pain in the astra

cul-2008

Hi folks,

As you may have guessed from the catchy title , I'm the proud owner of a 2001 1.4 opel astra with the acceleration power of a coffin - something I'll end up in soon if my problem persists! (you try getting into some sort of lane in rush hour traffic with 'overly generous' people leaving nobody out, assisted by the total lack of acceleration)

Well, the problem - a total lack of power when I accelerate, even when I floor it, leaving me sitting there in a lane of traffic like a total eejit, until all of a sudden, I get a boost of power causing my wheels to spin like mad - I'll have no rubber on my rims by the end of the week at this rate!

Just wondering can anyone have an educated guess at whats wrong or have ye experienced something similar?

Appreciate all yere responses folks - it's driving me up the wall!

Best Regards,
Cul

colm_mcm

I'm thinking air flow meter or throttle position sensor, but it could be lots of things, best to bring it to someone who can plug it into a Tech2.

Captain Slow IRL

Try unplugging the air-mass meter and taking it for a spin. (located here in the top left corner of the picture) If that sorts it, that could be your culprit.
Is it misfiring or running rough?

cabrwab

Could it be clutch slipping? If the engine is revving before the 'boost' comes?!

cul-2008

Captain Slow IRL wrote: »

Try unplugging the air-mass meter and taking it for a spin. (located here in the top left corner of the picture) If that sorts it, that could be your culprit.
Is it misfiring or running rough?

Tried disconecting the air-mass meter and there doesnt seem to be a noticable improvement. However, there is a vibrating noise upon acceleration - sounds as if something gets blocked and then unblocks itself. This only seems to happen upon take-off though.

There is the odd time that it'll idle around 1100rpm- this is when I have no problem with taking off, but slowing down is another thing. When I change down a gear and take my foot off the clutch to slow down, there is a sudden surge of power - quite dangerous really (only happens when idling at around 1100 rpm.

Has the fact that the car idles at around 700 anything to do with it?

Sincere thanks for all the replies so far folks - really appreciated!

cabbott

a common fault on these cars is the coil pack, located under the plastic cover on top of the engine, if you can get a loan of one from a similar car and try it on yours, all you need is a 30 torx key to undo 2 screws on the cover and 4 screws holding down the coil pack, there are no air flow meters on these cars, so its not that. that picture of the astra engine doesnt look at all familiar to me and i see at least 2 a week and almost all 1.4.

Lucifer

There is no air mass meter on your astra. The engine in the picture is a Z16XEP or Z16XE1 engine. Your engine is a Z14XE The block connector you unplugged is the intake air temperature sensor and will make very little difference to the engine performance.

Is the engine management light on when this problem happens? Does the engine rev and not go anywhere or will it not rev? Does the car idle ok or not. Does it seem like it is missfiring when idling/accelerating? Does it rev up and down when idling?

I would start by considering an EGR valve (exhaust gas recirculation) problem or a coil pack as the do give trouble. I have seen a very small number of astra's give accelerator pedal trouble but it is usually wiring or an ecu fault that will cause this but this is a rare fault.

Post a bit more info and I will try to help more.

Lucifer

Just seen your post saying that it idles at 1100rpm sometimes. Does this happen when the car is hot and not just cold? Is it hard to start? I would say your EGR may be getting stuck. A coil pack wouldnt usually cause high idle where the EGR sometimes would. EGR will cause it to be hard to start and lack of power. If it is the EGR they can be cleaned but it doesnt always work and sometimes need to be replaced. The EGR Valve is located at the back righ corner of your engine, mounted on the inlet manifold by 2 45Torx bolts and has one block connecter connecting onto it.

cul-2008

Lucifer wrote: »

There is no air mass meter on your astra. The engine in the picture is a Z16XEP or Z16XE1 engine. Your engine is a Z14XE The block connector you unplugged is the intake air temperature sensor and will make very little difference to the engine performance.

Is the engine management light on when this problem happens? Does the engine rev and not go anywhere or will it not rev? Does the car idle ok or not. Does it seem like it is missfiring when idling/accelerating? Does it rev up and down when idling?

I would start by considering an EGR valve (exhaust gas recirculation) problem or a coil pack as the do give trouble. I have seen a very small number of astra's give accelerator pedal trouble but it is usually wiring or an ecu fault that will cause this but this is a rare fault.

Post a bit more info and I will try to help more.

Aah - just goes to show how little I really know!

Is the engine management light on when this problem happens? No
Does the engine rev and not go anywhere or will it not rev? It revs but accelerates very slowly
Does the car idle ok or not? Sometimes it idles at around 1200 which is when the problem doesn't seem to exist. 99% of the time it idles between 600 and 700.
Does it seem like it is missfiring when idling/accelerating? no, seems fine
Does it rev up and down when idling? generally no, 5% of the time it will between 600 and 700 rpm.

Would you think it could be the coil pack?

Thanks very much for the replies again, there's great community on here!

cul-2008

Lucifer wrote: »

Just seen your post saying that it idles at 1100rpm sometimes. Does this happen when the car is hot and not just cold? Is it hard to start? I would say your EGR may be getting stuck. A coil pack wouldnt usually cause high idle where the EGR sometimes would. EGR will cause it to be hard to start and lack of power. If it is the EGR they can be cleaned but it doesnt always work and sometimes need to be replaced. The EGR Valve is located at the back righ corner of your engine, mounted on the inlet manifold by 2 45Torx bolts and has one block connecter connecting onto it.

It happens when the car is stone cold and can take a while to start - any ideas?

mik_da_man

I had a similar age astra and had the exact same problem.
Twas the crankshaft sensor and the lambda sensor on mine

Worth getting both checked IMO
A quick trip to someone with the right software should diagnose the issue in a few mins.

cul-2008

mik_da_man wrote: »

I had a similar age astra and had the exact same problem.
Twas the crankshaft sensor and the lambda sensor on mine

Worth getting both checked IMO
A quick trip to someone with the right software should diagnose the issue in a few mins.

Sounds good. Could that be diagnosed with a tech2?

Lucifer

Your engine is the Z14XE and I have never seen one give crank sensor trouble. You say the engine revs but accelerates slowly. Do mean that the revs shoot up but the vehicle speed doesnt speed up normally or that the revs do go up but just not quickly? If the revs shoot up you might have a clutch problem. If not then the EGR valve could cause the problems you describe, (would usually bring on the engine management light but not always). The coil pack could cause some of them but you would notice a missfire and also would usually bring on the light. Yes it would make it alot easier to diagnose using tech 2.

Son

Hard start,could be CTS...coolant temp sensor.
At the end of the day,its just a guessing game here,getting a scan will more than likely point you in the right direction.
Also if the problem goes away when hot it would point to CTS

Darragh29

Sounds to me like it could be the coil pack.

cul-2008

Hi folks,

I just wanted to thank everyone for their feedback - going to get a tech 2 done today at two, so I'll be sure to let ye know what the problem is for future reference.

Once again, thanks very much!

All the best,

Cul.

kluivert

Am going with the Clutch.

Why dont you try up the revs with a tap of the right foot before taking your foot of the clutch.

Just take it to a garage.

I have a 1.4 1999 Astra with 125k miles, or maybe more, the light bulb is gone on the odemeter thing , I have never had engine problem, except for a blown head gasket at 55k miles.

Lucifer

Shine a torch on the odometer reading and you should be able to see it.

OP let us know how you get on.

cul-2008

Hi all,

Well went to the garage yesterday, opel specialists, ran a Tech 2 and no faults were shown. I'd know the mechanic, no bull about him, and he told me two things - either of which I wanted to hear:

1.) EGR valve could be gone - slight chance he says.

2.) Head Gasket :eek: <<< that was me for around ten minutes after hearing the 1,500 to 2,000 quote for the replacement...surely I'd nearly get a whole engine for that price? Apparently a common fault amongst astras - mine has 68k on it, similar mileage to another poster. Labour is the killer though, but what can you do?!?

I think I'll get the EGR valve replaced first to see if that rectifies the problem, before spending 2k and realising the €200 job would have done!

Damn it anyway ...really dont have the money for this, but thats the joys of motoring right?

Once again, thanks for all the help folks - I really appreciate it :cool: