The REAL smoking Vectra POLL - VOTE Now!!

[wrightgj]

Okay, I'd like to conduct a little Poll exclusely for 2.2 petrol owners (not the direct version)...

Vauxhall are telling me that the 2.2 petrol engine has a 'trait' whereby when started from cold and throttle is applied, it spits out somke and mis-fires (maybe only misfires once or twice).

This is basically the stance they are taking regarding my 'smoking vectra' thread. They tried another '03' reg sri and said it did the same as mine, thus closed the technical case.

I would like to know if anyone can reproduce my problem on their 2.2 petrol.

Here's what to do.

1) take it for a run until its warmed up
2) park in on your drive overnight (it must be kept OUTDOORS)
3) Start it up from cold in the morning, letting it run for about a second or two, then apply about half throttle and gradually increase the revs
4) post here the results (to the POLL).

Mine does the following (although it a bit better since they spend 3500 quid on replacing half the engine):

Revs increase, with a slight misfire on the engine. Black/white with a tint of blue smoke is ejected from the exhaust. Smells oily. Clears after about 10-15 seconds of throttle and is then fine for the rest of the day/journey until the following morning.

Over 12 months, the misfire and smoke gradually got worse, so being a trait of the engine means everyones should be doing it.

here a link to a vid of my smoke

http://www.geocities.com/graham.wrig...t.com/carm.wmv

Cheers,
G

[Jamie]

What does the smoke smell of?

[wrightgj]

oil...

[Andy]

That smoke to me looks like black smoke, ie unburnt fuel. This most likely caused by the fact your reving hard when its just started. A cold engine is normally over fueled a little by the rich mixture the ECU sends it for a few minutes. Youve no need to rev it like that when cold. Just start the car with no throttle, put your seat belt on and drive on. Im betting there wont be a problem.

If it still carries on, its a common sympton of failing valve guides. The mixture is getting past the valve guides and down into the cylinder bores, where it sits until you start the engine. At which point it gets blasted out of the exhaust by the compression of the pistons firing up.

[AJA]

A Re-map would sort that out, as most of them burn the fuel that a standard ECU leaves behind. Plus you get better performance. Wahoo!

[wrightgj]

i agree there is black smoke in there, I'm not worried about that. Its the blueish/white smelly stuff I don't like

The ECU's been changed and reprogrammed, no difference.

G

[wrightgj]

Come on you 2.2 owners, there must be more than 2 of you out there!!!!!!

I must admit i'm a bit disappointed with the response!

All i'm asking is that when you start the car in the morning (with just a tad of throttle; i'm not asking you to thrash the thing!) whether you can any smelly stuff out the back.

Please post here the results...

Cheers

G

[ed taylor]

andy seems to have the right idea, though it may not be worn valve guides, it might be the rubber seals that go over the exhaust valve guides stems, if the rubber is split or has gone hard [ did any one ever chance the gasket on the cam cover and "o rings" on their vectra b the rubber was quite brittle], then the oil will run down between the valve stem and the guide, then into the cylinder thus depositing oil in there, so when the engine is next started it will smoke [ do the older members remember when we used to remove the spark plugs and put "red X" in the engine to de-coke it... it smoked then].
Unless there is an engineering problem, where there is too much clearance between the valve guides and the valve, years a go on the tigra 1.4 they had a problem where there was not enough clearance and the valves would stick.
this might throw some light on the problem, i hope it is one that can be easly sorted, preferably at vauxhalls expense.

[Maverick]

I have voted on behalf of my cousin who has a 2003 2.2 SRi. His smokes when you do what your video show's, but when starting it from cold and driving with low revs until the engine is properly warmed up there is no smoke.

He has 76000 miles on the clock.

[Doug-SRidirect]

You'd think if the valve stem oil seals were shot there would be noticable oil consumption. Your not "blipping" the throttle immediately before you turn off the engine are you? and I would advise not touching the throttle at all when you start in the morning, but fasten your seatbelt and drive off immediately, like Andy said.
I once had a 605 Peugeot (2.0 litre petrol) that used to fill the cul-de-sac with smoke in the morning - but only if it failed to fire up instantly, if I had to crank it for a while, the only way it would fire-up what with a touch of throttle - immediately followed by a minor ecological disaster, leaving the local moggies coughing in my cloud of acrid smoke........but that was a Peugeot, and we all know they're cr*p!
Good luck,
Doug