Bloody EGR Valve is a bugger. I had a new one fitted to my Vectra and in my old Astra I removed and capped it. GM Engines I find are a pile of sH** a lot of the time. Stupid little faults that seem to happen. For instance I had a loss of power in my Vectra. I traced it to the 3rd injector lead plug. Push hard on it problem solved for around 20 miles until it worked loss. Goggled it and turns out that everyone has a fault with the 3rd injector plug to the point GM have created a replacement lead for it. Then you have the vapour problems with the throttle bodies that need cleaning all the time....... It never ends with a GM!!
Just in case you still have intermittent loss of power on the car, and for info for anyone else - this could be the crankshaft sensor. They are about £40, very easy to fit but very hard to detect the fault.
Take it to a garage and it won't actually throw up a fault for a crankshaft sensor on the diagnostics - it will throw up faults for all the things connected with it which should tell most good mechanics what the actual fault is, but if the garage (as they often do) decide to replace parts as per the fault list on a trial and error basis it will cost a fortune.
Quote: Originally posted by Cledry on 13/7/2013
Well we drove it the 30 mins to the site with me on tenterhooks the whole way. It still feels bouncy - is that normal?
Forgive me if you are not new to caravanning. What you are describing sounds like the extra wobble/bump when going over irregularities in the road (which is normal). Just imagine driving over a speed bump, first you feel the front wheels go over, then the rear wheels, both these events make the car go up and down, then a bit later the caravan goes over, but when the caravan goes over it does not have a direct influence on the cars vertical movement, all it does is wobble the towbar (with alot of force).
My husband has said that but it doesn't feel like an up and down bounce, more like a forward bounce. It almost feels as if he's taking his foot off the accelerator intermittently. The engine isn't straining or anything though.
I also notice this and have done with all our outfits. Our village is chock-a-block with those ridiculous road humps, and every time we go over one with the caravan on tow, there is this funny lurching thing as the caravan follows the car over each hump; it is as though the car is just recovering from humpitis when the caravan kicks in with its own version. I don't honestly think that you have anything to worry about, as I think it is a malady of towing experience.
Pete
It might not feel like a vertical up and down motion, but that is what it is. The biggest difference is that when the caravan pushes down/up on the towbar it affects both the front and rear of the car at the same time. The rear of the car goes down and the front goes up (as the rear wheels effectively become the centre of a see-saw), a fraction of a second later the opposite happens when the towbar load is reduced, the rear of the car lightens and the front gets "heavier". I liken it to being in a combination of an old train that rocks you along with a boat that bobs up and down on the waves.
It is very noticeable if you car has soft suspension.