My wifes Omega is playing up a bit - check engine light been coming on intermittingly for a while with seemingly no adverse affect. Car is a 2000 X plate 2.2 auto. Recently though it has started to miss-fire and is sometimes sluggish  - down on power. Got 68k on the clock and has full service record (last one by me)
Checked battery at tick-over last night and there is just over 14 volts going in - is this normal? No charge lights on and everything works.
Looks like it will need to go in to dealer for the dreaded Vauxhall diagnostic check :(. My local garage have some software but its not up to date for the Omega and they couldn't find anything conclusive. Anything a reasonably competent home mechanic could look at over the weekend?

Anything upto 14.4-14.8V when revved is fine.....

My money is on coil pack but, the error codes should be read first.

Also check for oil/water in the plug wells....

Where are you based? TheBoy on here does full TechII diagnostic checks.

When 'playing up' does it rev past 4000 or is there a rev limit?

Or another note.... hopefully you are aware that the cambelt and tensioner need replacing every 40k miles or 4 years... has this been done?

I'm in Glasgow so too far away for the chap with Tech II - know anyone with Tech II up-here?

I have the car and it does rev past 4000 - it's an intermittent fault which is bloody annoying as I know it will be tricky to trace. Yesterday, my wife pulled out on the M8 to pass a bus and she had no power  - bit disconcerting at motorway speed. She now won't drive it until I get it fixed

yes Omega Knight - cambelt and tensioners done and logged after reading horror stories on previous Vaux site.

Trouble I have is the Mrs is loathe to spend her hard earned on preventive maintenence - the check engine light has been coming on for over a year and I gave up telling her to get it sorted and that if she didn't it would eventually strand her or worse - so know it's my problem and she has my Impreza  >:(

Try getting a low-cost engine fault reader - they vary in price from £40 for a PC-based unit to upward of £100 for a standalone one?

Otherwise if you can get hold of the following and replace on trial and error basis:

2.2 DIS P/N 9195819

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4615/22disgm9195819bn1.jpg

What year and engine is it...

Had intermittant loss of power on wifey's Astra which turned out to be the coil pack but this doesnt usually put the eml on because the fault is in the secondary windings and only the primaries are monitored by the ecu ( or can the later s/w detect misfire by listening to the knock sensor??    TB ? )

If eml has been on then there should be fault codes stored, get these read and cleared. If there is just one stored then work from there, if several these could be old problems so you will have to wait for the light to come on again and get it re-read to find out the current problem.

Matchless wrote on 11. Jan 2007 at 10:12:

( or can the later s/w detect misfire by listening to the knock sensor??    TB ? )

afaik, only on the coil per plug units...

Its a 2000 X reg 2.2 ecotek. The picture that Omega Knight is showing is the coil pack/plug leads on the car - I know because I changed plugs a few months ago. I assume this set up is coil per plug so if playing up, CEL will light up due to knock sensor? I will still get the codes read by Vauxhall but its nice to go in armed with some info when they try and b******t you in to replacing all the sensors and ignition circuitry and components to cure the miss-fire.

Is there any way to clear faults from ECU memory before I take it in?

JeffT wrote on 11. Jan 2007 at 10:56:

Its a 2000 X reg 2.2 ecotek. The picture that Omega Knight is showing is the coil pack/plug leads on the car - I know because I changed plugs a few months ago. I assume this set up is coil per plug so if playing up, CEL will light up due to knock sensor? I will still get the codes read by Vauxhall but its nice to go in armed with some info when they try and b******t you in to replacing all the sensors and ignition circuitry and components to cure the miss-fire. Is there any way to clear faults from ECU memory before I take it in?

The ECU can store misfires, if you are getting misfires, and it is not the plugs (or oil in plug wells), then I'd be inclined to change coil pack.

Also, it is worth cleaning breather system, and the throttle body (AA has done some good guides, in Maintenece Guides)...

there is yet to be a guide on a coil pack change, but on the 2.2 there is plenty of space to do it.

Depends how good you are with some spanners? As pointed out give the breather & throttle body a good clean, beacuse even though the millage is low it will still be dirty.

Btw Omega Knight is the name give to members with over 1,000 posts :y - markjay gave you the picture on the coil pack  :y

Does it always start first time?

thanks Tunnie - and thanks Mark J

Changing the coil pack is a doddle - it has to come off to change the plugs which I have done. I can get a replacement for £70 which seems OK - just wish I could be sure it was this without taking it to dealer to get codes read. Is there no way of sticking a wire bridge in a connector somewhere so it flashes the codes on the CEL on the dash? Done this many times on my old Audi and the Impreza.

yup - starts first time - although it has been a bit lumpy of late and takes a few seconds to settle to an even idle

JeffT wrote on 11. Jan 2007 at 12:27:

thanks Tunnie - and thanks Mark J Changing the coil pack is a doddle - it has to come off to change the plugs which I have done. I can get a replacement for £70 which seems OK - just wish I could be sure it was this without taking it to dealer to get codes read. Is there no way of sticking a wire bridge in a connector somewhere so it flashes the codes on the CEL on the dash? Done this many times on my old Audi and the Impreza.

If it was a pre facelift and not a facelift you may have been able to do the paperclip test. Unfortunately its Tech2 for facelift as far as I'm aware.

JeffT wrote on 11. Jan 2007 at 12:27:

thanks Tunnie - and thanks Mark J Changing the coil pack is a doddle - it has to come off to change the plugs which I have done. I can get a replacement for £70 which seems OK - just wish I could be sure it was this without taking it to dealer to get codes read. Is there no way of sticking a wire bridge in a connector somewhere so it flashes the codes on the CEL on the dash? Done this many times on my old Audi and the Impreza.

No paperclip test available on DBW units, so a code reader required.  Cheap ones can be bought ;)

Matchless wrote on 11. Jan 2007 at 10:12:

Had intermittant loss of power on wifey's Astra which turned out to be the coil pack but this doesnt usually put the eml on because the fault is in the secondary windings and only the primaries are monitored by the ecu ( or can the later s/w detect misfire by listening to the knock sensor??    TB ? ) If eml has been on then there should be fault codes stored, get these read and cleared. If there is just one stored then work from there, if several these could be old problems so you will have to wait for the light to come on again and get it re-read to find out the current problem.

When i put a faulty coil pack (on purpose) into my VeccyC after a few misses the EML came on.....tho i didnt read the codes, but i suspect they would probably say miss fires detected.

If youve recently changed the plugs on it.....you would have noticed if the plug wells are filling with oil......this was the cause of my 2.2 missing recently.....if you carnt get the codes read cheaply, tho worth getting a cheap code reader as you will probably use it at another time....i would go for the cheap option of changing the plugs again.....just in case one is breaking down (also will see if oil in the plug wells) then if no different go for the coil pack  :y

JeffT wrote on 11. Jan 2007 at 12:30:

yup - starts first time - although it has been a bit lumpy of late and takes a few seconds to settle to an even idle

That point suggests dirty breathers.

Dealers do NOT service them, my Dads Omega which is ex-fleet (he drove it as a fleet car & then bought it) I took the breathers & throttle body off and they were really mucky.

Worth giving them a clean!  :y

I suspect no dealers every clean breathers, or do half the stuff specified by manufacturer  >:(

TheBoy wrote on 11. Jan 2007 at 20:33:

I suspect no dealers every clean breathers, or do half the stuff specified by manufacturer  >:(

It is not a service item, my dealer quoted me £95.

I did it myself.

Find the breather guide here http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1162397695

My 2.2 40,000 miles and full dealer history - breathers looked like this

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o317/chopsdad/IMG_1081-1.jpg

Chopsdad wrote on 11. Jan 2007 at 22:32:

My 2.2 40,000 miles and full dealer history - breathers looked like this http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o317/chopsdad/IMG_1081-1.jpg

I have yet to get that pipe off on mine, bloody Vx leave the clips facing the wrong way  >:(

I'll clean the breathers before taking it to Vauxhall - anybody got the part numbers of the throttle body and breather sump gasket?

let you know what I find