Vauxhall / Opel Insignia 2.0 D Catching Fire !

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STC
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Vauxhall / Opel Insignia 2.0 D Catching Fire !

Post by STC »

This car came to me on a truck this morning as a No Crank No Start. Initial Diagnosis was No Communication with Engine, Auto Gear Control, ABS, Power Steering, Electric Park Brake and others. Quick Conclusion was that the High Speed CAN Network was dead.

Customer tells me he heard a Whistling / Whooshing Noise then the car died.

Very quickly I could see that the Insulation around the Wiring Loom at the front of the engine, in between the 2 Arrows below was damaged.
Capture Insignia.JPG
A quick feel revealed that the loom had got hot on the underside and some wires and insulation had melted together.

Some 10 - 12 wires were damaged, the two Blue & White Can Lines included. I have repaired the loom and now have Global Communication and the Engine will start and run but I can hear that Loud Whistling Whooshing Noise - Not Good !!

Below that part of the loom is a Rubber Pipe from DPF to DPF Pressure Sensor which has a hole burnt through it. Now we know how the loom sustained damage.

Now the part that makes no sense to me

This Engine is running only because it can exhale its Exhaust Gasses through the Break in the small rubber pipe, I held my hand over the tail pile and felt "Nothing" yet I could hold my hand a good Meter Away from the split in he Pipe and could feel and smell the exhaust gasses.

My Confusion :
This man was lucky because the heat damaged the HS CAN Lines first and Cut the Engine.

The DPF must be completely Blocked, I cold not feel a thing at the tail pipe. It would not blow a piece of tissue out !!

I have since googled this issue and all I can find is that these cars have a habit of catching fire but nobody knows why, It could be that if they do catch fire then it would be difficult to establish the root cause.

With that degree of DPF blockage, How did this Engine Continue to Run, Not Checked yet but the insides of the DPF Pressure Sensor must be Ruined / Burnt / Obliterated, The Sensor Must be the weaker link up against the Rubber Pipe that gave up and melted ???

EAAD
TwoWaves
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Re: Vauxhall / Opel Insignia 2.0 D Catching Fire !

Post by EAAD »

Nice one mate......

I've just serviced a 2ltr D insignia and will try to get it back in to check it over in and around the area highlighted. This customer is extremely fussy/particular & will definitely approach GM regarding this when highlighted to try to get answers. It is a 2012 with very low mileage and I'd describe it as pristine........ How old I'd your car George please, mileage and overall general condition? Is it a dog or a tidy thing? How's it been looked after and driven?

Just wonder if it's a servicing issue or another dangerous design fault developing?

Kind regards

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STC
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Re: Vauxhall / Opel Insignia 2.0 D Catching Fire !

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Hi EAAD

We will never know for sure if it's a servicing issue or another dangerous design fault, firstly because my customer is an idiot or he thinks that I am !!

He purchased it about a year ago and is now used as a taxi. 2010 Car "Showing" 142,000 miles and in reasonable condition for what it is, not pristine but up together and presentable.

Soon after he bought it he claims
1. He had DPF Issues so paid to have it removed and deleted.
2. Sometime later he had DPF issues again so he paid to have the DPF Cleaned (The very DPF that has been removed)
3. I now have it with the DPF blocked to an extent that nothing is coming out of the tailpipe, It has melted the small
Rubber pipe to the Pressure Sensor and it is exhaling only through that pipe !!

Yet Mr Taxi Driver claims that it broke down suddenly with no real pre warning or loss of power - just a whooshing / whistling noise.
My guess that with a warm engine, that pipe splitting / melting, the pressure & heat I felt from it would damage that loom, at best in a minute or 2. Common sense tells me he lost power long before the shutdown yet continued to drive it after the pipe burst and still soldiered on until it finally died..

Once I got it running I did look at Fault Memory and all I got was Codes for Glow Plugs - Initial guesswork is that someone has deleted DPF software but didn't physically remove the internals. I intend to unbolt the DPF, confirm it is blocked then run the car and manipulate the pressure sensor with a view to induce fault codes. That may confirm or deny if the ECU has been mapped

The picture above is from another good car just to point out the area of damage. I will take pictures of the actual car and damage caused then post them here.

Vauxhall have so far blamed the fires on Power Steering Fluid Leaks, I will check later to see if the PAS hoses are in the line of fire (pardon the pun) of that melted pipe and hot gasses

Once again, I do believe this car would have caught fire, this one was lucky that it shorted the Critical CAN lines first and shut it down.

EAAD
TwoWaves
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Re: Vauxhall / Opel Insignia 2.0 D Catching Fire !

Post by EAAD »

Nice concise reply...... (I'm coming to expect nowt less from you mate) a credit to you.

Hmmmmmmm, taxi serviced on a shoestring I suspect??? (If its owt like the cabbies round here anyway) ???

I had something similar on a mazda6 where the dpi had been left in after it had been deleted from the ecu map, it was so coked up , even the egr was coked up!

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Re: Vauxhall / Opel Insignia 2.0 D Catching Fire !

Post by STC »

I took the DPF off today and indeed its blocked solid. All I did was run some water into it via a hose and it just about dribbled out of the other end.

No way was the "delete" done a year ago, a week ago I could believe. The bare faced lies they tell ?? Astonishing !!

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