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[twiglet]

Firstly, apologies if I shouldn't post this here, as the car is a Vectra C, but as it's the same 2.2 dti engine as fitted to the Omega, I'm hoping to get some advice from the resident experts.

Ok, so SWMBO was coming home yesterday, sat at a T-junction for ages waiting for a decent gap.  Eventually one came so she pulled out and tried to accelerate up to speed.  Foot hard down, and absolutely nothing!!  By this time the coach that had been way back is now bearing down on her, horns and lights going like hell, and had to overtake her as she was doing 5 mph max!  Eventually some power came back, but nowhere near normal.  She limped about a mile to the next T-junction where she came to a stop.  Pulled away and everything was back to normal.  Drove the rest of the way home (about 6 miles) with no further problems.  She tells me the eml light was on (on the Vectra C it's a picture of a car and a spanner shown in pixels, rather than an actual light) but had gone off by the time she had got home.  I tried to read the fault codes last night, but there were none stored.  Took the car for a blast around the lanes, and she ran perfectly.

It really shook SWMBO up, and it's worrying me that it may happen again when she's driving, but I have no idea where to start looking to find the cause.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd be very grateful to hear them.

Cheers 

[Marks DTM Calib]

The should be a code stored......what are you using to read the codes?

The favourite is a sticking EGR

[twiglet]

One of those devices we aren't allowed to talk about...

Ok so sticking EGR valve...

Where do I find it and what do I do to unstick it? 

[freecall666]

are all the earth wire ok in engine bay especially for the ecu, had an audi do some thing like that at work the mec at there garage said the only fault could find was a bad earth, it had no codes to.

[VXL V6]

One of those devices we aren't allowed to talk about...

Ok so sticking EGR valve...

Where do I find it and what do I do to unstick it? 

Will be attached to the inlet manifold, not sure if it's the same as the Omega / Frontera ones or if it's an electronic one on the Vec C. Always worth a good check of all the vac pipes and rubber elbows on this engine as well.

[twiglet]

One of those devices we aren't allowed to talk about...

Ok so sticking EGR valve...

Where do I find it and what do I do to unstick it? 

Will be attached to the inlet manifold, not sure if it's the same as the Omega / Frontera ones or if it's an electronic one on the Vec C. Always worth a good check of all the vac pipes and rubber elbows on this engine as well.

Cheers Andy,

Found a good How2 on a Vectra forum for cleaning the EGR, so I'll attempt that as soon as I get a chance.  The symptoms do seem to point to a coked up EGR, so fingers crossed it will be a simple fix.

Have read a few comments about possibly blanking it off.  Not sure if this is practicable on this engine though... 

[VXL V6]

Don't think you ca blank it off on this engine.

If it's the same as the Omega / Frontera style it's simply a case of undoing a torx bolt either side and pulling off the vac pipe.

To be honest if the plunger on the EGR is coked up then the whole inlet manifold will be, again there is a good guide on the Vectra C forum on how to clean it all up but you need to dismantle the fuel feeds to the injectors before you can remove the inlet manifold and the bridge with the swirl flaps attached, then go through bleeding process when you put it all back together so it's not a five minute job!!!

[twiglet]

I looks like the early Vectra C's had a similar setup to the Omega, then they changed to the electronic type.  Not sure which one I have as yet until I get stuck into it though.

Take on board the comments about the manifold being coked up too, and I really don't relish the idea of having to bleed the fuel system.  Might just do the EGR to start with, and do the manifold at a later when I next change the fuel filter and have to bleed the system anyway. 

[remraf]

I was wondering if there is any update thoughts on this or links to other posts as we have exactly the same problem with our 2003 Omega Estate Dti CDX!  Concerning for us, we've only just bought the car, done a good few miles with no problem, including 120 miles up the M1 to a caravan site - no problem; however on the way back down the M1 the orange emmission light came on and power declined instantly to no more than 30mph!, fortunately got on the hard shoulder and limped to the next service station where we were recovered to home.  Since then, more miles covered with no problem; we had the code checked and it said no error code recorded?  Spoke to our mechanic who said get a blanking kit and get rid of the dam egr valve! Unfortunately Vauxhall say the valve is a part of the inlet manifold at a cool cost of over £300 + fitting!! any thoughts on where we go from here, as I don't fancy having the same problem with the caravan on next time and I'm on a 70mph dual carriageway with no hard shoulder! Thanks in anticipation of some help

[fergy]

Have owned 2.2dti estate for about 8 years and have only cleaned EGR once. Car has done 167k and the cleaning took place at about 120k.  EGR is dead easy to remove and  can be cleaned with carb. cleaner and a stiff bristle brush. At the replacement price you have been quoted, I would certainly go for a clean up. It is worth trying to clean the EGR seat when it is out of the engine, not easy to do and really a bit of a "best efforts job".... Certainly have a good look at the seat in the manifold while it is out.

It is a valid point about the inlet manifold and butterfly flap valves being coked up if the EGR is sticking, but the job to clean out that lot is far more involved. Should take you no longer than 20 mins to complete EGR clean on 2.2Dti.

 IIRC it is possible to check operation by sucking on the vac pipe I may be confused here though because I do have access to a vacuum test guage / pump that I may have used.  Suggest it is worth a try anyway!

[remraf]

Thanks for the advice Fergy, think I'll give that a go, presumably can get carb cleaner from Halfords.  Also, had a look at the receipts from the last owner and found one for a replacement EGR valve that was only changed in Aug 2010, although not available from Vauxhall, Googled the part no. 424720500 and found it's available from Euro Parts: http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Opel_Vectra_2.2_2002/p/car-parts/engine-parts/fuel-and-engine-management/engine-management-switches/?424720500&1&0306c9257778d575a0f17038dc82f3e78de1f445&000117 So, if it can be replaced can I just remove it and put a blanking kit in its place? Any thoughts? Chris.

[fergy]

 Chris  Hopefully it is  all sorted by now, but just in case!
I don't think that it is advisable to blank the EGR on the 2.2Dti-  I know not why, but have read it several times on this forum. Shame that your egr is almost new, although it may be that like some other Omega engine spares, only the GM version will continue to work over time? Carb cleaner from Halfrauds or any reasonable car spares factor.
Egr can be found under the lump on the side of the plastic trim that sits on top of your cam cover. Remove plastic trim, remove the two egr  fixing bolts (about 8 or 10 mm) pull of the pipe connector and remove your egr.  There is a fairly powerful spring in the egr but IIRC it  is  possible to operate the valve by hand.

Parting thought... do you trust the mechanic who said there are no codes stored? I think I would have liked to have  witnessed this!
Fergy

 

[remraf]

Thanks Fergy  , I wondered if it was under the plastic trim, thanks for confirming that, I'll get some cleaner and give it a go and perhaps see if I can get the vac pipes tested as suggested on the other thread in case there is a leak developing.  Mechanic is fully trust worthy, he's serviced all our cars for the last 10 years and has read the codes of our previous Omega Elite no problem. He's the second mechanic who also said no code was stored, as the guy we had out when we first had the problem on the motorway said the same - hopefully can get it sorted before we take the caravan on the summer holiday treks! Regards, Chris

[twiglet]

Just an update on the situation with my Vectra C for you mate.  I did remove and de-coke the EGR valve, but unfortunately I have had the problem occur again since.  Having taken further advice, the next thing for me to try is the low boost pressure sensor mounted on the inlet manifold.  I did have a look at this when cleaning the EGR valve, and it looks to be a very fragile probe, so impossible to clean properly without the risk of damaging it.  I'm not sure if this is the same setup on the Omega, but I'm pretty sure that my Vectra has the later electronic type EGR, which will certainly be different.

One thing that definately seems different is that you say you have reduced power and can only achieve 30mph (which sounds more like the engine has gone into limp mode), whereas when the Vectra has it's little moment, the engine completely dies (like it's been switched off).  It happened when I was driving the other day, and I literally had to coast into a layby.  As soon as the car came to a stop, the engine stalled.  I turned the key off and back on, restarted the car, and it was fine again, and the EML light had gone out.

I'll report back once I've changed the low boost pressure sensor.