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[LowTimePPL]

Here's what happened;

Started car
Sprayed de-icer on screen (relevant - you'll see)
Noticed smoke puthering up from back of bonnet on the driver's side..

• Looked a bit like steam (very cold evening) so wondered if it was de-icer condensing

• But it lasted too long and was too thick but not really acrid-smelling

So at that point I turned off the ignition...
But several lights on the dash stayed on - ignition, oil, and engine-fault
Hm..had a nose under the bonnet, no further smoke, no visible signs of an issue
So restarted, this time without issue, drove home 3-4 miles, no issues

Here it gets interesting

Parked, turned off ignition - engine carried on running

Dash lights - this time just battery - stayed on dimly

As the car is auto, I couldn't stall it.
Pulled battery leads, stayed running (as I thought it would)
Pulled a couple of random leads, revs dropped a bit
Pulled another couple, finally died.

Any ideas please? I'll have a look in daylight tomorrow..  

[RobG]

Also paperclip it as you say the EML came on as well.

[Entwood]

Sounds to me like a major short either in the ignition key itself, or the wiring from there to the ECU ....

The ignition key will normally break the circuit to the ECU when switched to OFF, your circuit to the ECU is remaining live.... with the "acrid smoke" you mentioned I'm thinking burnt wiring somewhere ...


Personally I would be very cautious about reconnecting the battery without a very thorough check of all wiring

[Turk]

Diesel or petrol ?

My auto 2.5td did that for a short while. Turn off the ignition, removed the  keys...still running. Flashing the headlights stopped the engine eventually.

I'm now going to appear as useful as a choccy teapot, but I can't for the life of me remember what the fault was.
 

[Entwood]

Diesel or petrol ?

My auto 2.5td did that for a short while. Turn off the ignition, removed the  keys...still running. Flashing the headlights stopped the engine eventually.

I'm now going to appear as useful as a choccy teapot, but I can't for the life of me remember what the fault was.
 

As the car is auto, I couldn't stall it.
Pulled battery leads, stayed running (as I thought it would)
Pulled a couple of random leads, revs dropped a bit
Pulled another couple, finally died.

methinks the "leads" word implies its not an oil burner ...  

[vauxfan2k]

methinks the "leads" word implies its not an oil burner

only if they were HT leads, which I certainly wouldnt yank if a car was running.  

A Bit more info on engine type would be handy.  

[LowTimePPL]

Apologies for the missing vital info

Petrol, 2.5 - I'm a newbie, it's a V6 I believe?

Much more used to the standard distributor and HT leads, so I looked for the 'king lead' but of course couldn't find one.. would I be right that there's a coil pack for each plug? Anyway I didn't fancy pulling those so I opted for leads with connectors, which I thought might upset a sensor or two sufficiently to kill the engine..it did, but only after a couple of attempts it seemed.

My brother mentioned (when I told him) he'd heard of a C*rsa recall concerning a multicore connector which corroded, affecting the ignition? My point being, anyone heard of a similar issue with Omegas? Just a thought.

btw, thanks for the prompt replies, nice to know there are sympathetic souls out there

Any more information required?

[TheBoy]

Diesel or petrol ?

My auto 2.5td did that for a short while. Turn off the ignition, removed the  keys...still running. Flashing the headlights stopped the engine eventually.

I'm now going to appear as useful as a choccy teapot, but I can't for the life of me remember what the fault was.
 

In your case, shagged turbo I suspect.

[TheBoy]

Apologies for the missing vital info

Petrol, 2.5 - I'm a newbie, it's a V6 I believe?

Much more used to the standard distributor and HT leads, so I looked for the 'king lead' but of course couldn't find one.. would I be right that there's a coil pack for each plug? Anyway I didn't fancy pulling those so I opted for leads with connectors, which I thought might upset a sensor or two sufficiently to kill the engine..it did, but only after a couple of attempts it seemed.

My brother mentioned (when I told him) he'd heard of a C*rsa recall concerning a multicore connector which corroded, affecting the ignition? My point being, anyone heard of a similar issue with Omegas? Just a thought.

btw, thanks for the prompt replies, nice to know there are sympathetic souls out there

Any more information required?

The obvious is a faulty ign switch.  Faily that, a short between 12v and switched 12v...

[Kevin Wood]

I'm going to stick my neck out and say that the power sounder has done the usual leaky battery thing and is shorting its' permanent +12v feed to its' switched +12v feed.

I might well be wrong but it would tie in with the smoke from under the scuttle, driver's side.

If you need to stop a petrol omega, take off the cover off the relay box by the battery and pull the 2 purple relays at the rear of the box.

Kevin

[LowTimePPL]

Thanks for that - I'm going to pull the 'I'm a newbie' joker again - where and what is the power sounder, please?

[Entwood]

Thanks for that - I'm going to pull the 'I'm a newbie' joker again - where and what is the power sounder, please?

Its part of the alarm system .... There's a how to on removal here ..

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1220198611

I actually completely removed mine .. the duff one is sitting in the kitchen .. awaiting me to go to Vx and get a new one .. or to try the self fix on the batteries ....  

takes less than 1/2 an hour  

[Kevin Wood]

Sorry - this should help. http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1220198611

I would have a look under the scuttle anyway, just to see where the smoke has come from.

The only other thing I can think of is that the wiring from the alternator / starter motor was getting hot - or the cam cover gaskets have failed and it's oil burning off the exhaust manifold.

Kevin

[LowTimePPL]

Just thought I'd update for the possible benefit of other owners

I realised the smoke appeared as soon as I unlocked the car - the other morning, I blipped to central locking and there was smoke..I guess because the alarm had been activated.

To recap, coming up fro under the rear edge of the bonnet, up the below the windscreen, drivers side.

Finally had a look this weeked - removed scuttle cover, reconnected battery, and presto! the power sounder started smoking.
I would have said I unplugged it but the plug had welded itself to the socket so I had to cut the wiring back and remove the sounder..which had gone into total meltdown.

Blanked off the cut ends and taped them up until I get a new one..unsurprisingly, no more disco lights or smoking

Thanks all for your advice!