1997 Vauxhall Vectra LS from UK and Ireland - Comments

Since reaching the 50,000 mile reading on the speedometer, the engine has become completely unreliable at tick-over speed.

This turns the car into a death trap when approaching hair-pin bends, because the power steering and power brakes cease to operate when the engine cuts out.

Vauxhall/Opel say this is not a "Known Fault" and I am just an unlucky owner.

Every time the car goes back for the fault to be repaired, it costs a couple of hundred pounds for new sensors, but, the problem remains.

I would love to know if anyone has got to the root of this problem.

This is a well designed car with, in my opinion three poor aspects.

The rear view mirrors are too small to be safe, but, look great from outside the car!

The boot opening is restricted, again to improve the looks of the car.

The engines seem incapable of ticking over properly as soon as a few thousand mile are up on the clock.

You are not the only Vectra owner to suffer these problems. My Vectra LS 1.8 estate suffers from the same problem. My car is a 1998 model with 35,000 miles on the clock. I also know of two workmates who have got the same problem with their 2.0 litre Omega's.

My problems seem to have started when my car was serviced by a Vauxhall dealership and they fitted a new idle control valve, it's not been right since! Erratic engine management is also mentioned on the Parkers Used Car website.

My Vectra has just done 120,000. I recently had the same problem of erratic idling. I called out the AA who told me the car was o.k. to drive, but it was almost definitely a faulty idle control valve.

Vauxhall main dealership wanted c.£160 for the part (plus labour & the usual diagnosis fee). The good news is I got a new part out of yellow pages for £80, and it's very easy to fit- just two bolts on top of the engine. Problem solved.

I do agree, however, that there do seem to be a lot of unreliable sensors etc., that do seem expensive to fix and shouldn't have broken on a car such as mine with a full and complete service history!

I have a R reg 1800 Vectra with the same sensor problem. The problem started at 50000 and has got progressively more frequent. The management light comes on and the motor dies. The local garage ran the diagnostics and came up with a list of parts that needed changing at a cost of +£600. This included a cam belt, rollers, sensor and a modified air intake. I decided to start at the cam belt, rollers and sensor, but the problem persists. According to the garage the diagonists need to be run again when parts are changed to clear the fault code from the management system. A further cost of £43.59 for 30 minutes work. Could this cost be due to the fact that I had the work done by a non Vauxhall dealer? I feel that the fault should be easy to pin point with diagnostic tools and to be given a list of parts to change and no gaurantee that the problem will be fixed is poor customer service. It is of some comfort that this is not a one off problem so I am going to try some listed suggested "fixes"

My vectra arcticii is just coming up to 26,000 miles, and I am getting the same erratic

idling after about an hours driving. the revs rise and then drop at the lights.

Now it has started to stall as well, very worrying in a automatic.

I have an R reg. Vectra. Two years ago (50k miles) the idle speed became erratic and stalled at junctions and more disconcerting bends, which caused the steering to lock. Vauxhall serviced it and they cleaned out the air intake, which fixed the problem for about one month then it reoccurred. After replacing the air intake valve I have not had any problems for two years. This problem has now started to reoccur (87k miles).

I also have a friend who had an Omega who also had this problem and a Vauxhall service center blamed it on all sorts of things, which cost him a lot of money. Vauxhall then requested a specialist and they fixed the problem, apparently something to do with the cam belt not being tight enough.

Talking to various Vauxhall service centers', this is a common problem.

I also had a problem with my car idling badly. When sitting still the car would rev up and down itself or just stick at around 1500 revs, then it would cut out. I spoke to a mechanic who told me to remove the 'idle speed control stepper motor' and clean it out with brake disk cleaner. This then frees up the little plunger inside to help it idle better.

My R reg 1997 2.0l Vectra 63000 miles also has the stalling problem when the car slows down. I have just had the cam belt and pulleys replaced, the car fully serviced. The problem which has been occuring for about 6 weeks has just got worse!!! Now like the above post says, my steering has started locking, when it stalls. Surely Vauxhall should recall these cars before someone dies. Twice already I have tried to go around a corner and instead the car has died and I've gone straight ahead!

My Vauxhall dealer wants £270 to fix it!!! I've just paid out £450 for the above work.

I bought an R reg Vectra 2.0 LS 6 months ago from a Vauxhall dealer with 49,000 miles on the clock. It had been Network Q'd. Within 2 days I had experienced the above problem twice, so took it back in. The dealer cleaned out the air intakes and said there wasn't a problem. Nothing else happened until about two weeks ago. Now (58,000 miles) I am having this occur every day... as mentioned it is highly dangerous and I may take it back and demand a replacement.

Whatever is causing the problem I don't intend to pay for it having paid over £5,000 from a Network Q dealer.

24.02.03.

VECTRA 1.8 LS - PURCHASED 2 YEARS AGO WITH 48k ON THE CLOCK WITH A NEW IDLE CONTROL JUST HAVING BEEN FITTED BECAUSE OF STALLING, NO STEERING OR BRAKES!!!

2 YEARS ON NOW WITH 69k ON THE CLOCK, YES YOU GUEST IT, IV'E JUST FITTED A NEW ICV AT A COST OF £153 + DIAGNOSIS OF £45.

THERE SEEMS TO BE NO ENGINEERING REASON WHY THE END CAP COULD NOT BE MADE REMOVABLE TO ALLOW PROPER CLEANING/REPAIR IN LIEU OF THE EXISTING "SPUN ON" DESIGN - BUT THEN NOT SO MANY SPARES WOULD BE SOLD!!!

WHAT A CRAP SYSTEM - WHERE ARE VAUXHALL ON THIS?

I bought a 1997 Vectra 1.8LS at 18 months old. Immediately (22K miles) I had to replace the "Camshaft timing Sensor" due to a "miss" then the engine light coming on. Recently (60K miles) I have had to replace the same sensor. I am also suffering from the cut outs when the clutch is dipped. It happens for a couple of days then goes away for a few weeks before recurring. Also, there is no constant idle speed. There did not seem to be any of these problems with the old cavalier!

I recently purchased a 1996 turbo diesel vectra 1.7TD,

A beautiful looking car with 17" alloys/low profiles etc, etc

it was very smoky to the point of embarrassment, so I took it to the vauxhall main dealer.

£1700 & 12 weeks later I got it back. it ran perfectly apart from no acceleration whatsoever and would have been more suited to a half blind billygoat as it was so slow.

I took it back to vauxhall garage & £700 later it was fitted with a new inlet manifold & induction kit. the power steering pipe was leaking & I was using more fluid than fuel,

£200 later new pipe fitted,£360. new starter. I still love her. purchased £2000.

Vectra 1.8 Estate R Reg with intermittent stalling. Suspect faulty idle control valve. Garage diagnosis - faulty mass air-flow meter. Cost around £200 to replace. Will this solve the problem or could the diagnosis be wrong?

Just bought a vauxhall vectra 1.8ls 16v 2 days ago wished I had being on this site before I bought it, can't wait to see what problems I have I've recorded all the problems you guys have put in so I will say thanks for the info now for when mine starts going wrong.

Looks like I'm just another addition to the long list of people having this stalling problem.

I'm under the impression that the fault lies with the idle control valve, but the 'engineer' at Vauxhall-Church Crookham assures me that it's the camshaft sensor causing it, with a collapsed breather pipe adding to the problem.

Now I'm no vehicle engineer, but a cam shaft sensor causing an engine to stall sounds a bit far fetched. Since he's the 'expert' I've had the work done and am expecting the fault to clear. If it doesn't, I might have a few choice words for him.

Anyone got any tips Air-Con failures?

When I select it, it's anyones guess as to whether it bothers to switch on at the moment.

1997 LS vectra 1.8. I've had the car for 3 years and for the 1st year it was fine (43K), the last 2 years have been one trip to the dealership after another.

I've had all the above problems. The Cam Shaft sensor has been replaced and still the car cuts out when idle and more importantly when going round corners.

This seems to be more of a coincidence that they all have the same problems.

My car is due to go back in this week as the engine management light has started to come on and then go off. I only had a full service done last week (hmmmmmm) strange that it has started happening a few days after Vauxhall have had their hands on it.

The revs continue to go up and down and its safe to say that I have been let down by the reliability of this car.

I will suggest they check the Idle control valve because I think this is the only thing they haven't changed since I've had the car.