2008 Vauxhall Corsa diesel issue.

[wildone63]

The car has the 1.3 cdti engine.
Under brisk acceleration when you change up into 3rd gear (sometimes 2nd or 4th but usually 3rd),when you hit 2500 - 3000 rpm there is a sudden and distinct loss of power and acceleration accompanied by the service light coming on for a few seconds (by this I mean the service light which resembles a spanner and a car body behind it,not the actual engine management light)
The car will then drive as if in limp mode,and will hold back and seem reluctant to go over 3000rpm in any gear and when at a standstill the accelerator is much less responsive than normal.
If I turn the engine off then restart it everything is normal again until the fault repeats itself.
The car is going back into the dealer I just bought it from under warranty so iam hoping they can sort it out quickly.
But I thought in the meantime I would ask if anyone on here had any ideas?
Iam suspecting and hoping that it only needs a replacement fuel filter,because when I bought it the car must have been running on fumes as the fuel gauge needle wasn't even moving a tiny bit,and putting in a 5L jerry can of fuel into the tank made no difference to the needle,so I was thinking maybe some sediment from the bottom of the tank has been pulled through and is causing issues with the filter?

[Saleen836]

Sounds like the EGR valve needs a good clean, my previous Astravan would go into limp mode with the 'car with spanner' light would come on, turn engne off and restart and everything back to normal

[wildone63]

Thanks
from the research ive done online it looks like the egr valve and a seized turbo wastegate actuator arm are the most likely culprits.

[wildone63]

turned out to be the actuator arm on the turbo,they got it unseized and car goes great now,will be a good idea to squirt some wd40 or penetrating oil on it every so often.Seems its a common problem on these Vauxhall 1.3cdti/Fiat multijet diesel motors.

[GreenV8S]

wildone63 said:

will be a good idea to squirt some wd40 or penetrating oil on it every so often

No.

If it's designed to be oiled, oil it with lubricating oil. WD40 provides some lubrication but is not primarily a lubricating oil. Penetrating oil is designed for penetration, not lubrication. A drop of ordinary engine oil is fine for ordinary lubrication.

Make sure you don't oil things that get very hot or are designed to be kept dry e.g. joints with plastic or self-lubricating bushings.

[PositronicRay]

GreenV8S said:

No.

If it's designed to be oiled, oil it with lubricating oil. WD40 provides some lubrication but is not primarily a lubricating oil. Penetrating oil is designed for penetration, not lubrication. A drop of ordinary engine oil is fine for ordinary lubrication.

Make sure you don't oil things that get very hot or are designed to be kept dry e.g. joints with plastic or self-lubricating bushings.

Sometimes WD40 does more harm than good, washing out any existing lube.

[wildone63]

Because of the difficult access to the thing its nearly impossible to lubricate it with anything but an aerosol with a long straw,i have an aerosol can of castrol high temp lubricant so this will probably be as good as anything else.