2.2 Direct

Tam

Hi guys,

Recently bought my second 2.2 Direct Vectra. It's a 54 plate with 53k.

Changed the sparks plugs on it last Monday and on Tuesday i got the emissions light on and that car sounded and drove terrible. After some help from Rushy and other people i found out that one of the plugs was faulty and that had caused the car to run on 3 cylinders for 2 days.....

Anyway, i replaced the faulty plug, disconnected the battery and got the emission light cleared. The car seems much better than it did on Tuesday, but it still feels quite jerky during gear changes (it's an auto). The throttle is nowhere near as responsive as it was before i changed the plugs - i almost have to have it on the floor before it decides to shift lol

I heard it takes time for the ecu and engine to regain performance but i'm just worried incase the plugs have done any damage.

Cheers, Tam

vocky

might be worth replacing all the plugs, it's also possible the coil pack was damaged by the faulty plug, this would cause the jerky driving

rushy

Welcome on board Tam. Vid had a coil pack for sale, not to sure if he still has it, but if your problem still persists it might be worth a PM ether on here or Vec C. Just thought, his is for a SE so not to sure if the YH is the same as from the look of the YH your coil pack is not visible like the SE

vocky

might be better to borrow one, saves spending dosh 🙂

Tam

Cheers guys.

On the way home from work the emissions light came back on and the car was blowing like it was back on 3 cylinders. I've priced a coil pack from Autovaux for £85

Would it be worthwhile replacing the coil pack and plug anyway?

I'm not sure what happens when the plugs don't spark properly, but would these symptoms point to a dodgy coil pack and plugs?

vocky

I would normally advise to replace the coil pack if the engine was running on 3 cylinders, so it's probably the next step

Tam

edit: i've ordered a new coil pack lol - although i'm not sure if i need to replace the plugs, as the one i damaged was replaced

vocky

just try the coil pack 🙂

Tam

replaced the coil pack tonight and the car felt less jerky but the emissions light was still on. I stuck some petrol in it and the light went off

I had a look at the old coil pack and the first one was absolutely stinking of fuel where as the last 3 had the slightest smell of it........

Hopefully that is the end of my problems

I'm never touching the car again lol

rushy

So did you not have a plug in properly then Tam for the fuel to escape? Glad you got it sorted mate.

Tam

Spoke too soon there.......

Just had it on a run there and put the foot down a bit. The emissions light came back on and the car started juddering quite hard until i pulled over and switched it off........

I'm thinking of changing the 4 plugs. If i had fitted it 'squint' would it damage the cylinder when i was screwing it in?

rushy

What, do yo think you cross threaded the plug? If so it would certainly damage the thread in the cylinder head, but to what detriment I could not tell you. As said mate get some more plugs and give them a go. Did you bin your original working plugs? By the way, I now see why you dont like doing stuff like this. :cry:

vocky

the coil pack should not smell of petrol at all, if the plugs were loose then I suppose it could happen

Tam

The plugs were in tight.

The car got towed from work off to a garage to get checked.

Won't know whats up till Monday........

vocky

it's a strange fault, please keep us informed 🙂

it might be a duff mixture lambda sensor, they can cause over fuelling and thus poor running. Also they don't always give an eml when faulty.

MikeS

cts as well