2006 9-3 150 Tid Sportwagon misfire

[Petemate]

Shamelessly copied from my post on 2 other forums (should that be fora?)
I have what I think may be the dreaded No. 3 injector wiring fault. Started some months ago as the occasional misfire while on a steady throttle at around 1500 rpm. Developed since and now occurs frequently, and whether cold, during warm-up, or hot. Yesterday I pulled all the injector plugs off and gave them a good seeing-to with good old Maplins switch cleaner. Coming to LHR from Oxford this morning has shown that the problem is still there, though I realise that the cleaner may not have worked. However, at no time has there been any sign of the engine management light. Strange. I do want to do the plug/wire mod though just for peace of mind; I know that the wiring kit is also a Vauxhall part and do not want to pay Saab dealer price if it is appreciably higher. Anyone got a supply source at reasonable cost?
Additional info - coming back tonight from work, slight missing up to the M25 from Hounslow but once on cruise control on the M25 at 75 & on the M40 at 85 no probs, but once off the M40 and through the A40 and home to Kennington the missing was marginally worse. So in the morning I'll give the plugs, especially No. 3, a good wriggle and yet more cleaner.

[Max Headroom]

Hello Pete. I wasn't really aware of a 'known wiring problem on No3 injector', so any part number/fix is of interest to me here. Keep us posted. Thanks!

[Petemate]

I have what I think may be the dreaded No. 3 injector wiring fault. Started some months ago as the occasional misife while on a steady throttle at around 1500 rpm. Developed since and now occurs frequently, and whether cold, during warm-up, or hot. On Wed I pulled all the injector plugs off and gave them a good seeing-to with good old Maplins switch cleaner. Coming to LHR from Oxford yesterday morning has shown that the problem is still there, though I realise that the cleaner may not have worked. However, at no time has there been any sign of the engine management light. Strange. I do want to do the plug/wire mod though just for peace of mind; I know that the wiring kit is also a Vauxhall part and do not want to pay Saab dealer price if it is appreciably higher. Anyone got a supply source at reasonable cost?

Update. Much missing on the way home late last night between 1500 & 2000 rpm. Before setting off this morning, pulled off all four plugs again and gave them some more cleaner, and gave the No. 3 a good working on & off. Only got three misfires in the entire journey, so I reckon I am on the right track (no pun intended) and the mod is required. I will give updates!

[Audax]

In my experience if you move the wiring around on injector number 3 you can pull it one way and make it miss and pull it the other way and it will be OK. If it isn't doing that then I'd not be so certain it's an injector wiring fault. Also, don't refer to it as dreaded! it's only £15 or so to fix! The other faults with the 1.9 are far more dreaded as they as so expensive in comparison.

[Merve84]

Try wiggling the wires for the injectors while the car is idling and see if you get the misfire?!

[Audax]

Erm, that's weird. I thought I'd replied to this post already. Anyhow, as Merve says, try wiggling the wires when idling, my experience so far has been you can cause the car to miss and run OK when pulling the wires about.

[Petemate]

I'll try that tonight when I get home!
Ta

BTW, you DID reply earlier - my post I put on just after midnight last night was a bit late in coming into the forum for some reason, and I sort of duplicated today.

[Petemate]

As a matter of curiosity, it looks a bit difficult to get into the contact spades on the injectors, without a small child, a mirror, and a small piece of wet & dry. I would think that as well as fitting new plug/s, it would be a good thing to clean up the injector contacts? Also, are the contacts in the replacements plugs a tighter design, anyone know?

[Audax]

BTW, you DID reply earlier - my post I put on just after midnight last night was a bit late in coming into the forum for some reason, and I sort of duplicated today.

Aaah, you put that post into the wrong section of the forum (it was in the old 9-3 section) so I moved it and then replied to it and didn't see you'd posted again.

[Max Headroom]

Why is this peculiar only to No3? Are the wires too short or under tension in some way?

[Petemate]

AFAIK it is something to do with the heat over that area. Lots of info in the Vectra-c forum.

[phoenix]

I've merged both topics

[Petemate]

I've merged both topics

Ta Phoenix!
New update. Tried wriggling all the plugs while engine idling before setting off from home this morning - no effect. Then, while the engine was running, pulled the plug off of N0. 3 injector - ran on three, back on, OK smooth idle again. (has always idled smoothly)
Now have EML on. Also the car never missed a beat all the way from Oxford into LHR. Tried disconnecting the battery for a minute to get rid of the EML - no joy, so I'll go to my local garage Mon to get them to get rid of the error code. What a game. We will see how it runs on the way home - strange that disconnecting and reconnecting with it running should somehow put it right (but I wont do that again...)
Can one obtain a code reader with facility to erase them?

[Max Headroom]

I take it your local is Oxford SAAB? Have you by chance ever used Banbury? Only they are slightly nearer to me than Oxford

[Audax]

What a game. We will see how it runs on the way home - strange that disconnecting and reconnecting with it running should somehow put it right (but I wont do that again...)

It's unlikely to run right for a long time, if doing that cured it then it's a pretty good sign that you need the wiring harness on injector number 3.