Vectra C Sri 2.2 flat-spot

johnmac

I'll try to describe this as best possible ;

Car has been running great.....until today

Pulling away from rest,fine until I tried to accelerate in 2nd gear.Felt rough until I change to 3rd.If I tried to accelerate hard in 2nd,it was terrible.Tried again on a quite stretch of road and the emissions indicator flashed on/off (disappeared again).(this indicates an emission problem that could detroy the cat - according to the manual)

Car has covered 47K miles.Runs fine apart from this flatspot issue and also when approaching a junction and depressing the clutch,the revs drop really low then recover to 900(ish) rpm.Flat spot is noticeable in 3rd but much worse in 2nd.Fuel is from Tesco and is around 1/4 tank left. NO warning indicators while driving,all fluid levels correct.

Dirty petrol or something worse ???

vocky

fuelfilter or plugs maybe dunno..

jamesjohn

have you used any fuel additives like STP / REDEX?

johnmac

Funnilly enough, 'yes', but when I put it in (redex) my tank was empty and I filled it right up.My tank is almost empty just now,so I might let it run down and fill right up again.Car was going in to Dealer on Thursday anyway,but I just wanted opinions before they try to pull the wool over my eyes.

jamesjohn

although REDEX and STP say its safe to use in cars that have Catalyst, I have been advised by a few mechanics that it could occassionaly or when used in excess have an undesired effect on the catalyst. also, like vocky said, it could be the fuel filter. I have also been told how that could get clogged because of the additives.....

I had to replace my Cat at £220, 7 months ago coz I bought a POWER PACK from Halfords. That had 2 STP additives in them. Had to use one after the other at each fill up according to the instructions on it !! Well, thanks to that, my CAT was damaged....

What I do now is instead of using additives, I use permium high octane unleaded. Cost wise for each fill up, its the same !!!

johnmac

Can of worms here !!!

Can it be proven that the additives are to blame? If so,then are the manufacturers not responsible for the damage? What is my best course of action? Fill the car right up to diute whats left or am I too late? The car is driving normal except for hard acceleration. The only indicator I have had has been the emission light flashing when I tried to accelerate hard in 2nd.When I read the manual,alarm bells started ringing,but since then the warning hasn't reappeared.

One things for sure, I will be binning the bottle of redex.Only reason I bought it was because it had 100% extra free. :roll:

vocky

I had a blocked fuel filter the last time I used redex :roll:

but that was a 2.0 astra gte without a cat, when I 'booted it' the engine died - like it was being choked, which it was :lol:

JohnnyN

Go for the fuel filter first. Its the cheapest simplest option.

johnmac

Got car checked today.It's the 'high pressure fuel pump' that has failed.Even with a Vx contribution I am being quoted around £270.Is this reasonable or should i try to get it done from an 'independent' garage?

John

JohnnyN

The part price will stay the same but you may save on labour. Do you know anyone who can get you the part thru' trade? Maybe then you could have a go at changing it yourself and make BIG savings all round??

:roll:

jamesjohn

i did a google on 'high pressure fuel pump vectra c' ... is it a common problem in Vectra C ?

vocky

the high pressure pump failing seems to be happening more and more on the 2.2 direct dunno..