Limp mode issue on vectra cdti since bad fuel ( no faults codes) Im lost??

[richiem]

Hi all

Been having an ongoin issue with my cdti 150 now for ages that i cant find the cause off This problem started when i had water contaminated fuel put in the car! I drained the tank! cleaned the filters ect and all seems ok till the next day i noticed the car kept goin into limp mode whilst driving!! I found that if i re started the car then it would be back to normal instantly untill it did the same thing again 10 mins later!
Whats seems od is the car never fails like this when driving harder and only when cruising And also it resolves itself as soon as i restart the car! Ive had the car tested on tech 2 with no codes of faults showing! Vauxhall have just suggested all i can do is guess parts to change but have said they think like me its fuel related as it started when the bad fuel went in... Im not sure were to start so thought id ask here for tips!!
They suggested ( fuel pressure sensor on filter housing/ fuel regulator/ failing pump) Im guessing if the pump was failing it would be more likely to play up when driven harder??? Also this has now got alot worste since i fitted a new intercooler after i found mine was split ! Now its goining into limp mode all the time! Any ideas would be very helpfull here guys

[MSG]

Richard and Vauxhalls don't seem to ryme! Hi buddy!!

Since your problems started with contaminated fuel, so When you drained the offending fuel from the tank, some fuel must still be there in the pipelines etc and so it may have re-contaminated the good fuel, I guess you will have to continue to fill and use, fill and use until last of the bad fuel gets out of the system, how many times have you since filled your tank, and don't forget the tank when drained may still have moisture condensed on the roof of the tank that gets recontaminated again and again, normally any water in fuel would be sunk at the bottom.


Which garage sold you dodggy fuel Rich? You could possibly make a claim against that garage and the fuel company, as I did when BP sold me contaminated fuel that ended up costing me a grand, which did my cat in, and filled tyhe sump with water somehow, and so in the end it was all new oil, filter, new cat, and so on, repaired by Vauxhall dealer based in gants Hill, and BP paid my claim without any problem.

[martin.p]

Hi richiem,
You say goes into limp mode after 10 min, but not when driving hard!
So am I to assume if you start car you can drive hard for longer??
But it plays up again when you slow down again??
What dose it do when you come to idle??
When you say limp mode. Do you get any light? How's car driving?

Tbh is sounds just like mine was the other day! Turned out to be O2 sensor!
Could it be coincidence? Or could the bad fuel of effected it??

Failing that sell up and get LE lol

[richiem]

Yer martin ! I believe this is a sign from above telling me to go back to the cali lol The car just goes to limp without warning and will only do around 30mph with foot to the floor!!! Im sure its not a faulty part as as soon as i restart the car whilst moving , the fault is gone and the car gets all the power back again!! Mike! This fuel was put into the car around november so i have surely flushed out any crap since then! Tbh , this vectra is proving to be more of a pain then the cali! Very akward to fix as no access to parts and alot more crap to go wrong! I shocked that alot of issues dont show on the eml system or stored as codes! How the fook can you fix things if the ecu dont show codes for the faults????

[MSG]

And Vauxhall dealers can't tell you what this problem might be . It does seem some sort of ecu/fuel issue and resets each time you switch off, and restart.

sure this should be a fault stored issue and may be ecu is going up the wall. No idea about diesels, but is it possible for you to try a secondhand ecu from a scrappy, do they also have immobilisers in them?

[richiem]

For anyone that might be interested ive solved the mistery of this ongoin problem now by simply goin around the sensors and checking! It seems the fuel pressure sensor on the end of the fuel rail wasnt clipped on fully and was working its way loose with engine movement! Have now pushed it on fully and issue has gone completely ( i hope)

[MSG]

Nice one Richard, another cracking job. Good to feedback us. Makes you wonder why the ecu didn't store intermittent fault on fuel pressure sensor.

[vectra640]

Probably cause VX would love the person who was not mechanically minded to top up their bank account, and low fuel pressure should have a code as it is a sensor, strange that

[richiem]

Yer i was thinking that aswell.. maybe because it was on most of the time and only working loose it might of been simply playing up and not actually faulty.. Who knows??