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[Peterskinn]

Hi OOF,

I wonder if anyone out there has come across this one before?

Not long bought the car (91K Miles) and have now done about 1000 miles..... The other day when coming up a hill after a long climb the engine light (orange one with a representation of a engine block) came on and the engine started juddering. Brief stop to cool down and it re-started and ran OK again but the problem seemed to re-occur over the next few days with increasing frequency - and of course the orange light never went off.

The starting point seemed to be the cam sensor which I suspected was on the way out and being affected by engine temperature. So I changed it..........

I did a number of jobs whilst in the area (mainly connected to windscreen leaks)  but nothing remotely connected to engine management systems....

My problem now is that - although the engine has re-started and runs fine the gearbox seems to have lost the will to live! To be clear - it seems though it will only pull off in "D" in a very high gear - possibly top. It might be almost confining itself to 2nd and 3rd gear. Having no experience of this I'm wondering if I am now stuck in the much-read-about Limp Mode?? I can manually drive through the ratios but having done this is why I suspect that it's never actually getting into 4th..... mind you I haven't got much above 50-55mph where the revs are about 2K.

I've booked it in to have the fault codes read/cleared and to have the Gearbox fluid changed - both of which seem like a good starting point?

I also wonder if the new cam sensor is "talking" properly to the parts it should be? I think I understood that it has a direct influence on the gearbox operation??

The gearbox operation has always seemed "clunky" to me - often too high coming out of a corner but also sometimes changing down to a low ratio which revs the guts out of the engine. I was suspecting low fluid level anyway.

I have checked the obvious things like plug connections etc - all seem OK.

Anybody out there in OOF land have any ideas?

Peter

[RobG]

Gear indicator lights acting as they should?
Centre circular plug fixed securely near battery

[SIR Philbutt]

Is the cam sensor a GM one - pattern ones do not seem to work ok

[RobG]

Three questions asked, not one answer

[Peterskinn]

1. Gear Selector lights - OK (Sport Mode does NOT come on)
2. It's a pattern one from "London Parts"
3. Centre circular plug - I'm off to check now

[RobG]

1. Gear Selector lights - OK (Sport Mode does NOT come on)
2. It's a pattern one from "London Parts"
3. Centre circular plug - I'm off to check now

1, Possible dirty selector switch. http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=90673.0
2, More than likely your problem,. Genuine from Dealer circa £70 retail

[Peterskinn]

Large Circular plug seems OK

[Peterskinn]

Have ordered ANOTHER (Vauxhall) Cam sensor - Grrrrrr

I appreciate the advice

Peter

[Peterskinn]

Cor Blimey - This is driving me mad.

Because I've just had a fit of ill health I entrusted this job to garage - whose skills I respect.

What he did was:-

1. Started by replacing GB fluid & filter

2. Cleaned the selector switch on the side of the box.

3. Found that the cam belt was "slack" - so tightened it up.

4. Refitted the original GM cam sensor

5. Although not having the full "Tech 2" software - he has the kit to address the ECU stuff and managed to get all codes cleared.

I collected the car and used it for a couple of days in varied traffic and hot weather. About 200 miles - at which stage I i was a happy bunny.

At the end of the second day and after some heavy crawling traffic the misfire and warning light returned. Followed shortly by overheating and  "low coolant" warning.

At that stage I thought - nothing too serious - the original cam sensor is obviously on its way out and has failed again in hot conditions - misfire causing overheating. I'll refit the new sensor.

Result - a return to limp mode. Ah well - I know that I now have buy the proper GM sensor

However in doing the work to swap/try out i noticed that the cam belt is definitely - what I would call - slack.

I've looked through the forum but failed to find a "How to" guide. I can see a pointer on the tensioner but have never set up a GM cam belt 

As you can imagine I'm reluctant to change the sensor if a slack/misaligned cam belt is the root cause of the trouble??

Has anyone out there any experience of this???

[SIR Philbutt]

Misalignment of the cam belt would not normally be sensitive to changes due to running temp of the engine - so a bit of a red herring. This is more likely to be the sensor

The timing belt being "slack" is an issue as too slack could cause it to jump a tooth.

The important positions to look at the tension in the belt is between the exhaust cam pulley and the crank pulley as this is where the pull of the belt occurs. IME this is where there should be hardly any "flex" of the cam belt and also between the cam pulleys where there should be none.

Checking TDC (Top Dead Centre) alignment is relatively simple.
With the hand Brake on, ignition off and in neutral, use a ring spanner to turn the engine (clockwise looking at the engine) on the crank pulley centre bolt until both cam pulley markers are aligned with the markers on the back plate

Picture of markers but not aligned in this


Then look at the crank pulley and the slot on the pulley edge should be in-line with the pin coming from the block. If so Cam belt is aligned

Fixing any misalignment or lack of tension is probably best resolved by removing the belt and refitting correctly. That's what i would do anyway

HTH
Phil

[PhilRich]

Could the OP be refering to the auxilliary belt?, as the Cam belt is not visible without some dismantling & he said he is not up to changing the Cam sensor himself atm. So perhaps the Auxilliary belt tensioner is loose/fubar?
There again, this wouldn't cause overheating as the water pump is Cambelt driven  

[SIR Philbutt]

Could the OP be refering to the auxilliary belt?, as the Cam belt is not visible without some dismantling & he said he is not up to changing the Cam sensor himself atm. So perhaps the Auxilliary belt tensioner is loose/fubar?
There again, this wouldn't cause overheating as the water pump is Cambelt driven

Assumed he is referring to cam belt as changing cam sensor needs cover off. But you could be right, we will see I guess

[Peterskinn]

Thanks again.

Yes - I was referring to the cam belt and yes I have the cover off.

I will now try the alignment routine you describe. If it were jumping a tooth that would definitely account for the running?

Assuming it is correctly aligned - Is there somewhere I can refer to for the whole tensioning procedure?

Seems odd to me that the belt can be as slack as it is??

Cheers - Peter

[SIR Philbutt]

In here http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=106562.0

[Peterskinn]

Thanks - I'll read it again.

P