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Vauxhall Astra 1.6 Z16XE 2002 - Misfire cylinder 4, multiple misfire #

Posted by Sean Savage on May 3, 2012, 5:22 pm

Year of Manufacture *: 2002
( Optional ) Engine Code or CC: Z16XE

I am looking for a magic silver bullet repair for this please.
z16xe petrol engine. fault logged misfire cyl 4 and multiple misfire, this is the 2nd identical fault astra we have had. car runs fine then develops a very "minor" misfire emission are perfect until slight misfire develops then ecu shuts off number 4 injector and lamda goes upto 1.50. it has had the coil pack and plugs replaced,now i havent spent too long on this one as we spent ages and a lot of money on the last one (which dealers havent cured yet) we blanked egr off,all compression tests were ok injector was replaced,cant smoke test inlet manifold really well as there is no pressure in smoke tester but brake cleaner spray around it shows nothing. i know another garage with just the same fault so thats 3 of these. i dont expect a fix but has anyone had this with these engines?? i am leaning towards a hydraulic folloewr fault,but done engine flush ets and put forte gas treatment neat into engine throttle body while running. grrrrr
sean

Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE

Posted by Mark Carter User icon on May 3, 2012, 6:53 pm, in reply to "ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"
Mark Carter

Hi Sean,

>>> i am leaning towards a hydraulic folloewr fault <<<

You may well be right, why not start your testing with that in mind and carry out the relevant tests for that issue.

Mark

Modern cars, Its all wizardry and witchcraft

Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE

Posted by Dave Harney User icon on May 3, 2012, 8:21 pm, in reply to "Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"
Dave Harney

Hi Sean,
Is it definately a Z16xe and not Z16xep ?
Also, does it still misfire when egr is blanked off ?
Regards
Dave

You can trim a sheeps wool many times, but you can only fleece it once !

Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE

Posted by Liam Boyle User icon on May 3, 2012, 10:49 pm, in reply to "ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"

Would be worth doing an oil pressure test as well. I had one a few years back that drove me mad. It would be running perfect until going over 3000 rpm then it would miss on cyl 4. A cylinder leakage test didn't even show this up. I guess the valve was only very slightly held off of its seat and either turning the engine by hand or pressurising the cylinder closed it again. Went for oil pressure next and it was well over spec at higher revs. I ended up changing the oil pump on that one. Had loads of other vehicles with the start of head gasket or valve/seats burning out being picked up by the ecu before the customer had noticed.

Liam

Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE

Posted by Nigel Bennett User icon on May 4, 2012, 8:40 am, in reply to "Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"

Sticking Valve.If hook up a tin of Forte "T" into a vacuum hose via a re stricter ie.lenght of brake pipe with the end in the bottle of Forte all most crimped closed.Take for a good road test trying to keep the revs above the 3000 RPM make until all the Forte is used up,then flush,oil change etc.
Regards Nigel.

Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE

Posted by Phil Cake User icon on May 9, 2012, 7:02 pm, in reply to "Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"

Hi Sean, done two of these in last 9 months, both
the same year range as yours and engine code,(and they were autos). Oil control rings jammed in groove.Compression always showed good.Pulled the plugs when misfire occured and found them damp with oil. The piston crowns were damp with
bore scope, but no smoke. Did rings in situ.

Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE

Posted by sean savage User icon on May 9, 2012, 10:54 pm, in reply to "Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"
Sean Savage

i am strongly leaing to that way phil. thanks for the input will post any developments

Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE

Posted by Martin Rogers User icon on May 10, 2012, 8:00 pm, in reply to "Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"
Martin Rogers

Hi Sean, had this on a corsa and went through the mill chasing the fault as a last resort i did a ecu update using tech 2 fixed, couldn't believe it and done extended road test, after speaking to other techs the car had been left with us for a few weeks ans in that time the battery went down after recharge and test we had replaced the battery, presume the jump starting or poor battery corrupted the map ?
Just a thought as it is far easier to to a update than a engine.
HTH

Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE

Posted by sean savage User icon on May 10, 2012, 11:22 pm, in reply to "Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"
Sean Savage

ecu has been replaced martin,we fitted and put latest software on,dealer confirmed this when it went to them. this is catch 22 as customer now had £700 invested in a 2003 astra,does she cut her loses and move it on or do we do a large job with no total gaurantee that the work will cure the fault. when i eventually sent this to vauxhall they did all tests and told me that the bosch plugs needed to be vauxhall ones to cure the fault £281 i bit the bullet and 1 week later fault returned,i sent it straight back to them. they had it a week and told me i needed a genuine coil pack (it had had 2 budget and a delphi coil within 1 month) so customer is now off again to see how it goes with this coil pack on, i havent paid them anything this time and told them i will monitor how it goes, i know this car is going to return.

i thank you for all your input and will inform you on how this progresses.
have a good weekend all.

sean

Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE

Posted by Rob Nicholson User icon on May 10, 2012, 11:37 pm, in reply to "Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"

Hi Sean,

Sorry of topic but who do the techs at Vaux think make their OE (with GM stamp) plugs??!

Rob

Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE

Posted by Lee Mackintsoh User icon on May 11, 2012, 8:05 am, in reply to "Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"
Lee Mackintosh

Can someone please expalin the difference between Delphi OE and Delphi aftermarket.

I recently bought a coil pack from Andrew Page and they asked what make i wanted. I said Delphi is what's fitted.

They offered me a choice between Delphi OE or Delphi aftermarket. I chose the OE as the price was about £15 more.

Couldn't understand the idea of it.

Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE

Posted by Tony Attwood User icon on May 11, 2012, 3:52 pm, in reply to "Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"
Tony Attwood

Hi Lee,

The difference between Delphi OE & Delphi aftermarket is:
Delphi OE coil pack is made the specification that the O.E. manufacturer gives to Delphi ....

Delphi aftermarket coil pack is made to the specification that Delphi decide is a suitable & adequate replacement for vehicle in question ....

Same applies to the spark plug question Rob ..
Just because Bosch list a plug for a particular Vauxhall .. dont mean it's EXACTLY the same spec as the O.E. plug ......

Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE

Posted by Christy Doyle User icon on May 11, 2012, 4:30 pm, in reply to "Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"
Christy Doyle

Hi,
Tony,Whats your view on timing belts,I always prefer to fit o/e as against aftermarket belts,even though belt may be manufactured by Continental,Powergrip etc.

Regards Christy.

Re: OE / Aftermarket

Posted by Rob Nicholson User icon on May 11, 2012, 7:18 pm, in reply to "Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"

Our Vauxhall combo is due for the first set of tyres I must remember to order GM ones!

Re: OE / Aftermarket

Posted by Dave Hill User icon on May 13, 2012, 8:33 pm, in reply to "Re: OE / Aftermarket"

>>Our Vauxhall combo is due for the first set of tyres I must remember to order GM ones! <<

Although very funny Rob, that is a bit of distraction from the points raised.

There are some car parts that need to be replaced with parts of a proven quality.

Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE

Posted by Andrew Clarke User icon on May 16, 2012, 3:23 am, in reply to "Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"
Andrew Clarke

"i know this car is going to return"

I wouldn't be so sure. I've just been on a similar road on a Z18XE. At one stage it developed a minor mis-fire about 2000rpm would log codes for mis fires on cyl's 3 and 4 but shut off injector 2.
The final fix was genuine plugs (New NGK's had been fitted) and coil pack (two other non genuine ones had been tried) and a exchange ecm (the third).

It's been a few weeks now and no problems

Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE

Posted by Glen Strachan User icon on January 23, 2014, 4:14 pm, in reply to "Re: ASTRA SILVER BULLET PLEASE"

Sorry to drag up such an old thread, but I have had an Astra in with misfire cyl 4 and to cut a long story this had a split exhaust in the flexy part immediately before o2 sensor b1s2 and it was running very lean at idle.
KTS doesnt have the ability to reset adaptions, can that be done with vaux com or is tech2 the only option ? An exhaust + extended road test sorted it btw.

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