emmisions light update guys

[nph1]

The problem at long last solved by vauxhall dealer at a very good price and they are updating vauxhall HQ data as this seems to be a regular problem on some vectra o4 spec cars.
hope this info may help some members out guys.
This took over 4 days to solve at vauxhall and they never charged me for the labour costs amazing service guys at cheltenham branch.
The total cost for repair was £340.00 but it could of been a lot worse trust me.
fault read cost £70 no fault was found so this was the following that happened guys due to some members having the same problem!!!!!!!!!
emmision light coming on or going off at random, sometime going in safe mode sometimes not.

cam sensor was changed first (same problem)
wire check on the car this took two hours (same problem)
crank sensor changed (same problem)
air con sensor changed in the left side of engine (same problem)
a new engine management system emu (same problem)

unfortuntly all original parts were put back on, at this rate i thought i might end up with a new car.
then a guy said check the cam pully to the crank shaft and bingo the problem was found, the pully had slightly damaged the teeth on the crank so a metal liquid repair was carried out on the crank shaft.
This vauxhall engineer informed me this seems to be happening alot on the early vectras so watch this space.
i hope they reply to the problem like the handbrake issue you never know?
So guys instead of going through all the hassel i had with my car maybe a check to the lower cam on your engine first you might have the same problem!!!!!!!
This may of worked loss or worst problem damage the crank
i hope this info may help some members.
if you want vauxhall to stripe the engine down and fit a new crank this could set you back a cool £2500
other option is to change the engine at a independent garage this would set you back about £400 - £500 but thats not including the cost of a good second hand engine
or the cheap option is to have a liquid metal repair to the crank but you never know how long this might last !!!!!!!
hope this helps members out on here sorry if it does not please remember every car is different but this might be another regular fault that vauxhall should know about !!!!!!!!!!!!
regards nigel

[moorlander]

thanks for sharing, glad your car is sorted

[benny]

do you have any idea on the fault ? .....what actually was wrong .....

[Tadpole]

Mine is an 04 ............ ................ ...............

[nph1]

yes sorry the problem was the cam bar from the pully that goes into the crank had worn some of the teeth in side the crank therefor wearing them down.
hard to to get my head round as the crank is made of a harder metal then the pully bar.
therefor on puting your foot down on the gas the crank slips overtime causing a fault light to come on due to the teeth not cripping the cam rod.

[benny]

sounds to me like the cam chain has slipped have they fitted an new kit or have they retimed the old one ..whats a cam bar ?...did they have to liquid metal a bolt that had broken in the engine ? .....

[nph1]

the vauxhall receipt reads as follow guys
checked for emission light fault light coming on
checked cam all ok
checked wireing all ok
tryed ecu fault still there suspect
tryed new crank sensor all ok
replaced new coolent sensor all ok
replaced emu all ok
timing fault all ok
removed cambelt covers
some very small movement in crank pully
removed crank pully,damage to key way in crank (teeth)
repaired key with liquid metal
new gear and pully installed with trust washer
original cam belt replaced
road test all ok
bill £337.46

[bygumlad]

Is it a case of the woodruff key has worn? as can't make head nor tail of anything else!

[benny]

Is it a case of the woodruff key has worn? as can't make head nor tail of anything else!

yeah im stuggling to think what they have done .... worn woodruff dont do much on these only really a locater and has not tenstion / force dont really matter as if they have fixed it all maybe ok from now on ...

[Ste]

I am also at a loss as to what the actual problem was.

Does this refer to 1.8 petrol engine?

The crank nose on the pulley end is smooth, and has a key way in which the timing belt gear locates with a key. On the outside of this mounts the aux belt pulley which also has a key slot for correct alignment and drive, the whole thing is then secured with the main pulley bolt. If the key way doesn't offer drive, then the only thing driving the crank to belt gear and aux belt pulley is friction due to the torque on the main bolt. I can't see this as the only driving force. The key way HAS to actually drive the bolted-on parts.

So what have they actually done? The key and the timing belt driving gear can both be replaced if any wear exists. If the crank to gear position ain't secure, then the whole timing would go wrong with probable disastrous results as valve would open at the wrong time, and collision with piston crown is going to happen. Also running and starting would prove very difficult if the crank timing gear has moved out of position by more than a few degrees.

I would like to know the definitive answer to this too.

Here is a picture of the crank end timing gear, with the crank timing marks identified. It also has the pulley bolt and washers to secure it onto the crank whilst I did a timing belt change.