[markov]

Hi,

I'm a newbie to the group and have looked through previous forum questions & answers to see if there has been a similar problem to mine, but to no avail! I hope some of you will have an idea of what I can do, please!

When driving along, the red 'Airbag Systems/ Belt Tensioners' light has started to come on continually. The car has not had it's belt tensioners or airbags triggered, and it doesn't seem to affect performance.

More recently, however, when driving along steadily (not even accelerating / turning / changing gear, etc) the engine seems to 'stall' very briefly and re-start again within a second or so, juddering the car. This is accompanied by the backlight on the instrument panel staying light, but the rev counter and speedometer dropping to almost zero, and then picking up again, even though the car only loses maybe 1-2mph. In addition, the yellow 'exhaust emission light' comes on ( for about 3 seconds) and the yellow 'electronics / immobiliser' light comes on (for a fraction of a second). This all happens after about 10 minutes driving, and will continue irregularly about every 20-30 seconds a few times in succession, but then not for perhaps another two or three minutes.

After stopping the car following such an episode, it often doesn't start again, though the engine turns over and the correct dash lights are lit. Indeed this happened this morning (after the juddering yesterday) and I couldn't start it. An hour later the AA man did, on the first turn of the key. He checked the battery was charging (it was) and for error messages stored (it had none). An hour after he left, we re-tried and it fired-up after about 5 attempts of turning the key ... and juddered for the rest of a two-hour journey after the first 10 minutes again. I'm no petrol-head, but my 'amateur' ear thinks the engine may sound a little bit different, though I could be wrong!

Has anyone heard of this before? Or can offer any advice, please? We had a spell of this a year or so back, with nothing showing on the garage diagnostics, but it's been okay since then. I'd just like to get it resolved permanently before my young son takes over the car...!

Thanks a lot in advance for any thoughts!

Kind regards,

Mark

 

[taurus]

I'm pretty sure this will be the connector behind the instrument panel. It's a known issue with the Corsa C. When it works loose you loose instruments intermittently, you'll get running issues due to the feedback from the cluster going AWOL and you can get refusal to start.

Sometimes pressing the instrument panel firmly temporarily resolves it. Vauxhall did a revised fitting, or sometimes used a 'sealant' to attach the connection more firmly.

 

[markov]

Hi Taurus,

Thanks very much for such a rapid response! I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow...

Markov

 

[markov]

Unfortunately, the connector seems to be seated really well, so I guess that it's probably not that - though thanks for the suggestion...

Could it be the Crank Sensor playing up?

 

[taurus]

It's not typical crank sensor symptoms. They tend either not to work at all, or they will let you start the car, but then it will cut out once warm and refuse to restart until it's cooled off for 10 minutes.

However, they're not expensive so no harm replacing it if you suspect it. And if not at least you've got a spare.

You'd normally get a code if it was the crank sensor though - incorrect engine rpm reading P0335 iirc.