The Wife's Vectra-C - The other battle wagon

[Robsey]

Yep - So I believe.
I typically drive at around 1750 revs (give or take),
But I have been running in a lower gear all day to keep my revs at around 3000 rpm.

It gets a bit jittery at just over 3k revs, but I am just hoping it is due to soot being dragged off.

I am bracing myself for my Sunday transformation.
When I clean out the soot from the manifold.

"Tonight Matthew, I am going to play a Coal Miner"

[Envoy CDX]

Good luck with it, I am sure you'll manage just fine. Mr Muscle, carb cleaner and a heck of alot of elbow grease.

[Robsey]

I managed to get the spanner light to come on twice on the way home from the unit.

After a high-revving spirited drive, I found that the EML / MIL came on after getting the car upto 3500 revs and then coming off the gas completely.
First time was just very brief, second time was for a good five seconds or so.

Hopefully be able to pull some codes off with my OpCom tomorrow.

[vexorg]

That shouldn't bring on the light, so could be a sign of some other issue causing the soot.

[Robsey]

Well - I think I have sorted it.
Totally unexpected, but hopefully it is solved.

OpCom gave a load of crappy no-comms errors, which the Vectra has always suffered from.
But it also gave " Swirl Valve High Voltage".

I cleared the DTCs (after saving the dtc report as a notepad .txt file.

Plan was to clean the manifold,
but it is always best to start at the EGR valve first with these crappy Fiat derived CDTi engines.

I also cleaned the turbo-boost sensor.
The EGR is only about 12 months old, so not very dirty.
But still got a quick blast of carb cleaner and wiped out.

The boost sensor was absolutely clogged, so carb cleaner to the rescue.

Anyway - was going to wrap up for the morning, when I discovered two cracked / split vacuum pipes from the turbo vacuum sensor.

Temporary fix with pvc tape. Not brilliant but it helped.



It was pretty hard to find anywhere that sold 3mm vacuum tubing. Even the big guys like GSF, ECP and Halfords were unable to help.
After about ten calls to motor factors in a 15 mile radius from here, I found a tiny random shop that had 3mm bore hose on a roll.
1metre for £2... cannot grumble.

What I didn't know was that both pipes had a 3mm stub at one end 5mm at the other - oh poo!

Warmed one end of each hose, and slipped them on... with a bit of effort.



Put everything back together....
Set the phone video camera running, and video'd the exhaust whilst I revved the tonkers out of the car.

Varied periods over a minute of revving between 1000 and 4000 revs did not produce any plumes of smoke.
And the car is now really responsive and perky.

So I am much more relaxed now, after stressing for the past few days.

Just the non-dangerous stuff to sort now.

[3cav3]

Its always good when it turns out to be a cheap fix. At least you've got another 12months on the old girl. Do they offer a solid flywheel conversion for the vectra? On my 57 plate focus I had one fitted, was probably the best thing on the car. No difference with driving, just possibly a little bit more vibration at start up, but after 30secs you'd never of known the difference, cheaper than a DMF aswell.

[Robsey]

I haven't got the MOT yet...
Hopefully on Wednesday.

But at least I am now allowed to operate the car as it is no longer smoking.

So four sets of items required.
1 - both rear springs
2 - both upper rear drop-links.
3 - front wiper blades
4 - front number plate - so I may as well get both front and rear.

I will arrange wipers and number plates.

Garage will order the springs and drop links (at trade cost).

Fingers crossed , although I do feel a tiny bit more confident.

UPDATE - In response to the solid fly-wheel option, I believe there is.

There is still a lot of labour required to do any of the big jobs on the Vectra.

Both the fly-wheel and the pre-2007 inlet manifold command about 7 hours labour each.
My garage says it is quicker to completely remove the engine to carry out either job.
Or did he say to replace the engine as there is less dismantling reqired.
I cannot remember now... but it was one of those.

[Envoy CDX]

Sounds more promising, and it's always nice to see you more positive!
Fingers crossed Rob!

[ilovedmymantas]

It must have been a relief when cleaning solved the smoke problem. Good luck for the mot!

[Robsey]

Cheers chaps...
Big day tomorrow.

Strangely, the car felt better BEFORE I put in some CataClean.
Maybe it is psychological, because I am no longer driving around in a lower gear than usual.

Hopefully new number plates and wipers today.
I will call into a "10 minute Service" number plate supplier and fitter on the way back to the office in an hour or so.
£30 fitted sounds reasonable to me.

As for the wipers... I am not convinced there is anything wrong with them.
I think I have put cheap crap window wash fluid in, which looks like it leaves a smear or residue behind.
But as soon as it dries, the glass is perfectly clear.

Instructions did not say whether to dilute or not.
So maybe it needs watering down.
I prefer ready mix for all fluids.
Coolant and window wash.

Saves changing the properties of the fluid from those it is sold with.

UPDATE :- Crikey oh Reilly... how much?
Just bought a set of front wipers... almost as much as the number plates!!
Driver's is a 24" blade and passenger's is 19".

Plates supplied and fitted in the time it took me to go to the cash-point and buy the wipers from a shop around the corner.

Wipers fitted when I got back to work.
The old ones were very stiff to get off, but brute force and ignorance got them off in the end - and without causing any damage or drama.

Anyway - a bit poorer in the pocket, but two more jobs off the list.

Just the rear springs and upper drop links to be supplied and fitted by the garage tomorrow.

[Mk3alan]

I used to get wiper blade refills from Wilko's (Wilkinson before name change) and they seemed 'ok' but the last few sets I have bought for our cars have been Bosch (from eBay) and about a tenner and they have been very good.
The rubber seems to slide over the glass easier?

Alan

[Robsey]

Yes, my new blades are Bosch "Super Plus"



Way over priced. I was no doubt ripped off by the shop owner.
Ah well, needs must.

Put another 1/4 tank of diesel in ready for later.
The car seems much happier and drives better again now.

[Robsey]

Finally got the golden MOT pass.

But it took 6 attempts to pass the smoke test.
Not sure why when you cannot visibly see anything from the exhaust.

Mixed feelings.

Positive - car now has a 12 month ticket, so as long as the flywheel hangs in there, we now have a year's worth of motoring ahead.

Negative - all but emptied the bank account.
Three weeks to payday - Eeek!!

More negative - got the car back, and the handrake is uber-high. Hopefully it will auto adjust.
There is no manual adjustment on the Vectra-C.
Just hoping the cable isn't stretched (it shouldn't suddenly stretch), or damaged whilst getting the rear upper drop links changed over.

And the spanner light came on a few times on the way home. It is only a two mile run.

Oh chuff !!

Related?? - won't know until I check things out over the weekend.
I may ring the garage tomorrow to let him know... rather than let him think it is something I have caused after the car left the garage.

[3cav3]

At least you've got the pass. Fingers crossed that everything else holds out for you. Seeing what cars are fetching at the moment makes the thought of replacing them far too scary!

[Robsey]

Fingers crossed, the Cav will be pressed back into service in June, and the Vectra will be allowed a rest until the autumn...
Time to save up - hopefully.

[Envoy CDX]

Fantastic news on the pass. Hopefully things will improve from here.

[Robsey]

I hope so - just keeping my eye on the brakes.

No good having a car that goes, if it later decides that it will not stop.

I have been out again to the local Aldi a mile away.
Handbrake still very high, and so far not self-adjusting.

But thankfully, no spanner lights this time.

[3cav3]

I wouldn't worry to much about the rear handbrake, the one on my wifes panda has been way to high and needing leaving in gear when parked for the last 2 years, yet keeps passing the mot. Also on our Nissan cabstar, I have to manually take the adjuster round about 4 turns every test and about 2 days later it doesn't work again, yet both keep stopping properly under day to day driving. Reference the flywheel, the one in my Astra van has been rattling for at least the last 50k and not got any worse so hopefully yours should last a bit, yet.

[Robsey]

The dual mass only knocks and rattles to a point where my arse twitches when it is cold.

Once it has warmed up, I can relax and drive more vigorously.

As for how long it has been doing it... for a good four years or so.
I was going to get it done when I still had funds in early 2019.

[3cav3]

I've had several that do that at cold then as you say are fine warm. I've only ever changed one and that was in my focus. Once removed it hadnt actually failed, just was siezed up and giving some strange symptoms. Every other one I've just kept on driving until I've sold the car on.

[Robsey]

One of the quickest fixes ever.

Thanks to some lovely spring sunshine, I was able to scrabble under the car and fix the brakes.



Obviously a schoolboy error by the garage. Maybe they had been stressed out by pain that is the independent rear suspenision on a Vectra-C.
I was told that it was a total cow to do the near-side, however this was the off-side.

Less than a minute to get out from under the car,
Release the hand-brake and get back under.
And then pull the cable into it's retainer hanger.



Job done!!

---------------------------------
I was going to set the dash clock and clear any DTCs, but my XP laptop has decided that it no longer wants to see the USB sockets.

[3cav3]

Cant beat a free fix. Mechanics are only human and bound to make the odd mistake.

[Robsey]

Indeed - we all make mistakes.
I have made plenty - without the added pressure of time constraints in a working garage.

I know some will say better care should be taken around the brakes...
but the fluid (foot brake) side of things left the garage working perfectly.
Hand-brakes are a lot more forgiving - assuming you do not park on a slope / hill.

[Envoy CDX]

Least it wasn't anything too serious and not an issue with the actual brakes themselves.

[Robsey]

Indeed -
I did notice that the exhaust needs a few parts.

The post-cat pipe has no hanging hook.
It has rusted away and snapped off.

And the rear silencer pipe clamp is also rusted through causing the clamping bolt to snap.

The 55mm diameter clamp is easy enough to obtain...
But the pipe hanger will need me to get creative.