Corsa-B.uk - Vauxhall, Opel and Holden Corsa B Owners Club

Am not to good with cars so some Q's may sound stupid but please answer.

3 cylinder 1.0L corsa

my car broke down last tuesday, i was in 3rd gear and it suddenly started making a loud tapping/rattling noise and lost almost all power... i was now stuck at side of a 60mph road on a blind hill... i rolled it back and up onto grass... i started the car back up and the car was shaking a LOT, i sounded like the chain or tensioner was broke got the AA to take me and the car home and he told me it was the tappets on the top left or the tensioner. took the cover off and the oil pump, tappets and chain looked good. so i took the chain off and then the camshafts off, the inlet camshaft was a little tough to take off but a little tap had it off ((IS THIS A FAULT OR IS THIS OK? )) I was told its fine and all rocker arms n springs where fine. next i took the cylinder head off. the inlet and exhaust valves seem good ((HOW WOULD I FIND A FAULT THERE?)) the 1st piston (at the left) was at the top and the other 2 where at bottom ((IS THIS CORRECT?)) ((DO I NEED TO TAKE BLOCK OFF AND CHECK PISTON CONNECTING RODS?))

And has anyone got other suggestions?

Or have i been stupid and missed a fault?

Thanks

did the car have oil enough oil in? if the oil is low then the tappets can run dry and become noisy (and loose you power), I would say check the coil pack aswell for the power loss/ rough running but that wont ussualy cause a rattle etc,

a rattling cam chain isn't the end of the world but if it has jumped a tooth then you could have damage or incorrect valve timing, Did you double check the cam timing before you pulled the cams out?

If the oil pump has been checked then the sump has been had off yes? if so where all the rods still attatched to the crank? i dont know what the pisitions of the pistons are on this engine but most three cylinder engines are spaced 120* appart so none of the pistons should ever be at the same height as one another.

to be honest the only real way to check for bent valves is to do a compresion test (or pop the head of and physicaly inspect them which i doubt you want to do!)

it might be worth checking if the egr valve is playing up as this will definetly course trouble and will make a three cylinder run very lumpy, you can either take it out and clean it or whilst it is out make a nice little blanking plate from some old drinks can using the gasket as a template and take it for a test drive , then if you really want you could go to vauxhall and get them to update your ecu to ignore the egr valve (which is what a lot of vauxhall owners have to do because the egr's are crap) and buy the proper blacking plate and gasket set.

Yeah the cars oil was at max level i checked this while i was waiting for the AA.. and the coil pack is newish so i dont think its the coil pack.

i checked the chain for any broken links or little damage but cant find anything, i also checked all guides and the tensioner.

no the sump has not been off yet as the oil pump slides off the top of sump but would i need the baffle plate off to see the rods??

a compresion test is something id have no clue how to do, this will need be sent somewhere yeah?

EGR valve is possible fault but that cant of made the noise can it?? i will clean it and add new (home made) gasket onto it.

Thanks mate

your right egr shouldn't make your engine noisy, a compression test is done with the engine all together,

you get the tester guage and replace the sparkplug from the cylinder your testing with the guage then you turn the engine over on the starter motor (make sure the other plugs are not going to spark or you moight ruin the guage if the engine starts), Do all three cylinders and record the readings if the readings are low you can try pouring a little oil down the plug hole and doing another test, if the readings increase dramaticaly then the rings are probably shot.