fixing a 2010 1.7 16v CDTI

[doski]

WARNING LONG A$$ STORY

A friend of mine bought a 2010 1.7 16v CDTI ecoflex astra 125ps in 2014 on finance. the car was second hand but FSH and was clean he had no problems with the car initially but when he lost his job he started skimping out on things like tires and oil changes and it once covered 20k on the same oil. its now at 119k and hes had it in the garage ( a lowly rated one mind) in and out for around a month.

symptoms of the car were: loss of boost,wouldnt rev up as it previously did and often cut out unexpectedly.


The garage changed the DPF, and changed the headgasket as they said he had low compression on a cylinder.all was well for around 3 weeks then it started with the underboost problem and the turbo felt like it was surging on pickup. Its very hard to explain it but its like a surge/lag and it doesnt pick up well, it almost feels like the clutch is slipping underfoot.

Anyway, last week he was driving at around 60mph put his foot down to overtake and "pop" power was almost gone, he said "steam" from under the bonnet, black smoke behind and oil sprayed very finely all over the back of the engine and bulkhead.

He's had enough and just bought a new focus instead, the scrapman had just turned up with £450 for him when I pulled up at his house. I gave him a stern word and threw the scrapman £20 for his inconvenience and I'm going to pick it up monday 


train of thought is to compression test the engine to make sure theres no blowby (never done this on a diesel before)

followed by pulling off the intercooler pipes to have a look at the turbo.



thanks for reading, thought I'd post here though as the mk6 section on astra forum is dead

[Toms306]

I really hope he hasn't bought a 1.6 TDCi Focus or he'll be having DPF and turbo issues all over again.

Sounds like a boost hose has popped now. Will spray oil under the bonnet (which hits hot parts and smokes). And overfuel like f*ck making coal out of the back. Are you sure they changed the DPF instead of gutting it?

[doski]

no its a 2013 1.6 duratec, he said hes had enough with turbos for now

I'm yet to get my hand on the engine so first thing ill do is go over it and make sure everything is attached.

hopefully they have gutted the DPF bloody timebombs, although I think they changed it as they charged him £600 for a new one along with a few other things.

I had a pd150 and the pancake pipe kept blowing off of that. It's quite loud aswell

[Toms306]

1.6 non-EcoBoost? Yawn...

Yeah I kept blowing turbo pipes on a PD back in the day as well lol...plenty of experience there.

If the pipes are all on, I'd check the turbo next. 20k oil interval wont have done that any good lol.

[1616six]

The oil interval on these engines isn't far off 20k. Might even be 20k come to think if it, mine had done 17k and the oil life indicator still said something like 9% left.

[ConorTRG]

Id buy it if you end up not bothering with it.

[doski]

Id buy it if you end up not bothering with it.

not sure what the plan is yet, just didnt want to see the scrapman take it. 

will have a go at least fixing it myself, just got to research on how to do a compression test on a diesel.

Fingers crossed its a pipe or turbo seal, a whole engine is quite expensive as the cars are still fairly new

[Piggy]

I'd go with blown pipe first...
Fairy liquid solution, strong, in a spray bottle finds leak quick!
And as JJ said, 20k is quite normal service interval now for most modern diesels

[Toms306]

Leave a DV6 oil change for 20k and it'll just be a solid lump of carbon... EGR and DPF really takes a toll on oil, 20k might be alright if you're on the motorway all day every day but I personally wouldn't leave any oil that long.

[Piggy]

Not saying thats what I would do....but thats what they "say"

[ConorTRG]

Id buy it if you end up not bothering with it.

not sure what the plan is yet, just didnt want to see the scrapman take it. 

will have a go at least fixing it myself, just got to research on how to do a compression test on a diesel.

Fingers crossed its a pipe or turbo seal, a whole engine is quite expensive as the cars are still fairly new

No problem give me a shout if you decide to sell up. Be good to see where the oil has sprayed from as the turbo and pipes are at the front of these engines.

[Toms306]

Yup, same as VW longlife servicing killed off half the old PDs 5 years ago... I had 2 on the same mileage. One on 12k/yearly services, no cam issues. One on longlife (15-20k services) with ruined cams/lifters. Both had full VW service history.

Ford also state the fuel filter interval on diesels is 37.5k miles... Yet the Ford forum is full of people with blocked fuel filters at 20k or less.

I don't have any trust in the genuine intervals lol.

[Niall]

Kia's are 20k intervals. We had a few go back nearing 200k and they were still running sweet as a nut!!

[1616six]

Just as a side note when was the fuel filter last changed? Obviously nothing to do with the current issue but these are a bit fussy on them, I change mine every 7000 miles as this engine is well known for the 'turkey gobble' sound which is air in the fuel lines, mine starts to hesitate under hard acceleration when it's ready to be changed.. Stick a new filter in it & it's perfect again. Takes 2 mins to change, it's just in front of the drivers side rear wheel, screw off the cap.. Swap filter & job done.

[doski]

Just as a side note when was the fuel filter last changed? Obviously nothing to do with the current issue but these are a bit fussy on them, I change mine every 7000 miles as this engine is well known for the 'turkey gobble' sound which is air in the fuel lines, mine starts to hesitate under hard acceleration when it's ready to be changed.. Stick a new filter in it & it's perfect again. Takes 2 mins to change, it's just in front of the drivers side rear wheel, screw off the cap.. Swap filter & job done.

Thanks, knowing my friend probably 40k ago when he bought it ?.

I'll do it anyway now along with taking off his pod filter he thought sounded good.

It's a shame it's a nice car just hope it's not piston rings/ bores.

[doski]

Got it home today and started it up cylinder 1 injector sprays oil/diesel about 2 ft in the air and obviously isn't seated right. It also wiggles ~ 5mm.

I started undoing the top of the injector then realised I had taken it apart, not sure how to actually u do them can't find any info. I know I need to take the rocker off but dunno what holds it in?

Also might be looking at a new head then if it's cross threaded (really not sure on this though as I've never taken injectors out before)

[Toms306]

Is it the same z17dth as in the older ones? If so there are about 8 10mm bolts around the edge of the rocker cover. Obviously plugs and solid pipes need removing before lifting the cover.

[doski]

Is it the same z17dth as in the older ones?  If so there are about 8 10mm bolts around the edge of the rocker cover.  Obviously plugs and solid pipes need removing before lifting the cover.

ye I dont think theres much difference between any d17 z17 a17 engine its a a17dtj. 

finally found a manual for it online. just need to disconnect the fuel return off the injectors, the injector plugs and the fuel lines from the rail to injectors. Obviously then the rocker.

was going to do it after work but rain wont back off and I dont want to get anything dirty.


If anyone needs a manual or wants to see how these are held in heres the link

http://workshop-manuals.com/vauxhall/ast...r_removal/

cant rate this site enough, it even has most torque settings when needed

[Ruan]

The pop will certainly be the injector coming out the head.

Sounds like the garage f*cked up putting the injectors back in - if the bolts that hold the injector in the head are trashed, then it's either helicoil or new head time.

I'd put money on other issues too, though.

[doski]

took off the rocker today and the bolt for injector one is broken, so ill pick up my easy-out kit from work tomorrow and have a stab at it.

Car was running fine previously so will wait and see.

sending the injector I took apart to swandlincote diesel to see if they can assemble it and get it tested too.

[doski]

had a go at drilling the broken bolt out today, drilled it out to 8.5mm then tapped out to m10 x 1.5.

this is the original hole size but I dont want to drill further down than the bolt was as I dont know what under the blind hole.As the tap has a lead on it, the bolt doesnt go as far down as it did before so I'm thinking of cutting 6mm of thread off the end which will leave 1mm for pinch.

the thread screws in 8-9 turns, im thinking of just cutting the screw 6mm and trying it.

anyone know if theres a loctite/paste that will put up with the heat changes ?

[welshpug]

I'd get a blind tap tbh, loctite do a copper silicone gasket maker for exhaust flanges etc.

[doski]

I'd get a blind tap tbh, loctite do a copper silicone gasket maker for exhaust flanges etc.

sent a better tap down today bit better but theres still a thread lead.

I've cut the bolt about 6mm It does feel like a bodge but Im yet to try a helicoil and if it blows out I can just try again.

at least there wont be half a bolt in there like last time and ill have a good straight hole to tap down.

[doski]

So put it back together friday and it fired up ok.

theres diesel in the oil so I've got to give it a oil/filter change, hardest part to yet was winding up the coilovers bloody thing was on its arse,

Ive drove it a little just to see and it feels ok, theres about 4 codes that have apeared but 2 were from a dpf regen and im yet to buy opcom.

[1616six]

Got any pics of this car?

[doski]

Got any pics of this car?

Its got the wheel trims back on now 

[img][/img]

New and old 

[img][/img]

The 306 HDi stage 1+, im struggling to decide which to keep and which to sell??

[img][/img]

[Toms306]

I'd keep the Leon...

[doski]

thats gone now sorry was on 190k and was getting a bit tired.

its either the astra 120k, very clean but has only what i would describe as a wobble when you rev to 1500rpm,or the 306.

I know there very different but I only drive to work and back and a few trips at the weekend. I dont mind having a "new car" just depends how much I could sell it for?

[Toms306]

I'm probably biased as I don't like Astra's lol. Keep the HDi though.

[1616six]

I know that Astra, see those pics before I'm sure.

Wanna flog the coilovers?