So thats what a 1.9 CDTi working on song in full harmony feels like!

**hertscol** · 12th July 2010, 19:33

Been listening to all these sweet power curve conversations on here, and also reminisced over the in top condition dealership Vectra CDTi I test drove and noticed I never had the same experience in my car.

So, had the egr solenoid drilled and cleaned, cleared out the gunk from inside the inlet manifold, ran carburettor cleaner through the inlet manifold, cleared the gunk behind the egr inlet manifold part when taking the butterfly valve off the right hand side of the inlet manifold, had 3rd injector done, did the air filter housing mod...

...but was still getting an intermittent hesitant acceleration when planting my foot on the accelerator as if when using a product with a rechargable battery running out of charge, slightly on power, then off, then on again..intermittent.

HERES THE FIX!

New Alternator on now since the Denso alternator failed on me after 9 mths and 10k miles. Does anyone think a poor performing alternator could have caused the above, as now I have the new one, and the alternator is on top form, the car is full of beans and flying around.

**Hideous** · 12th July 2010, 22:00

Highly doubt that the alternator could have given those poor running symptoms - it's one of those things that either works or it doesn't as far as i know.
Even if it was not delivering charge intermittently, there would be enough charge in the battery to last for quite a bit of driving. Other high-draw items like the power steering and aircon would cut out before the engine starts playing up.
I drove my car home with a stuffed alternator, journey was 12 miles no problem with driving performance at all.

Not a car electrics expert or anything, just sharing my experience with the bad alternator.

I could see the difference with a voltmeter - great little tool to check the health of your alternator (if you haven't used one before). I'm going to check my voltage from time to time, as I just fitted a new alternator to the vectra. Hope this one lasts :z

**Dan_BlackSRi** · 12th July 2010, 22:32

If his car wasn't running right, new alternator later it is, it must of had something to do with it, even if part of the process of replacing it was the cause of the fix.

I bet there's not too many owners of CDTi 150's that have them running as they should and put up with how it is, as they have felt one running properly - just a thought while I was typing the above

**GazVXLINE170** · 12th July 2010, 22:34

The previous alternator had some 'inefficiencies'? or as Dan says it wasn't installed correctly.

Gazza4

**wickedwillie** · 13th July 2010, 07:01

I had an alternator once where the sense voltage regulator was faulty and sometimes the alternator went into 'overcharge' mode. This caused some of the electronics to shut off intermitently, lights glowing brighter etc and did cause driveablility problems as the electronics were no longer working in harmony. Once the alternator was replaced all was well again.

**Hideous** · 13th July 2010, 16:56

Not a bad little guide here for testing an alternator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzz7P3qNHcE

Best way to see how it is actually performing for peace of mind. Seems like it worth checking this occasionally on these cars.