Astra Injector immobiliser - query

SB118 · 3 Jan 2007 at 16:01

I've picked up a replacement injector pump for the wifes astra, old one was spitting out fuel, which would make passing the MOT next week a bit tough.

Trouble is, they've got an immobiliser on the back. I've been told it's a glorified shutoff valve. Has anybody dealt with one of these, is it easy enough to bypass the immobiliser curcuit, or do i need to take it out and fit a standard fuel shutoff?

Cheers

SB118 · 3 Jan 2007 at 19:02

Ignore me, i'm a total pleb, i've just tried this pump and i'm getting a nice "click click" from the fuel solonoid. It must be a immobiliser in the basic "use the key" sense, not one that is tied to any particular engine.

Happy bunny

austinpowers · 3 Jan 2007 at 19:17

So basically it's the fuel shutoff solenoid, the standard one on diesel fuel pumps to stop the flow..

SB118 · 3 Jan 2007 at 21:02

austinpowers said:
So basically it's the fuel shutoff solenoid, the standard one on diesel fuel pumps to stop the flow..

Yeah, but it's held on with snap-off one way bolts and has a 3 wire terminal coming off it.

Was thinking i might have to batter the new one of and fit a "normal" one in it's place.

austinpowers · 3 Jan 2007 at 21:22

Weird, certainly not your normal "one" wire solenoid :confused:

Ah well you sorted it

SB118 · 3 Jan 2007 at 22:04

Bleeding thing had me worried.

And i don't think the pump servicing place wanted me to be able to fix it myself after they'd looked at it, they gave it back in a bag ....

SB118 · 4 Jan 2007 at 15:29

Looks like i was being overly optimistic, everything is in and fitted, engine turns over, but no fuel gets through, i've got the injector lines off the back of the pump and nothing is coming out.

When i attach the "immobiliser" unit i hear a loud click, then a few seconds later i hear a second much quieter click. Could this be the curcuit checking itself and then resetting to a "locked" fuel system?

Under all the plastic bodywork is a simple stopvalve.

I've pulled the inlet to the pump and nothing is getting through when i crank the engine. Could there be a shutoff on the fuel filter?

By the thickness of the red wires i'm guessing the bottom plug is for a heater of some kind, but is the top fitting another stopvalve? (possibly tied into the immiliser circuit?)

Flattened the battery twice cranking the engine over trying bleed the lines, so something is stopping the fuel.

Any ideas?

Cheers

SB118 · 4 Jan 2007 at 20:46

Right, attacked the imobiliser with the grinder, i've got access to the stop valve and run a switched 12v to it. Only gives the one click now so i guess it's staying open now

And i've found one of the wires running from the filter housing was snapped inside the cover, so i've stripped that back and made a fresh connection.

Once i'd done all this the battery was too low to crank for more than 10 seconds

so i still don't know if the bugger runs! ARGH!!!

And i've mentioned to the wife that the pug406 i bought her before the astra is still running fine. ho-hum.

austinpowers · 4 Jan 2007 at 21:20

Seems complicated, but looks like you've cracked it, weird to have a shutoff on the filter housing and on the pump, the pump is normal, but not seen ther other before.

Must admit though i've not worked on a astra diesel.

SB118 · 4 Jan 2007 at 21:29

I don't know for sure what the fitting on the filter is, but i'm playing it safe.

I must plead guilty, i gave in and went out to get a Haynes manual for the bleeding thing. They don't do one for the mk3 astra diesel. Sods Law. Nothing like admitting defeat and finding that Hanyes have beat you to it.

austinpowers · 4 Jan 2007 at 21:37

Some self bleed through cranking, my Mk4 astra did and so do some escorts, Bosch pump iirc correctly, not roto cav, which have the little hand pump on the filter housing.

That type was on an escort van i was driving to the south of france once, when the needle stuck around the quarter mark, hmm i it's being more economical than i thought........ Famous last words.

Came to a stop on a payage very late at night, luckily the slip way i managed to roll to, had a truck garage just over the side, so in the morning i went in to ask in my one or two words french (read non existant) for some help,a nice french man gave me some free diesel *cough red* and cracked the injectors to bleed it

Talk about luck, shame really because the next petrol station was only approx 10k further down the road.

SB118 · 5 Jan 2007 at 16:28

Took the pump out this morning, gave it a good going over, nothing leaking, nothing loose, etc.

Refitted it, still nowt so i cut into the fuel line between the filter and the pump and fitted an inline filter so i could see if it was actually pulling fuel through....

It wasn't.

Took the line off the pump and primed it by vacuum (i was the vacuum on the end, diesel tastes better than petrol btw)

Turned over and it wasn't pulling the fuel out of the clear filter, hummmm, lack of fluid meaning the pump can't make it's own vacuum i'm guessing.

So MacGyver'd a very lowtech "line and pump pressurisation and priming mechanism", as i like to call it :cool:

Do ya like it?

Cranked the engine, it pulled it's own fuel, win! I swapped over to the cars own fuel line and it still pulled, woot!

Bled the lines through, cranked over and it started. Badly. Looks like i fubar'd the timing when i refitted the pump off the morning.

And now the wife has gone to work and i'm keeping the sprogs busy.

But i'm close!!

SB118 · 7 Jan 2007 at 15:27

bugger bugger bugger bugger!

Looks like i was more that a tooth out on the timing when i was cranking it over.

It was "sort of" starting, lots of coughing and spluttering and then then i started getting exhaust smoke in the engine bay. wtf? had a look down the back of the engine and the inlet gasket had blown out a piece and exhaust smoke was coming out of the inlet. Not good. So i pull off the inlet (need to loosed the outlet to do it) and i've got wet ports on the first and last cylinders..

Hmm, must have been quite a way out to manage that. Going to need new gaskets too. Off to the local motor factor and they set me a headset (without headgasket) as i need to replace the rockerbox gasket too. Get home and take off the rocketbox lid. Oh bugger.

Rockers are snafu (snapped!) So rockerbox off, pull the rockers and thrustpads. Slight groove on the rocker and the thrust pads look bad too.

SB118 · 7 Jan 2007 at 15:30

Of course i'm not going to have much luck getting bits on a sunday afternoon, so i just carry on stripping it down.

Pistons looked good too. Think they may have run a set a webers and sucked in gravel and stray dogs at some point.

Now do i draw the line and just redo the top end or do i go the whole hog and drop the pistons and give it new shells and rings too. (not that we can afford more than an oilchange right now!) After i checked for bent valves that is.

And after all this, it's STILL cheaper than getting the old pump rebuilt!

Dogbreath · 7 Jan 2007 at 15:34

Oh poo

Looks like you're going to need a second hand head, chances of the valves surviving that are slim to none...

Oops, posted before you put the second lot of pics up...

SB118 · 7 Jan 2007 at 16:39

Dread to think what junk this engine has sucked through :eek:

SB118 · 8 Jan 2007 at 10:21

Forgot to post this one yesterday. This might explain the timing problem. Or is it normal for the cam pulley not to have a locator peg?

Dogbreath · 8 Jan 2007 at 11:56

SB118 said:
Forgot to post this one yesterday. This might explain the timing problem. Or is it normal for the cam pulley not to have a locator peg?

It is on some engines (e.g. Ford Zetec E) but I don't know about the GM diesels. The hole in the end of the cam certainly suggests a dowel should be present, but with no matching hole in the pulley obvioulsy it wouldn't be possible to fit one. If no dowel is used then generaly a special tool is required to lock the cam in a particular location when the pulley is fitted (with it's timing marks aligned).

SB118 · 9 Jan 2007 at 14:48

Finally got hold of the right headgasket for this thing (main motor factor in town didn't have it

) though i best do the "fiddly" bits, like valve stem seals, check the lifters, regrind the valves (after having had shrapnel through them), etc so i strip the head down. And then i find why it uses a bit of oil and gives out plenty of smoke of in the mornings

They stubs seem to be almost polished they've been bouncing that long. And i also found the (possible) source of the shrapnel on the pistons.

Crabby picture, but you can make out where the bottom end of the guide has broken off, makes a pretty pattern in the piston doesn't it

Dogbreath · 9 Jan 2007 at 16:41

Don't want to make things worse but guides usualy break like that when a valve has been bent by intimate relations with a piston...