Recently got a Vectra 1.8 VVT. Had that almost diesel sound at idle. Did the oil and all the filters, took the solenoids out and blasted all the shite out of them. Running great now with none of the rattle.
Nice one mate, it's defo the way to go first My soleniods were clean bit I replaced anyway and also did two oil changes one with each oil grade recommended for the car but still they issue. But yeah always go for the cheap option first!
@@TheDrivewayExperiment Wasn't sure when it was last serviced but was definitely due. I just used the cheap semi synthetic from Home Bargains the other week. Going to do it again shortly with decent quality oil. Should flush anything else out.
I had both pulleys replaced on my 10 plate Astra mk6 Sri garage said best to do both at same time and had to replace timing belt too which had only been done 12 months earlier resulted in £1300 repair bill but rattle completely gone and Car runs beautifully
Hi mate great informative video. I want to attempt a replacement of dephasers, and was wondering do I need to lift the engine block up with a jack to remove the left engine mounts, or can they be taken off without Jack's? Thanks
can i keep on driving my 1.8l insignia with this noise from vvt gears ? or can it cause a engine frailer? as i dont want to invest in this car any more and planning to get a new car in few months
I am doing both. I have been puttin it off for a while and sick I didnt replace at the time. I had the exact same spring and cam problems. I am going to clean the solenoids first, with carb cleaner. I think the engine when it works and is looked after, is a really nice lineal economical engine and easy to overtake on motorways in 1.6 113hp I am the second owner and I like the spec, import from UK to Ireland. I like the look of it and better the devil I know than the one I dont, the used car market is a disaster here, bad roads and nepotistic attitudes towards servicing, the spec is shit cos we arent as fussy as the brits who are right. Also I invested enough into it and last 3 years its cost about 400 a year servicing and parts. My heater is gone inside, replace the resistor and it only works on 4 so I have seen no motor needed and just a small part. And I bought this knowing how cheap parts are, and it;s a good car to work on and keep busy and learn on. But its 75miles and solid, so will be kept and looked after until its no longer roadworthy, then maybe a tesla engine might be cheap enuf to bolt into it haha
Yeah I've had to do a few on these engines if they are not serviced correctly they seem to rattle eventually. Yeah it's worth looking at the solenoids first cheapest and easiest option I have had a interior fan fail on these astras also behind the glove box and the resistor was corroded to death, looks like water gets in an tracks down the wiring causing both to fail. Yeah your right cheap and easy enough to fix also!
hello guys i have the same problem with my zafira 2012 1.6 petrol, i changed both of them with a chanise make form ebay and it is still making noise so o have opened it again and checked them they still have a bit of movement, do you think they are still faulty? thanks. jawid.
I get the same noise from my 1.6 Astra 2009. Did you also get loss of power when the engine got up to temp? I only start hearing the noise when the engine has warmed up, and I lose power at the same time.
I hear mine knocking on deceleration, most probably an exhaust one. Wonder if it could be covered by the warranty? Or drive it to the ground or when the sensor picks up wrong mixture
Yeah mate it's a nightmare, hard to pin down with stethoscope But replacing both pulleys fixed, both rattles when cam shaft when locked so both fucked but one more than other
the mechanic replaced the both variable pulleys on astra h and they didn't make any noise for a month, then after a month they started knocking again when the car was started for the first time... how is that possible? I spent about 300 euros and the problem is not solved..
@@TheDrivewayExperiment just one, and put it on first then second place but all that before changing variable pulleys.. but when i change variable pulleys i didnt get any problem and any sound for a month.. then after s month problem starting again...
@@hooked994 that's really strange, the only thing I can think of is that they didn't installed them correctly and use new bolts for the dephasers....not accusing them just a possibility. The torque is very specific and involves 3 stages of angle tightening after initial torque. Also oil starvation quickly destroys these dephaser pulley or missing oil changes. Let me know how it works out, I am interested to know
@@TheDrivewayExperiment Thanks for the prompt reply. I don't understand the adjustment and assembly of the pulleys themselves, but I know that new oil was poured before replacing them, and the most expensive one here is Castrol magnatec. I also wanted to mention that the car worked for a month without problems and now it works and does not report any errors, the only thing that can be heard is the knocking of the pulleys on a cold start for maybe 2 seconds... all that remains is for me to try to remove the meshes on the electromagnetic valves and to enable a quick flow of oil to the pulleys, maybe that will solve all the problems, since I haven't tried that yet.
I have the same code and was wondering the same thing. Down on power, runs smooth but has that annoying dull knock at idle. I believe the inlet one is the common pulley to fail? Maybe throwing timing out on the exhaust side?
@@gurdeepvirdee7397 sounds about right mate, we had loss of performance but ran ok but once warm yu can hear the knock at idle it's really hard to pin point even with stethoscope. The only way we diagnosed was to lock both cam shafts from the opposite end to timing cover and remove the belt then see which dephaser rattles with the cam shafts locked. We found the inlet significantly rattled.
@@TheDrivewayExperiment nice one for the reply mate. I'll get the parts ordered with a belt kit and check it out. Fingers crossed it sorts it as its a really clean car 👌🏽
@@gurdeepvirdee7397 let ne know how it goes mate obviously exhaust all the cheap fixes first as the dephaser pulleys are not cheap lol, I never had the code but just the noise, I've had two Z18XER do the same thing. Once oil pressure drops due to the oil temp rise the knocking noise becomes apparent. Cured by inlet dephaser replace, although it's recommended to replace the inlet and exhaust soleniods also. Bear in mind when you replace the cam pulley you need to torque it up exactly how the manual instructs as your phase angles will be thrown out.
Recently got a Vectra 1.8 VVT.
Had that almost diesel sound at idle.
Did the oil and all the filters, took the solenoids out and blasted all the shite out of them. Running great now with none of the rattle.
Nice one mate, it's defo the way to go first
My soleniods were clean bit I replaced anyway and also did two oil changes one with each oil grade recommended for the car but still they issue.
But yeah always go for the cheap option first!
@@TheDrivewayExperiment Wasn't sure when it was last serviced but was definitely due. I just used the cheap semi synthetic from Home Bargains the other week. Going to do it again shortly with decent quality oil. Should flush anything else out.
I had both pulleys replaced on my 10 plate Astra mk6 Sri garage said best to do both at same time and had to replace timing belt too which had only been done 12 months earlier resulted in £1300 repair bill but rattle completely gone and Car runs beautifully
Glad to hear that, yeah defo best to do both at same time
Hi mate great informative video. I want to attempt a replacement of dephasers, and was wondering do I need to lift the engine block up with a jack to remove the left engine mounts, or can they be taken off without Jack's? Thanks
@@kierana2577 thanks mate, yes you will need to support the engine one way or another
can i keep on driving my 1.8l insignia with this noise from vvt gears ? or can it cause a engine frailer?
as i dont want to invest in this car any more and planning to get a new car in few months
I am doing both. I have been puttin it off for a while and sick I didnt replace at the time. I had the exact same spring and cam problems. I am going to clean the solenoids first, with carb cleaner. I think the engine when it works and is looked after, is a really nice lineal economical engine and easy to overtake on motorways in 1.6 113hp I am the second owner and I like the spec, import from UK to Ireland. I like the look of it and better the devil I know than the one I dont, the used car market is a disaster here, bad roads and nepotistic attitudes towards servicing, the spec is shit cos we arent as fussy as the brits who are right. Also I invested enough into it and last 3 years its cost about 400 a year servicing and parts. My heater is gone inside, replace the resistor and it only works on 4 so I have seen no motor needed and just a small part. And I bought this knowing how cheap parts are, and it;s a good car to work on and keep busy and learn on. But its 75miles and solid, so will be kept and looked after until its no longer roadworthy, then maybe a tesla engine might be cheap enuf to bolt into it haha
Yeah I've had to do a few on these engines if they are not serviced correctly they seem to rattle eventually.
Yeah it's worth looking at the solenoids first cheapest and easiest option
I have had a interior fan fail on these astras also behind the glove box and the resistor was corroded to death, looks like water gets in an tracks down the wiring causing both to fail.
Yeah your right cheap and easy enough to fix also!
dude. did you really replaced only one VVT pulley when you had engine disassembled?
Hi did you use the locking bar from the timing kit to lock the camshafts to check the pulleys. I have the vectra z18xer petrol .cheers
Yes thats right mate, you need to insert the locking plate/bar into the slots in camshaft
@@TheDrivewayExperiment cheers.
hello guys i have the same problem with my zafira 2012 1.6 petrol, i changed both of them with a chanise make form ebay and it is still making noise so o have opened it again and checked them they still have a bit of movement, do you think they are still faulty?
thanks. jawid.
How long does it take for your oil light to go out onna start up ?
I get the same noise from my 1.6 Astra 2009. Did you also get loss of power when the engine got up to temp? I only start hearing the noise when the engine has warmed up, and I lose power at the same time.
Didn't notice loss in power as I never really took it out but mine was the same get the noise once its warmed up not when cold
I hear mine knocking on deceleration, most probably an exhaust one. Wonder if it could be covered by the warranty? Or drive it to the ground or when the sensor picks up wrong mixture
Yeah I see what you mean, it's mainly an off putting noise, makes it sound like a diesel but I imagine performance will start to suffer
My car makes the same noise when it starts then stops after a few seconds, is there need for concern?
Mine too, about 4secs then sounds fine.. Still kinda worrying tho 🤷♂️
Owned my vectra for 10 year's had this rattle for about 9
Whats the part name to order bro??
I got same noise on Ford Focus also with bad idle and a lot of shuddering in first and second
Yeah mate it's a nightmare, hard to pin down with stethoscope
But replacing both pulleys fixed, both rattles when cam shaft when locked so both fucked but one more than other
the mechanic replaced the both variable pulleys on astra h and they didn't make any noise for a month, then after a month they started knocking again when the car was started for the first time... how is that possible? I spent about 300 euros and the problem is not solved..
Hi mate, did they replace the vvt soleniods also?
@@TheDrivewayExperiment just one, and put it on first then second place but all that before changing variable pulleys.. but when i change variable pulleys i didnt get any problem and any sound for a month.. then after s month problem starting again...
@@hooked994 that's really strange, the only thing I can think of is that they didn't installed them correctly and use new bolts for the dephasers....not accusing them just a possibility. The torque is very specific and involves 3 stages of angle tightening after initial torque.
Also oil starvation quickly destroys these dephaser pulley or missing oil changes.
Let me know how it works out, I am interested to know
@@TheDrivewayExperiment
Thanks for the prompt reply. I don't understand the adjustment and assembly of the pulleys themselves, but I know that new oil was poured before replacing them, and the most expensive one here is Castrol magnatec. I also wanted to mention that the car worked for a month without problems and now it works and does not report any errors, the only thing that can be heard is the knocking of the pulleys on a cold start for maybe 2 seconds... all that remains is for me to try to remove the meshes on the electromagnetic valves and to enable a quick flow of oil to the pulleys, maybe that will solve all the problems, since I haven't tried that yet.
@@hooked994 good plan it's worth a go
I had code 36504 could this be my exhaust solenoid mate not another sensor
Hi mate, what are the symptoms?
I have the same code and was wondering the same thing. Down on power, runs smooth but has that annoying dull knock at idle. I believe the inlet one is the common pulley to fail? Maybe throwing timing out on the exhaust side?
@@gurdeepvirdee7397 sounds about right mate, we had loss of performance but ran ok but once warm yu can hear the knock at idle it's really hard to pin point even with stethoscope.
The only way we diagnosed was to lock both cam shafts from the opposite end to timing cover and remove the belt then see which dephaser rattles with the cam shafts locked.
We found the inlet significantly rattled.
@@TheDrivewayExperiment nice one for the reply mate. I'll get the parts ordered with a belt kit and check it out. Fingers crossed it sorts it as its a really clean car 👌🏽
@@gurdeepvirdee7397 let ne know how it goes mate obviously exhaust all the cheap fixes first as the dephaser pulleys are not cheap lol, I never had the code but just the noise, I've had two Z18XER do the same thing.
Once oil pressure drops due to the oil temp rise the knocking noise becomes apparent.
Cured by inlet dephaser replace, although it's recommended to replace the inlet and exhaust soleniods also.
Bear in mind when you replace the cam pulley you need to torque it up exactly how the manual instructs as your phase angles will be thrown out.
Chevy cruze cam phase pulleys are cheaper and im almost 100% sure they are identical
I think your right mate, good shout