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[Ken T]

Having had a year of no problems, today my luck ran out. I was travelling thro Northampton, and the car suddenly would not accelerate beyond 2K RPM. The tickover was very rough, kept going up and down, not stable. I managed to get out of the centre of town, (at 10mph, she wouldn't go any faster!). I stopped for a few mins, restarted but the same happened. I travelled a few miles and managed to park, left the car for 15mins, and now when I turned on the ignition, I got the spanner and injector symbol flash about 10 times and then stay on. The car would turn over but not fire. Thing is, before  this happened I had about 20 miles left in the tank so I stopped in Mkt harbro and put in 40litres from a small garage. THis trouble started about 20miles later. I called up the AA, and a chap came out and checked that there was fuel coming from the rail when he slackened the feed nut. He also reconed it was petrol, so I hadn't put in diesel by mistake!. I got towed home eventually, and tried again, this time the spanner/injection symbol didn't flash, but still no firing. Any ideas??? I checked, plenty oil and water.  

[Markjay]

You'll need to connect some sort of code reader to the OBD connector to see which faults are stored.

This could be down to any number of sensors going faulty, or (less likely) an ignition problem. You say the AA chap checked fuelling and it was OK...

Unless the 'small garage' had still some petrol left-over from the last Tesco fiasco? But even if the petrol was duff it is likely to have destroyed one of the sensors, so a code reading would still be required...

[Auto Addict]

Sounds like the normal cam sensor failure on this model.

[TheBoy]

Emissions light flashing on 2.2 means serious problem with emissions, risk of damage?

Need to get codes read, sorry.

[Ken T]

Code reader arrived this morning, and plugged it all in. Got P1740, which I think is 'Torque Control voltage low'. I cleared the code, the spanner is gone, but she still won't start. No new codes were created. Is it possible for the engine not to start, if say the fuel is bad or tank empty, and not generate any codes?.

[wheelchairkid]

Hi, is it a OBD 2 code reader you are using? if yes I have just looked at my 15 pages of codes and P1740 is Transmission system problems, but I have heard on here that a Tech 2 will give more info. I live in Northampton and my old Omega cut out twice going past the old cattle market
were you any were near there?
                                    your
                                        Jason

[Ken T]

Hi Jason,
Yes its an OBDll reader, using the Elm 327 chip. The software was Scantool net, V1.13. I don't know exactly where abouts in Northampton it went in to limp mode, perhaps there's some strange 'force' in the centre of town that damages engines!. Am just off to check no oil in plug wells, it seems strange, I always thought that if an engine had petrol and a spark, something would happen. Cheers Ken

[wheelchairkid]

Hi
   If the petrol is going in and the wrong time or not at enough presure, it will not fire, some time it can be a silly little thing, or a big mess like cam belt slip a few teeth,
                     Good luck
                           Jason

[Auto Addict]

I still think it's cam sensor failure.

[tunnie]

I still think it's cam sensor failure.

When my cam sensor was going, it would take ages to start when hot. Was fine cold, but took lots of cranking when hot, when started the spanner light remained on.

KenT - A cam sensor is around £40 on TC, I have a 'dieing' cam sensor here, it was giving me a big of trouble but still works. You are welcome to try it out on yours, I am located around 20 mins from Northampton in Brackley if you want to try it out, pop around  

[Ken T]

Just finished checking bits. No oil in plug wells, tried turning the engine over with the plugs out. Put the plugs back in, still no firing. Checked there is petrol, or something like it at the injection manifold, released the connector and turned on ignition. Lots of spray, so something is getting there. Checked the cam belt, timing is OK. Sometimes when I turn on the ignition the injection and spanner flash about 6 times, as well there are audible clicks from the engine compartment. Thanks Tunnie and AA for the suggestion re the cam sensor. Wouldn't the car go into limp home mode if it was?. Or maybe it has been for a while, I didn't notice!. Could it be both the cam and crank sensor have failed?. I am not seeing any DTC codes coming up, but I suppose they have to happen when the engine is running to be logged. Still getting the spanner symbol which isn't logged, but I can turn it off from the software.

[Auto Addict]

When my cam sensor failed I was getting the spanner light on, but no fault codes suggesting it was the cam sensor. New cam sensor and bingo.

[Ken T]

Thanks for the suggestion, I have started looking for a cam sensor. Its a bit strange, both the X20XEV engine and the Z22XE engine have Simtec ECU's, and the sensors look the same, but one costs about £15 and the other £45. Are they really different?. Has anyone tried swapping them over?.

[Taxi_Driver]

I thought the spanner light flashing is immoboliser problem?  :-/

Also what do you mean by injector symbol?

To clarify on a facelift......the symbol of a car with a spanner sticking out of its roof is the EML
The symbol of an engine is the emissions light.

Which light is flashing? and which one stays on?

I dont think its the cam sensor or crank sensor causing the prob......certainly on a 2.2 the engine will start with them disconnected.....tho never tried disconnecting them both at the same time.
Id have thought very unlikely both have failed at the same time.

[Ken T]

Hi, I've just checked again. Key in, turn to ignition, both imobiliser/transmission symbol and emission symbol flashed together about 6 times, then both stayed on. Turned ignition off and then back on, both symbols came on and stayed on, no flashes this time. Could this be the imobiliser system suddenly taking a dislike to my key?. I checked the transponder chip is still there.