Morning!
My 1st post and I need some advice. Sorry in advance if it's a bit long...
I own a 2004 (53) Vectra C 2.2 SRi (Z22SE), and for a day or two it has been running rough, lumpy idle and stutters on acceleration. The Mrs drove it to the garage this morning, but it broke down before she got there. She called the RAC who recovered her to the garage and a mechanic had a look, said there was no oil in the sump (checked dipstick).
I checked the oil at the weekend and it was at max on the dipstick, there have been no low level warnings or lights, so confused as to where all that oil went! Anyway, mechanic topped up the oil and started it up while I was on the phone to him. It sounded like an old diesel tractor! :eek:
Chap switched it off and told me he thinks it could be the swirl flaps as this was a common problem with this engine. I have no idea what the swirl flaps are, other than they are in the inlet manifold and could have "broken off and be floating around the engine"... :facepalm: Can someone enlighten me as to what this means and what swirl flaps are/do? My guess is that they create a vortex of fuel and air prior to the mix being sucked into the engine?
They are going to strip it down this afternoon and let us know, but he said worst case scenario we're looking at a new engine, well, 2nd hand "new" engine. Best case is that these swirl flaps are stuck open due to deposits (of what exactly?)
If the cost of the repair exceeds the value of the car then I won't proceed and scrap the car. We've just spent almost £700 on suspension bits, exhaust and brake pads and discs, so I'm hoping we're not looking at the worst case here.
Gutted 🙁