9-3 150 Tid hesitation

[Max Headroom]

Ok just got off the  phone with Oxford SAAB. They too are dismayed this is not running right. I now have it booked in for next Tues.

I have told service manager under no circumstances can I afford anything more (my garage build has consumed all my money plus with the manifold cost Im now skint) He said -dont worry. "We'll look at it, then talk" (whatever thats supposed to mean) they sound perplexed but will take a hard  look at it next Tuesday

[Petemate]

Joking aside, this is now obviously a big worry and of course annoying, your having spent so much. On reflection, my idea regarding the filter may be on the wrong track. I will be in next week - depending on what time you are going to Cumnor, you can pop in if you like - I would appreciate your demonstration of the problem to compare with mine! (one of my nice cuppas will be at your disposal)

ETA
It is strange that there may not be any codes stored, which still makes me a bit suspicious of the fuel supply. But there could, I suppose, be something else mechanical. Matt in the Parts dept last year, when I was purchasing my injector wiring mod, mentioned possible inlet valve guide problems which have been known, but I would have thought that there would be major issues if that were the case if, for example, there is a valve sticking situation.

[Max Headroom]

Petemates quote from another topic/thread...

BTW Mark - sorted your missing out yet? Been watching the forum for any info.

Kind of. After picking the car up post the dreaded manifold cx, and having it continue to misfire on the same day much to my dismay, it has curiously not done it since....


...Apart from once - a couple of weeks back:

I took the car from Stow to Carterton (approx 14 miles). Parked up briefly while dropping the boy off at his Taekwondo training.
Some 20 mins later I popped out to get fuel as I was running v low ("Fuel low" caption was on when I left Stow, and had been on the night before when I got in from work).

Local fuel station, 2 mins away,  filled up to brim. Paid. Left fuel station and it was coughing and spluttering almost immediately as I drove off.
I then parked up again, and waited approx an hour for the boy to finish, before heading back to Stow. Nothing since that. apart from when I was stuck in heavy walking-pace traffic outside Oxford because of an accident, and that was only a little missbeat rather than anything profound.

So to conclude - I'm still watching it like a hawk, but to be honest it seems to be behaving at the moment - though we are undoubtedly into significantly cooler ambient temperatures which may or may not be a major factor.

Could the misfire after cxing the manifold, been due to a build up of krapp on the injectors which has now burnt itself off, I wonder?

[Petemate]

Petemates quote from another topic/thread...

BTW Mark - sorted your missing out yet? Been watching the forum for any info.

Could the misfire after cxing the manifold, been due to a build up of krapp on the injectors which has now burnt itself off, I wonder?

Could well be. Good point. Fingers crossed etc.

[Georgemac]

I had a terrible intermittent problem with no power at low revs..

My egr valve and manifold were clogged, and were cleaned by garage which improved it but did not cure it.

I found the solution on a vectra forum.  The solenoid part - the black plastic part - also gets clogged with soot. I took it off the valve by taking out the 2 torx screws and this confirmed the pin which operates the egr valve was stuck.
A stuck open egr valve at low revs = no power.

I drilled a small hole throught the plastic at the top of the solenoid, used a punch to punch out the pin and spring, used emery cloth to clean the pin and bore of the solenoid, lubricated with copper slip, reassembled, used silicon to seal drilled hole, and car has driven like new for the last 6 months.

Was an easy fix. I can't find the link with photos though. Found it now - nut you need to agree to T & C to view

http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/showthread.php?45867-how-to-clean-z19-egr-valve-%28proper-method%29

[sgould]

Welcome to STT! 

And thanks for an informative first post.

[Georgemac]

I should also have said this was on a 2006 plate 9-3 150 tid with around 65k, and a lot of non motorway driving..

My local garage also advised cataclean fuel additive, which I tried, and I also tried an additive called 9k boost off eBay, and when I gave the car a good blast with this in the tank, got a fair bit of black smoke and think I burned off the soot in the particulate filter..

Glad to join the forum, found it when searching for info on glow plug circuit relay trouble.  I have an intermittent warning of this, always circuit a and car not starting so good in cold weather.

[steve.pocock]

I have much the same hesitating problem but at 2750 rpm usually - again not all the time, but on nearly every trip at some point. I've sorted swirl flaps, new EGR valve and no. 3 injector so wonder if it may be just dirty injectors. I've heard good reports of Fuel Injector cleaner additives in the past - has anyone tried that? And did it work?

[Max Headroom]

Avoid supermarket fuel at all costs - I used to fill up at an Asda filling station just off the M40 at Oxford and my car ran like a bag of broken nails with that crapp in it.

I've tried fuel additives, but to be honest, my car really purrs when I use super-diesel. For some reason the Shell variety seems a bit more suited to the car than BP's offering and runs smoother.

Give it a go and see how you get on.

Yes its more pricey but fill up with it every other stop for fuel rather than every stop

[steve.pocock]

I had this problem for over 2 years and replaced \EGR valve, inlet manifold, clutch & DMF, alternator, cambelt, 3 lots of diagnostics (including Saab dealership in-depth examination), used only BP Premium fuel - the full Monty. All with only minor improvement>

BUT since reading on forums about the MAP sensor next to the EGR valve, I took this out, cleaned with carb cleaner and........

HEY PRESTO! Problem cured! Have since done around 300 miles of mixed driving and no sign of hesitation. Also find it runs better in all gears, pulls as I had hoped from the start, quieter and fuel economy where it should be.

My advice to others is to clean (or better replace for £29.10 + VAT from Bosch dealer) the MAP sensor, clean the EGR valve as detailed on forums and save the £1500 odd that I wasted in trying track this simple fix down.

[sgould]

Always satisfying when you finally track down an elusive fault!