Vauxhall's

[3littlesandme]

Hi.

Has anyone here ever owned a Vauxhall with intermittent starting problems?

My car has been in 5 different garages and had work done in each of these but still the problem persists. I really don't want to spend anymore more until we can find a possible cause. Any help would be appreciated.

Bump

Not a Vauxhall but a Chrysler Voyager. (And it's probably not the same problem you have.)

Had intermittent starting problems, sometimes stared first time and sometimes took more times to start. Maybe up to a dozen tries sometimes. Is that the sort of thing you mean?

We replaced the battery, alternator and starter motor. No one could find the cause of the problem, but after each repair it would start first time every time for about a week then start playing up again.

In the end it broke down and when the RAC came out all he managed to do was get the engine to produce black smoke. Got it to a garage and discovered there was a crack in the engine and the oil had mixed with the water. Needed a full engine rebuild or new engine. It got scrapped as wasn't worth the money.

Hopefully your problem is nowhere near as bad as ours was. The thing about our car was it had been into a few garages to be looked at, including a Ford garage and a friend's garage (a Bosch certified garage and he is the highest qualified mechanic in the county) and no one had been able to find the problem over 4 years of trying to diagnose it.

Hope you find out the cause of your problem and it is nowhere near as bad as ours was.

@DeathyMcDeathStarFace thanks for getting back to me.

If I start the car say, 8x times a day, which is average, one of those times the car will crank but not start. I have to take key out and try again, it's almost always starts on the 2nd attempt.

So far we have replaced spark plugs, camshaft sensors, crankshaft sensors, and the rocker cover gasket which was leaking oil. Also had the starter motor taken apart and looked at but that seems to be in good condition.

Yes! I bought a vauxhall for the first time a year ago (2013 Astra) and it's spent more time in the garage being fixed than on my drive! Can't wait to get rid and would never get another!

@papayya have they ever got to the root of the problem

EGR was the issue with my zafira.

Took forever for it to "diagnosed" , the AA, car electronics guy had it on his computer thing, Kwik fit. None could figure it out.

Mentioned it on Facebook and a friend who is a mechanic came round, hadn't seen him in the flesh for 20 years!!!
Took him 20 minutes to work it out.

New EGR and all was fine .

@InvisibleToEveryone was that pricey to replace?

No, about £100 I think??

Not expensive compared to Kwik fit telling me it was the cat that needed replacing.....!

@InvisibleToEveryone how often did you have the starting problems? And did it run smoothly otherwise?

We had that with an Omega. There was a bad connection in the electrics leading to the ignition. So pulling off the panel below the keyhole meant we could replace the plugs but also rub the wires and wiggle if it wouldn't start. Kept the car going for another year.

Mine has just had a new starter motor because it wouldn't start.

You might get more replies if you told us the year and model.

Try a good auto electrician. They fixed the problem with my last car (not a Vauxhall, faulty sensor)

It's a 2010 Astra.

It got to the point the only way of starting the car was to rev the hell out of it at the point of turning the key, it was also stopping at lights and stuff.
Had to keep it revved above 1500 to keep it going.

Once the egr was done no problems.

I have a 2009 Astra and I have similar issues. Most of the time it will start then sometimes it will just be completely flat. There seems to be no pattern or reason for it's not-starting moments, but I have just taken to always carrying a booster pack and it starts off that fine. It isn't even when it first starts. One time I started it fine, drove it to pick up my boyfriend and it wouldn't start when I wanted to drive home again.