Vauxhall Astra Starting Problems

first make sure that the rotor arm is turning. if it is then I have sometimes found that the connector on the side of the distributor is dodgy, waggle it while someone else spins the engine, if you can get proper sparks while doing this then the easiest thing is just to change the dissy for a good secondhand one

mrcheerful

Most common problem is failure of either the coil amplifier, which is mounted on an aluminium plate underneath the ignition coil, or the signal generator in the distributor. Changing the whole distributor is the only way to replace the signal generator. It is more likely that the problem lies with the amplifier rather than the distributor.

HTH

Anthony Remove eight from email to reply.

What about the chipped immobiliser keys?

Were these in use in 1992? The number of times I have used the wrong unchipped spare in mine then been confuzzled when the thing will turn over but not bite.

Thanks for all of the advice. The coil amplifier has just been changed but the problem still exists. As the coil has allready been changed I think my next move would be to replace the distributor.

Thus spake Keith Richardson unto the assembled multitudes:

I had a distributor bearing seize on my 1990 1.4 Astra, which made the engine cough and splutter for a while but amazingly it kept going - the shaft just carried the seized bearings around with it. It was like that for several weeks, running a bit rough, until I had it looked at, leading to the above diagnosis. New distributor cured it.