Well it had to happen eventually....
Discussion
My astra, the car i have been recommending on here as the pinnacle of frugality, style and reliability has decided to let me down today (well not me, but the old man) not once but twice!
The car is a 07 plate 1.7 cdti SRi sporthatch, full service history and has just ticked over 84k. I haven't driven it recently due to the new toy (readers cars post coming soon) so it is being used as my dad's work commuter.
The symptoms are rather strange:
The car will drive as normal (decreased MPG 58-44 but i put it down to the winter fuel)
When cold it will start perfectly fine and with minimal starter motor turns
When warm, after a long drive and when warm it won't start at all (starter motor cranks but it just wont catch)
It will however start 1.5-2 hours later as normal when it has cooled down
To put it into perspective this has happened three times - once with me last week after coming back from Bluewater (14 miles, 15 min drive) and wouldn't start half an hour later (i put it down to an airlock in the fuel system)
Then today it happened to the old man at winchester services after a lengthly motorway stretch and then again near home at the petrol station (again after a long motorway drive)
Previous to this the car was perfectly reliable (other than a freezing handbrake cable) and does 75% motorway miles so should be relatively stress free
So to save me waffling on....whats wrong with the car? is it likely to be an expensive fix?
The car is a 07 plate 1.7 cdti SRi sporthatch, full service history and has just ticked over 84k. I haven't driven it recently due to the new toy (readers cars post coming soon) so it is being used as my dad's work commuter.
The symptoms are rather strange:
The car will drive as normal (decreased MPG 58-44 but i put it down to the winter fuel)
When cold it will start perfectly fine and with minimal starter motor turns
When warm, after a long drive and when warm it won't start at all (starter motor cranks but it just wont catch)
It will however start 1.5-2 hours later as normal when it has cooled down
To put it into perspective this has happened three times - once with me last week after coming back from Bluewater (14 miles, 15 min drive) and wouldn't start half an hour later (i put it down to an airlock in the fuel system)
Then today it happened to the old man at winchester services after a lengthly motorway stretch and then again near home at the petrol station (again after a long motorway drive)
Previous to this the car was perfectly reliable (other than a freezing handbrake cable) and does 75% motorway miles so should be relatively stress free
So to save me waffling on....whats wrong with the car? is it likely to be an expensive fix?
Not sure what is wrong with your car, just thought I'd chime in because my driving instructor taught in one of these cars. When I changed instructors I went from a diesel Yaris with a minuscule engine and the acceleration of a snail to this Astra 1.7 TDCI SRI the difference was unbeliveable!
If it's the one with the pump ecu bolted to the back of the engine there are a couple of soldered joints on the circuit board that crack and when warm the board expands and loses contact. It can be resoldered and the plate on the back of the ecu resealed.
Locate the ecu (it should be down the back of the engine bolted to the block)
Remove the multiplug
Remove the four bolts
Once you have it in your hands flip it over and you'll see the back is a single plate of aluminium
This needs cutting round with a stanley knife then gently prising up
Get a magnifying glass and you'll see the bad joints on the circuit board
Re-solder those joints
Make sure the back plate is flat after it's removal and superglue it back on
For added sealing go round the joint with some silicone
Re attatch and all should be well
Locate the ecu (it should be down the back of the engine bolted to the block)
Remove the multiplug
Remove the four bolts
Once you have it in your hands flip it over and you'll see the back is a single plate of aluminium
This needs cutting round with a stanley knife then gently prising up
Get a magnifying glass and you'll see the bad joints on the circuit board
Re-solder those joints
Make sure the back plate is flat after it's removal and superglue it back on
For added sealing go round the joint with some silicone
Re attatch and all should be well
If you (or your Dad) are going down the M3 regularly as far as the Eastliegh junction I'll plug it into the scanner at work for a couple of beer tokens and let you know what it says, drop me a PM if you want to arrange 
If the crank sensor was gone it probably wouldn't run at all/get an rpm signal.
Could be a temp sensor (feed engine temp to the ECU and adjust fuelling accordingly, hence it not starting when hot as it isn't pumping in enough fuel to ignite).
Needs a code read but not at Vauxhall
If the crank sensor was gone it probably wouldn't run at all/get an rpm signal.
Could be a temp sensor (feed engine temp to the ECU and adjust fuelling accordingly, hence it not starting when hot as it isn't pumping in enough fuel to ignite).
Needs a code read but not at Vauxhall
Edited by Jimmyarm on Thursday 13th January 22:24
Edited by Jimmyarm on Thursday 13th January 22:29
Jimmyarm said:
If you (or your Dad) are going down the M3 regularly as far as the Eastliegh junction I'll plug it into the scanner at work for a couple of beer tokens and let you know what it says, drop me a PM if you want to arrange
If the crank sensor was gone it probably wouldn't run at all/get an rpm signal.
Could be a temp sensor (feed engine temp to the ECU and adjust fuelling accordingly, hence it not starting when hot as it isn't pumping in enough fuel to ignite).
Needs a code read but not at Vauxhall
Thanks very much for the offer, i have just spoken to him and it turns out his meeting in southampton was a one off with the majority of the time being spent running from Kent - Chichester/St Albans/ Welwyn GC.If the crank sensor was gone it probably wouldn't run at all/get an rpm signal.
Could be a temp sensor (feed engine temp to the ECU and adjust fuelling accordingly, hence it not starting when hot as it isn't pumping in enough fuel to ignite).
Needs a code read but not at Vauxhall
Edited by Jimmyarm on Thursday 13th January 22:24
Edited by Jimmyarm on Thursday 13th January 22:29
Thanks very much for the offer though.
Asking him more about it now he has said that the MPG has taken a dive over the past few weeks (400 miles per tank = approx. 38-40 mpg) which it shouldn't be as when i was using it until november it was comfortably over 500, nearer 600 cruising at the wrong side of 80 compared to his 70.
He has also said that it feels noticeably more sluggish and when following it back this evening after dropping him back at the petrol station he abandoned it at it was smoking a little (didn't mention in the OP as i couldn't see the colour as to weather it was just condensation. As i haven't driven it properly in a month or so i will pop out in it in a sec but after a month of driving something with twice the power i am worried that even when normal will feel sluggish
wolf1 said:
If it's the one with the pump ecu bolted to the back of the engine there are a couple of soldered joints on the circuit board that crack
What kind of stupid b
d bolts an ECU to the engine block? I'm not surprised it suffers from failing joints. How does someone so devoid of basic common sense manage to tie their own shoelaces, let alone get a job designing cars?grgrgray said:
Take it to the experts. This will save you in the long run changing components that don't need to be changed and weeks of having the car off the road while you fumble around changing different bits.
That is the plan, however i would like to have an idea on the possible cause and thus cost before i pay anything to start getting it fixed because if it is going to be a big one i would much rather not pay that and just part exchange the car against somthing else whilst the problem can be managed.grgrgray said:
Take it to the experts. This will save you in the long run changing components that don't need to be changed and weeks of having the car off the road while you fumble around changing different bits.
For the sake of the cost of the diagnostics he could try the crank sensor first as it's an easy bolt-on part to replace.Gassing Station | Engines & Drivetrain | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff