Hi Folks,

I'm, or rather my garage are having some problems with my car (04 vectra 2.2sri with YH engine). To cut a long story short, the car was misfiring, engine warning lamp coming on, losing power and using a heck of a lot of oil. Garage reckoned at first that it was valve seals, so they removed the manifold and seeing a large amount of oil gunk on valves seemed to confirm this. They told me that they had checked the compressions beforehand, and they seemed fine. The head gasket and valve seals were replaced. On their roadtest the car was still smoking badly, possibly worse than before, then suddenly, according to them, there was a rattle, the alternator light came on, and car lost power. Engine was stopped and car towed back to garage. Now, I've been using this garage for quite some time, with previous cars, and they have been quite open with me about the work they have done on my Vectra, and what happened on the road test etc'. They have said that they think that they may have fitted the crankshaft pulley incorrectly when refitting the chain, but weren't sure, but could think of no other cause of the breakdown. I was in the garage and saw the car, the chain was very slack, the crankshaft pulley was damaged and the woodruff key was snapped (I guess thats what caused the damage to the pulley, and why the alternator light came on and the rattle started on the test, cos the key had snapped and the alternator and oil pump were not operating.

Prognosis(?) from garage is that they are now going to replace the piston rings for the oil usage/smoking, but seem to have a problem finding a replacement woodruff key. All the dealers they have spoken to say that their electronic parts caltalogue does not show a woodruff key, and they think it's either part of the crankshaft or the crank gear that the chain runs on. Although my garage have shown me, in my hand, the broken parts of the original key!

Basically, I'm hoping someone here, from experience, can cast some light on whether a woodruff key is available for this engine, maybe even a part number or confirm if its the same as the key from a Z22SE. And also an opinion on the wider repair, and suggest anything you think the garage (they are not vauxhall dealers) may have overlooked in their investigations, and if you think that replacing the piston rings is a relatively common occurence?

Many thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this post and reply, I appreciate any comments you may have. 🙂