1996 Astra - which engine...

You may laugh but, for the past few days I still can't put a model no. to
Dads' old Astra estate. There's so many in the Haynes manual, it's
bewildering, and the more I sit and read the Haynes manual ...the more I go
round and round in circles. In fact, I'm sure that Haynes manuals are
specifically designed to make one do just that. e.g.
"...go to Section 3 , then proceed as in Paragraphs * * and *, then try
and spot the relevant section according to which particular engine that is
in your car, ...engine no. is on the block in front of the clutch housing
HA!!! do they mean "in front" as you stand in front of the car, ....or
could it be on the right hand side of the block (as seen stood in front of
the car)...which would be above the clutch housing ....mmm...haven't looked
there yet.
...." and now go back to section 3B?? ....do this, refer to that, back to
Chapter *, then according to what you've got, refer to Chapter */ Section
??** ....whatever. WHO is this idiot at Haynes that's been indexing these
manuals like this for years ???

anyhooo...the clues are building up,
.....any help would be muchly appreciated.

It's Astra estate - 1996 1600 CDX 16v DOHC Ecotech engine
GM-Multec ECU ...now I suspect that it's a Multec S MPi rather than the CFi
but, this is taking me round in circles as well.

I've scrubbed off the front of the engine block with some WD40 and a nail
brush and all I can see is a big GM with a long no. under it - which looks
like an engine no.

....by the way NEVER buy a mail order cat. with a ceramic monolith in it, or
if you do, BUY IT LOCALLY. I knew that they often don't survive couriers
......from ages old...but, ...tried to save a few quid, ....off the ramp and
two hundred yards down the road RATTLE...RATTLE...CLINKETY,CLUNK ..Biiiig
chunk of smashed monolith banging around in there, "S**T" shot through my
mind, ...as well as several other expletives

I've got ECU codes 47 and 92 left in the ECU
47 means I've got to sort out the EGR valve, and 92 will hopefully go away
when my new ebay camshaft sensor arrives and gets slapped in there !

....anyway, any clues on pinning down the damned engine model no would be
hugely appreciated

regards, Richard

 

ps I mean "Engine model no."

 

My engine is a 1.4, so not the same as yours at all, but possibly the number
is in the same place on the block.

Stand in front of the engine bay and look just behind the dip stick where
the block curves out to mate with the curved bell housing. It's on that
curved edge of the block that mates with the bell housing.

The numbers following the mating line, that is, to read them normally, you
would turn sideways and read parallel to the mating line of the casting, if
you see what I mean.

Hope that helps.

 

Forgive me for stating the obvious but why not go to your nearest vauxhall
place and ask them to look up the vehicles VIN number?

I did this a while back with a jeep cherokee that I have. The jeep dealers
printed me off a comprehensive 3 pages for the construction of the car
listing serial numbers of major components, where built, options, if factory
recalls were done on that car etc. Brilliant. I wouldnt expect Vx to be so
helpfull, but its worth a shot.

Mike

 

I would expect it to be an X16XEL but as Mike says, if you ring a Vauxhall
dealer up with the reg/vin number the parts dept will tell you for sure.

 

P.S.
My owners handbook gives an alternative location a couple of inches higher
up, on the top face of the block at the front RHS.

That's at the the flywheel bell housing end and on the side nearest the
front of the car where the block is specially wider by about 3/8 inch to
accomodate the number. Mine is blank at that location.

Roger R

 

Biiiig thanks, ...much obliged

regards, Richard

 

Biiiig thanks, ...much obliged

regards, Richard

 

Biiiig thanks, ...much obliged

regards, Richard