Car question chaps...

[Polarbear]

A friend who doesn't have much money runs an 04 plate Astra. It's got the best part of 150k on the clock, a 1.6 petrol.

I've driven it and it's a lovely car for the age and he's really looked after it.

He gave me a call yesterday saying it wouldn't rev over 3000 rpm so I went round and had a look. A car with a spanner warning light was on (not the engine management light, that seems to be the standard engine picture).

So, I tried my bog standard OBD reader and got nothing. Trawling the net found a 'pedal push' way of checking codes and it came up with 036000 which I gather from the net is camshaft sensor error.

So I disconnected it electro cleaned the plug (looked fine) and started the car and it had cleared.

We drove round for half an hour, no fault, and stopped at a pub for a pint.

When we came out, he started the car and the fault reappeared. He turned it off and restarted it and it cleared and the car drove no problem.

So question....

There are sensors as cheap as 15 quid on ebay. Is it worth changing it or would it point to something more serious that makes the car uneconomic to repair?

I don't want him to waste his money but the car is his way to work and he needs it to be as reliable as a 15 year old car can be.

Thanks in advance.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[Shaft]

It is worth it, but I wouldn't bother with a cheapo sensor, I've had too many problems with them.

At least a Bosch, but check Vauxhall for an OE part, could be cheaper than you think.
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[Polarbear]

[Shaft]

[Islander]

FAE is the manufacturer - about £47 on Amazon, £42 on onlinecarparts.

[Polarbear]

[Shaft]

[johnsmith222]

I would change the sensor for the sake of £15+ if your cleaning job didn't fix it. If it solves the issue then it's the cheapest working car he'll be able to buy.

Agreed that his timing belt and water pump should be considered doing, or possibly just left to fail if the car is on its way out.

[Polarbear]

Just a bit more help needed car gurus please.

OK. Went round friends today. He had the cam belt and waterpump done at 140,000 miles. Showed me the receipt.

Took it out again and drove round a bit, no problem. Came back and left it idling on the drive while I plugged in my bluetooth adaptor and connected car scanner. No faults.

Now it was up to 95c coolant temp so I decided to wait till fan cut in. Coolant got to 106c. no fan. As I was going to shut it down, cam sensor fault came up. Shut engine down, restarted, fault reappeared. Tried again, same.

So turned it off, went in for a cup of tea. Came out later, restarted car, fault clear.

So I'm thinking 1, it's heat related. Sensor or wiring and 2) maybe the fan is at fault and it's not cutting in. So what temp would you expect the fan to cut in? Interweb has everything from 95c to 115c . I don't fancy sitting there and boiling his engine waiting for it to kick in if it isn't going to work!.

Tomorrow will test fan with 12v supply but anything more will have to go get a Haynes. Fuses are OK but these engines are a bit more complicated electrically than BMC or Gardiner canal boat engines.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[Sister Sledge]

Sounds like two sensors needed?
Personally and for the sake of squeezing another year out of it I'd be buying a new cam sensor.
You probably did but have you cleaned the connector and checked for the sensor wire rubbing somewhere?

What's the cost of a coolant sensor?
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CCM 404 DS

[Steve_W]

If it's anything like my old 1994 Cavalier, the cam and crank sensors can light up the fault light with ether fault code. So general best rule was if you ever got the Cam sensor fault, you'd change both just to be safe, and if you ever got the crank sensor fault, you'd change both just to be safe.

I seem to recall (it's about 13 years since i had the Cavalier!) that even Vauxhall used this rule.

I had a cam sensor fault and did the cleaning of contacts as you have done and that fixed it for a month or so. Eventually I ended up changing the cam sensor and that was fine for about six months. Then the cam sensor fault again - the only way I got it to clear that time was replace crank sensor AND cam sensor!

LMF Vauxhall always used to be one of the "go to" places to buy Vauxhall bits:-

https://www.lmfvauxhall.co.uk/Cam-and-Crank-shaft-Sensors-astra-G/

And another I've used in the past, Autovaux:-

https://www.autovaux.co.uk/car-parts/engine-parts/fuel-engine-management/engine-management-sensors-switches?p=2

[LustyLew]

I'd be replacing the sensor definitely.

The mk1 Freelander had a similar issue. If you turned the engine off and tried to restart when hot (i.e. stopped off for fuel), it would crank, but not start.

This was due to a dodgy sensor too.

[Hong Kong Phooey]

Hot start issues can be cps related also common fault in other marques.

Often the replacement comes hard wired, sometimes an intermittent issue is due to degraded wiring, you could try wiggling the wire if that's the case.
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'81 CG125, '97 FZS600 : '99 CBR600F4, '09 KTM RC8

[Steve_W]

When my cam sensor used to play up on the Cavalier, I used to switch ignition off and on again really quickly without even letting the engine stop.

Not exactly a fix, but it used to take it out of limp mode more often than not until it finally gave up the ghost!