 1500 rpm) and emissions warning light on. This was in Nov 2006 - the high idling speed had been getting progressively worse over a couple of months and the emissions light came on just after I had just filled up with petrol on the M1 (make what you will of that, with hindsight I don't think it was a factor). The intial advice from Hartwells was that it may be a batch of petrol which is outside of the ECU's normal paramters and to leave it a few days, to see if the ECU adjusts itself to the petrol after a few cold stop/starts. In my case I think I had two faults, furst of all the Mass Air Flow meter was diagnosed as faulty, and replacing that improved things a bit (reduced the idle speed when cold), but the emissions light still came back on. After replacing both oxygen sensors, they reckoned ECU, and replacing that cured the fault. I lost count of the number of times the car went in to the garage, because they never had the parts in stock (yup a Vauxhall main dealer and a popular model which shares parts with the Astra - sheesh). I thought I'd get a good diagnosis from the main dealers, but they really seem to be incapable of pinning down ECU related problems - I would like to know if the problem lies with design of the ECU and associated sensors or with the skills and equipment used by the garage.

So don't go to Hartwells with any hopes of a quick and accurate diagnosis!!

Biggles

The Simtec 56.1 ECU is very well known for failure on 1.6 and 1.8 Ecotecs, on cars 99 to last 02. Lack of idle control is usually the symptom.

Anyhow, in the OP's case, *if* the car had some of the dodgy fuel high in silicone, and it has a 2nd o2 sensor then this will need changing too, as well as the cat which will be coated in silicone and unable to work.

The poor cold running is likely to be another problem.

Tim..

In message , Tim.. writes

You're the first I've seen mention any possible damage to the cats, but it was one on my first thoughts when the silicon contamination proved to be the case. If the o2 sensor is coated, then coating the cat with, presumably silicon dioxide, ain't going to improve its effectiveness is it?

Meanwhile, Tescos & Morrisons pay out for o2 sensors now, while come the next MOT Joe Punter finds his cat is also stuffed.

Me? Diesel powered, not worried!

In news:2G$ snipped-for-privacy@sbriggs.plus.com, Steven Briggs wittered on forthwith;

Me? I drive cars without all these fancy gubbins..so not worried either.

Was the car refilled before getting the new sensor fitted? If not, it could be the new sensor has also become coated with silicon, aswell as the other o2 sensor (as Tim has already highlighted).

Folks :- Many thanks for the replies. I think / hope the cat is OK as the car has since passed an MOT emissions test. By time the sensor was replaced the car had been through two tank fulls of 'good' petrol and it's had a third since, my Mrs is insistent that the tank should be drained but me and the garage could not see any value in that. Is there? If one sensor had gone then I was surprised the other hadn't. Thanks again Kevin

In which case 2nd o2 sensor (if fitted) and cat are ok.

Your MIL lamp on is from another cause, and actually it should fail the emissions test if the lamp is on.

Tim.

In which case 2nd o2 sensor (if fitted) and cat are ok.

Not in this country, yet. In the states, yes.

Folks :- Thanks for the replies. When the MOT test was done the emissions light was out. I gather when you read the codes from the ECU you can also reset any error conditions like the emissions warning. I have found once you do that it lights up again after 20 or 30 miles. Kevin

Do you not think something is still wrong ? We bought a cheap Elm323 off eBay for £22 and it was ideal for fault finding then resetting the MIL. We used a variety of software to find out what was best for us as we found some only read the current where as others read current plus earlier stored codes. Perhaps it would be worth your while to do the same ?

Gio

hi biggles. i have the same problem with my 02 ,1.6 8v petrol astra estate. but not with the high revs.

i still cannot find out what is wrong with it, i have noticed that some times that tha temp gage do not always work, so i will chane the yemp sender,

Folks :- In case anyone is interested (and for future reference when searching through the usenet archives). Took it to a second garage. They replaced the air mass meter / airflow sensor and fuel filter and the car's now working fine. Thanks for your thoughts - it is appreciated. Kevin