ECU problems

[95GSIBarina]

Hi

I'm new to OpelAus and let me start by saying that I bloody love my car!He's a black 95 Barina and when he's working he's more fun to drive than just about anything. Problem is he blew a head gasket about a month ago and so I had that fixed and because he was up around 150K+ thought I'd get the timing belt done as well, oh and the cam belts were loose blah blah blah and well, eventually I think the whole top end of the engine was rebuilt in one way or another and it cost some decent $$ I gotta say! So Oscar (that's his name) ran like a top for about a week and then started acting kind of funny, especially after shot trips. It was almost as if he was flooding, but not quite,. He was slow to start (like he didn't fire right off but turned over a few times, you know ) So I took him back to the mechanics - 'it's your battery' they said. Apparently it had low output or something. So we brought a new battery and I reckon it was all okay - for about 3 days, when he started blowing smoke combined with an unpleasnt oily/watery mess that he blew all over the driveway. Man I rent! - can't afford to stuff up the concrete! So it's back to the mechanics and they say 'We'll look into it..." Turns out the ECU is throwing up about 27 fault codes, one of which basically says - 'replace the ECU'. Trouble is we had a similar problem about a year ago and the car just didn't fire with anything but the original ECU in it. We ended up sending it to some guy in Sydney but he said there was nothing wrong with it, so we put it back in an pretty much the car was okay... until we replaced the headgasket a month ago. Damn I wish we hadn't done that!

Does anyone please know how to clear the fault codes or return the ECU to the factory presets, or anything that can assist my mechanic to get this thing sorted because like I said at the start, I love my car! but it's no fun when he sits at the mechanics for nearly 3 weeks without a result.

Thanks for listening and I'm apols for the lengthy post...

[Tfer]

Firstly, welcome to Opelaus... enjoy your time here.

Maybe pm Auzvectra to get some assistance :cool:

[ASTRAY]

sam as above mate, welcome to opelaus, i hope you enjoy your stay and choose to stay for the duration of the life of your car and any other opel you own or may own in the future.

geez you have had some troubles havent you!
is it a holden dealership where you get your work done at?
i mean a good mechanic is a good mechanic but it seems your mechanic is messing with a car he doesnt know about...
though thats not to say your mechanic isnt a good one. :)


Does anyone please know how to clear the fault codes or return the ECU to the factory presets, or anything that can assist my mechanic to get this thing sorted

i love my astra too and although ive had 1 service done at a non holden mechanic, i doubt id let anyone other than holden do mods on my car, especially if the mods involve the ecu or can affect the ecu.
i hope someone can help you out mate.
jason.

[auzvectra]

i have about the same amount od fault cods on my 95 gsi barina ;).
u need the tech1 module to reset the ecu on the pre 95-97 barina (they have a lapse period where some run obd1 and others obd2).
the amount of fault code logged may be years old, it just depends how long ago they were reset, if ever ;).
best bet is find an efi specialist that can reset the ecu, then read it after a few days or week ect. cheapest way would be clear the codes, go for a 10 min strap, rev it high, load it up as low rpm ect to simulate most scenarios, then read the ecu again to see if any faults have been logged, then you may be able to give ur mechanic some more direction.
is he ur usual mechanic?
does he know much about opels?
if not find some1 that knows a nit about them, they seem to run different "rules of thumb" to other cars. tends to stump most mechanics ;).
hope that helps.

[95GSIBarina]

Thanks guys! Ive just got back from Melbourne to find out that the car is still not fixed. It's with a holden dealer now and they say the ECU is definitely stuffed :( So they've organised another replacement (the first one they got was also stuffed, hence the delay) and that should be here tomorrow, hopefully. Man, it's been a month!! Thanks auzvectra cos the dealership has a tech1 module so I'm mildly confident that it'll get sorted... eventually.

Cheers!

[PaulyJ]

Most mechanics should have a Tech1 module anyway, and resetting the fault codes is easy.
That's the first thing your mechanic should have done, and as Auz said, taken it for a spin to see if anything new comes up.

I guess now that you're having the ECU replaced, Holden should be able to get the car running like new again.

All the best and welcome to OpelAus