46 replies to this topic

[B5M_VX]

Please read, any idea received would be great Cruising down my private test track at about 80 in between the A1 and M1 just south of scotch corner and the engine warning light came on and the car had NO power, would not rev up and would only idle. So restarted engine and it reved fine so I reset the ECU (ignition on and off 15 times) and restarted my journey. Then about 5 miles down the road it did it again! and did this every 5 miles till i pulled in to a service area to let it cool down a bit (temp gauge showing 95) and it drove longer this time, so my guess is it is heat related? I am takin it in to the work shop at work tomorrow to let them put it in tech 2 to read any fault codes etc but just wondered if any 1 else had a similar problem? also crossed my mind that i may be running it on the wrong fuel (just normal unleaded) but I have ran it on this for about a week. what fuel do other people use. The other thing that puzzles me is, When i turn the ignition on the temp gauge reads 1 temp then drops the the normal temp it alsos show when running, does any 1 else have this as i cant see it mentioned in the owners manual?? mark

[BogBrush]

so I reset the ECU (ignition on and off 15 times)

Does this work? I've heard of all sorts of different ways to reset the ECU.

  The other thing that puzzles me is, When i turn the ignition on the temp gauge reads 1 temp then drops the the normal temp it alsos show when running, does any 1 else have this as i cant see it mentioned in the owners manual??

Mine does this but i've not really been concerned about it. Should i be?

[Timbo]

There are two ways to "reset" the ecu that i know that definately work. one is to disconnect the battery for an hour or so and the other one is to take a fuse out, not sure which one but may be no 12, i have tried both and they work. As for your temp thing TADT.

[LewisT]

Sadly this sounds exactly like the fault i have got. My car has been in twice now, each time for 3days. Apparantly its a throttle problem, and vauxhall supply the dealer with 40pages of checks to do, which take ages. After completing all the checks on my car, and passing everyone they allegedly found the fault. However driving up the road an hour or two later proved to me they hadnt fixed it. The trick with fixing it is to turn ignition off then back on while moving, ie leave your car in gear and it will reset itself. The light will stay on, but your throttle will work. I dont think it heat related cause mine does it all the time for various reasons including a cold start. However its never too much of a problem as turning car off and on normally fixes it. Just very embarassing as everyone thinks you have stalled. My car is in next week to be fixed, so hopefully we'll get it fixed.

[Pipo]

There are two ways to "reset" the ecu that i know that definately work.

one is to disconnect the battery for an hour or so and the other one is to take a fuse out, not sure which one but may be no 12, i have tried both and they work.

To reset the ECU you simply have to remove fuse nbr 8 (7,5A) for a few minutes and reinsert it. The ECU will be back to normal operating mode and the ECU-warning light will be out. Keep in mind that the above mentionned operation will NOT solve the initial fault which triggered the ECU-error mode, and also will delete all fault-messages from the ECU-memory. So there will be nothing to read out on their computer by the dealer afterwards. Well, not untill the error reproduces itselves in which case a new error-message will be stored in the ECU-memory and the ECU-warning light will come on again.

[B5M_VX]

well it happend again today, and they put it on tech2, the problem is the throttle positon swith on the pedal, a dodle to fit only 3 bolts except 1 is in behind the dash and is a nightmare. Part costs £76 +vat retail, but my car is just out of warranty so I am going to try to get vauxhall to pay! As for what your dealer is telling you lewis, all it takes when the light is for your dealer to plug the car on to tech2 and it will give them a code to refernce and hey presto they can tell whats wrong, they probably just like to have your car there to do the dinner run in!!! As for resetting the ecu I have been told that the fault codes will stay logged in the ecu for 10 times of turning the ignition on and off, so in effect resetting the ecu Mark

[Jim_Cross]

As for the temp reading - that's normal. Sometimes, it starts off the the last reading before the ignition was switched off previously. Quite a surprise to get in your car and find the engine's already running at 104 degrees! It will then drop to the correct temperature.

[slimvince]

Hi all, now I have had this problem too. Checked the error codes in the ECU: p0378 timing reference high resolution signal "b" intermittent/erratic pulses p0431 warm up catalyst efficiency below threshold p2710 shift solenoid "F" intermittent I let the authorised Opel service garage have a go at it, they changed the throttle pedal sensor and the throttle valve itself, but after driving some kilometers, it was apparent the problem was still there; the engine suddenly won't do anything but idle regardless of position of the pedal... And, just as for everybody else, it "fixes" itself by restarting. Did anybody find the actual cause for this problem? Hints, tips? I am going to take it back to the garage, but would like to help them out a bit with some examples of possible causes...

[snoopstah]

Wow, just got back and was about to post the same problem! Mine just left me stranded half-way through an overtaking manouver in the New Forest! Not very fun! Managed to pull in and exactly the same symptoms, engine idling perfectly but no response from the accelerator, check engine light on. Restarted car, engine light on, but working again - done 50 miles since then and not a glitch. Restarted once more and the engine light's gone out... My suspicion was that it was a dodgy pedal sensor, and this thread seems to support that. Any ideas how much Vauxhall will charge in labour to replace it? My car's out of warranty by 2 months

[slimvince]

My suspicion was that it was a dodgy pedal sensor, and this thread seems to support that.  Any ideas how much Vauxhall will charge in labour to replace it?  My car's out of warranty by 2 months

The new pedal sensor was 1576 SEK (approx 120£) excl. the work to have it fitted, which was painful because the third bolt hoiding it is very difficult to reach. Don't know how much the would charge for the work since my car was still under warranty, and therefore they did not specify this.
However, swapping it did not help me (not saying that the sensor might not be the problem in your case). I noticed there are some specific error codes for a faulty pedal sensor and I did not have any of them. Also, my guess would be that a "reboot" would not help very much if the sensor was really bad. I posted the DTC:s (Diagnostic Trouble Codes) I found out using Scantool's obd-ii interface & software, don't know if you have any possibily to find out what you have?

[slimvince]

Anybody knows what the "timing reference high resolution signal" is?

Edited by slimvince, 10 May 2005 - 08:23 PM.

[slimvince]

Watched when the Opel service technician connected a Tech2 diagnostic tool to my Speedster this morning. It displayed one EML regarding a faulty throttle pedal sensor. Connecting my own pc to my Speedster I found three codes, the ones I have posted here before, none of them related to the pedal sensor! Makes you wonder why Tech2 does not display the same EML:s as if you use an obd-ii interface to your PC? Going to check tonight with some different pieces of software on my PC to see if they all display the same messages or not. Meanwhile, Opel is trying to figure out what to do next. Luckily, this is still on the warranty. For the record - Opel is handling this in a very good way this far - credit to them! Anybody knows German well enough to do a search at the german forum? (pedal sensor, throttle body and ECU are all replaced this far)

[clipping_point]

One moreN/A without throttle

Edited by clipping_point, 19 May 2005 - 02:12 PM.

[slimvince]

ScanMaster Freeware Edition report P1271 which is the same as Tech2 reports. I believe scanmaster on the other hand gives an incorrect message for that code, I believe it should be "Accelerator Pedal Position (APP) Sensor 1-2 Correlation" and not "Cylinder #1 High To Low Side Open" ScanTool on the other hand still reports the three DTC:s I have posted earlier...I´d rather believe Tech2. Using hyperterminal I examined the bytes coming from the ECU giving it some commands manually, so now I am going to check the protocol in detail to figure this out .

[slimvince]

I did my homework and translated the hex-codes into a DTC and it came out as P1271. What to learn from this little excercise: not all pieces of software do a proper translation of data bytes into error codes for your specific application (in this case a stock Speedster N/A 2002, built 2003).

[slimvince]

"Saabster" explained to me what the error code means; In the throttle pedal sensor there are actually two sensors (potentiometers), and if the ECU detects that their respective readings differ too much, it cuts power down to tickover for safety reasons. So - if this is an appropriate error code for what is happening in my car, and both the ECU and the pedal sensor have been replaced, there is only the connecting cable left in between that might cause my problem... I then cleaned (compressed air and contact spray) the connector at the pedal sensor, the connector on the ECU and a connector where the cable is split behind the coolant bottle holder - and - knock on wood - this far it seems this have cured the problem. Have not been able to do much driving yet... While cleaning the connectors I noticed that some of them (but not all) seemed to have some kind of transparent grease on and in them - is this normal? Why then not on all connectors?

[snoopstah]

I then cleaned (compressed air and contact spray) the connector at the pedal sensor, the connector on the ECU and a connector where the cable is split behind the coolant bottle holder - and - knock on wood - this far it seems this have cured the problem. Have not been able to do much driving yet...

While cleaning the connectors I noticed that some of them (but not all) seemed to have some kind of transparent grease on and in them - is this normal? Why then not on all connectors?

Mine just did this again, about 1,500 miles since the last time it did it but still irritating. Gives me less confidence in the car to put it in situations where power is required on demand (overtaking, fast cornering).

Can you take some pictures of the bits you cleaned? I'm guessing it's pretty easy to find the connector for the accelerator pedal, but what about the other connectors?

Do I need to take the dash off to get to the accelerator pedal connector or is it accessible via the footwell?

[slimvince]

Ok, no pics, but - 1. connector on pedal - being a contortionist you reach this from the footwell. It took a while to figure out how to disengage the connector's locking mechanism, but you will find a plastic bit in a different colour on the cable connector that you will have to slide in the correct direction to unlock the connector from the pedal. 2. On the back side of the "coolant reservoir bottle mounting bracket" in the engine compartment there are some connectors too where the cable from the pedal is joined to a cable that runs to the ECU. In order to reach these connectors you will have to remove the rear left wheel arch (and first the wheel ) and get to them this way rather than through the opened engine compartment hood. According to the TIS manual there should be two large and one small connector here, I only found the two large ones, and since it is difficult to tell which one is for the pedal sensor, I cleaned both. 3. The ECU sits on the intake manifold and I cleaned all connectors here. Have not had any probs since cleaning the connectors. HTH /Vince Edited out some spelling mistakes...

Edited by slimvince, 10 June 2005 - 09:54 PM.