1.9 CDti 150 Inlet Manifold and Cambelt change...

[Penfold101]

I purchased my 2008 57 plate 1.9 150 SRi a couple of months ago, and as per usual with this site any new car has to have a list of things to do and modifications before it even turns up on the driveway... I've almost got everything I need to upgrade the front and rear brakes, but that's a story for next time children...

First off was to sort the likely issues that effect this engine. As we've seen from here, it has the potential to be a brilliant powerplant, with a healthy dose of power and torque and excellent fuel economy. Unfortunately it's let down by the ******* in Brussels who insist of having loads of crap bolted on to it in order to 'reduce emissions' and keep the tree huggers happy...

One of the reasons I went from a Signum back to a Vectra was to get rid of the DPF ever
becoming an issue, and generally ruining my fuel economy for no good reason. That leaves the Exhaust Gas Recirculation system and associated
valve, which dumps hot exhaust gasses and carbon back into the inlet. This
causes the swirl valves to fail, and generally a huge messy carbon buildup

around the inlet manifold, boost sensor and the throttle body. Solution? Blank
off the EGR valve.

At the same time, it can be mapped out by our good friend Ben at MAS performance in Keighley, Yorkshire. This way, the ECU doesn't even know it's supposed to be there and the emissions light isn't on. This was one known fault when I bought the car, and was initially solved by cleaning the valve and resetting the light, but it came back on not long later.

Whilst considering options, and having spoken to Feefee as I went with him to MAS when he got his mapped, I decided I might as well get the remap too. for the extra 100 quid I got about 186bhp/300 torques and hopefully some more fuel economy too. It also cost nothing on my insurance so was a bit of a no-brainer...

With this in mind, I devised a plan of action: Map the EGR valve out and replace the inlet manifold. I did consider just running some 10K boost through it or removing it to clean it, but as I'm a stickler for doing something properly, and as they only cost 160 quid from Autovaux, I decided I'd replace it. At the same time, and as they require taking pretty much the same work to dismantle, I'd change the cambelt. The car has done 102K, with no record of it having been done...





With the reamp sorted and all parts ordered from Autovaux for the sum of 330 odd squid (compared to a dealership price of up to 1500 quid for both jobs together I'd imagine...) I studied the How2 guides on here and my Haynes manual to ensure I wouldn't get caught out with needing a special tool or the like, I set about the task...

Started at half 9 in the morning, finished about 8 that night. Yes, it's not a quick job, although sticking it all back together didn't take anywhere near as long as it did to take apart...

A few points I noted...

My aftermarket waterpump came with instructions, and a few handy hints. The most important one being that you shouldn't attempt to change the pump with the engine running. Sound advice there...

I had no vacuum system as referenced in the How2 guide. It's meant to sit next to the oil separator, and have various pipes and hoses over the engine, but I couldn't find anything at all...

The Bosch fuel pump had no woodruff key in it. Instead, there's a fixed spigot the sticks out and engages with the sprocket. I was worried for a few seconds that I'd lost it, despite my best efforts...

Holding the drive belt tensioner back using a drill bit: I'm amazed that it didn't shear the drill in half when I let it take the spring pressure - that thing's got some serious grunt behind it...

Upon removal, I found the inlet was practically blocked withcarbon build-up on the EGR inlet, and although the inside was fairly black, it wasn't too bad and the swirl valves still moved freely. The throttle body was similarly black but not ridiculously so. After all the work required to remove it, I can't imagine wanting to stick it back in with just a clean...





In a nutshell, neither job is really that bad. If you have a decent set of tools, some time and patience, they can both be done on your driveway with a set of axle stands.



For a small bit of entertainment, I filmed the whole thing. Obviously, you can't see every minute of it, due to Youtube time restraints but I have compressed it into 10 minutes to provide evidence that it can be done. There are a few bits missing, where I either forgot to press record, was having lunch, thought it was recording when it wasn't, was taking embarrassingly long to remove an item (like the bumper...), took immensely long to set up the timing properly and thread the belt and other such instances, but it was a bit of fun watch back...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7kMp87_Xjo

[merikiito]

Had the bar come off your original inlet manifold? I thought the 2008 model should have come with the revised manifold so there should have been no reason to change it

[Penfold101]

Had the bar come off your original inlet manifold? I thought the 2008 model should have come with the revised manifold so there should have been no reason to change it

Nope, it was all working as it should. There was no technical reason to change it, apart from it being full of crap from the EGR. I wanted to clean it, but seeing as most of the effort in that goes into removing it in the first place, it seemed silly not to fit a brand spanking shiny new one...

And yes, the manifold that was on it was the modified one...

[GazVXLINE170]

Tbh m8 blanking the valve off and spraying some decoke in would have done pretty much the same thing. Don't get me wrong it will be bit sharper but will settle down again.

However, the big plus now is you can clean the one you took off, remove the swirl flaps too. Then refit.

[The Gas Man]

you tube have blocked ya video mate

[Penfold101]

having seen how it came out, it was probably a bit excessive to change it completely, but I fancied seeing if I could do it and to change teh cambelt I had to take apart most of the same stuff anyway...

And I think you mean "clean the old one and sell it on again..."

[Penfold101]

you tube have blocked ya video mate

Ahh balls. I'll have to rechoose the music...

[hebblemarine]

Nice one, get stuck in there!

Fancy doing a Z30DT if you're bored? (JK)

[Penfold101]

Nice one, get stuck in there!

Fancy doing a Z30DT if you're bored? (JK)

Been there, decided not to touch it with a bargepole...

Have changed the audio track to some random metal instrumental one on youtube so should be back up shortly. Damn copyright...

[ghostrider]

Had the bar come off your original inlet manifold? I thought the 2008 model should have come with the revised manifold so there should have been no reason to change it

Mine is the same age (57 Plate 2008 Reg) and the inlet manifold has been replaced twice! Once at 40k miles (Free) and once again at 120k miles (had to pay, as VX wouldn't contribute - £320), so they are not immune to failure! (P.S. the bar fell off on both occasions) Both were the new modified manifolds (as was the original)