Lost all speed and message pops up "Reduced power"

[LiamTurner]

So my engines lost all it's power my engine management light pops on and also another message pops up saying car service soon

Getting pretty worried as I have a feeling it could be a something serious
I've got a friend doing a diagnostic tomorrow
Has anybody else in counted this or anything similar ?

[tucpal]

you have gone in too what is called limp mode a safety feature to reduce power when the car pick up a problem
more than likely your coil pack or plugs what engine size you got the 1.6 seems to do this
i had this last year and it was just the plugs never happened again when they were changed
to get out of limp mode stop the car remove the key and restart this usually gets rid of it

also sometimes dropping down gear to fast will reduce power also
as well as the track stability when sensing a problem will put the car into limp mode
has the car been ok since restarting it

[LiamTurner]

I've got the 1.7 turbo
It's been losing power for a while just gone big time this week
It's the same every time I drive however during the journey earlier I restarted it and it gave me the smallest bit of power for about 3-4 minutes then dropped again

[tucpal]

faulty glow plug then lets hope so sure it will be something simple

[Rusty2009]

It won't be a glow plug the glow plugs are only used to start the engine.

Let us know any fault codes that come up.

Have you tried resetting the oil life that will get rid of the service message.


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[LiamTurner]

Saying that though rusty I had a 1.2 Clio driving to skeg and I lost all my power and that brought on the engine management light and it was faulty spark plugs

I hope it's something simple I've got a holiday to pay for in a month if it costs alot I won't be able to afford trax :(

[Rusty2009]

Yes Liam it may very well do on a petrol as the spark plug is used all the time to make a spark.

On a Diesel the glow plug is only used to start the engine, If you had a faulty glow plug you would get the EML light on when starting the car it would go out once the glow plugs had stopped being needed (or within a few minutes of the glow plug system turning off).

When you have the diag done if you check this thread out it may help you, but let us know any fault codes.

[LiamTurner]

Had my diagnostic done 5 errors came up
1 was nothing to worry about
Other 2 was dpf filter
Soot build up and also the dpf efficiency below threshold bank 2

Cleared the error and hammered the car down motor way
Car seems to have the power back and I'm buying some dpf regenerator cleaner that you poor
Into the fuel
I've read that seems to help clear the problem
So hopefully the car will be ok now!

[Rusty2009]

Had my diagnostic done 5 errors came up
1 was nothing to worry about
Other 2 was dpf filter
Soot build up and also the dpf efficiency below threshold bank 2

Cleared the error and hammered the car down motor way
Car seems to have the power back and I'm buying some dpf regenerator cleaner that you poor
Into the fuel
I've read that seems to help clear the problem
So hopefully the car will be ok now!

Good news then mate, I thought it might of been something to do with the DPF, you can force it into a re-gen using the MDI but the best way is a good blast down the dual carriageway / motorway.

[Cameron UK]

Had my diagnostic done 5 errors came up
1 was nothing to worry about
Other 2 was dpf filter
Soot build up and also the dpf efficiency below threshold bank 2

Cleared the error and hammered the car down motor way
Car seems to have the power back and I'm buying some dpf regenerator cleaner that you poor
Into the fuel
I've read that seems to help clear the problem
So hopefully the car will be ok now!

I've been told if that happens to drive 70 in 4th for a few miles and go to top gear and drive for 1 hour

[LiamTurner]

It seems faster than before now feels like I've had a remap my partner was amazed at how fast it was

[LiamTurner]

Yea mate it was dpf but on way to work I lost all the power after about 10 minutes car picked up again
My mate checked the diagnostics and it came back saying dpf so hopefully it's been cleared

[Rusty2009]

What annoys me Vauxhall have disabled the DPF light from coming on on the dash when the DPF is FULL (or doing a regen), which is a stupid.

The best thing to do mate is have a blast out every couple of weeks.

[Cameron UK]

What annoys me Vauxhall have disabled the DPF light from coming on on the dash when the DPF is FULL (or doing a regen), which is a stupid.

The best thing to do mate is have a blast out every couple of weeks.

I agree, they wait until its too late!!! if the regen light came on you would know to carry on driving, just another way for them to make money as its not covered under warranty

[Rusty2009]

Once my warranty is over the DPF will be gone & a full custom exhaust system will be going in.

[Cameron UK]

Once my warranty is over the DPF will be gone & a full custom exhaust system will be going in.

Wont the engine management light come on???

[tucpal]

it is real stupid that a light does not come on to tell you it is doing a regain
also i would make it a regular thing to manually clean it with dpf cleaner

[Rusty2009]

Wont the engine management light come on???

No mate as I'll have to have it remapped at the same time but if no remap then yes EML would come on.

it is real stupid that a light does not come on to tell you it is doing a regain
also i would make it a regular thing to manually clean it with dpf cleaner

You don't really need to use a DPF cleaner as long as you have a good blast out, When my car starts feeling sluggish I give her a good blast.

If you do use a cleaning fluid the best way to go about it is to drain the fuel out the fuel filter and put the cleaner in neat, but you can't do that on the J as the filter is under the car by the fuel tank and it opens from the bottom.

But this gets the cleaner though and it does a much better job (not sure where the filter is on the petrol).

For Diesel the best stuff to use is Protec

[tucpal]

theres a big fuel filter next to the tank supposed lifetime filter does not need to be changed i was told

[Rusty2009]

theres a big fuel filter next to the tank supposed lifetime filter does not need to be changed i was told

So it would seem on the petrol models...

[tucpal]

yer but diesel is dead dirty

[LiamTurner]

Just brought some dpf filter cleaner that you put in your fuel rank had to put £50 worth of fuel in ha

[LiamTurner]

I did have the dpf problem before and I actually had a warning come up
And this time just went straight to eml

[Gatch]

The gtc pops a message up on the dash saying Dpf regeneration in progress, continue driving or something along those lines.

[tucpal]

that sounds better

[Rusty2009]

I wish the 5 door did would be do much better


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[Gatch]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g9iwyxkilak231....09.52.jpg
Here you go, sorry it's a link to an image, not got the hang of going from Dropbox to Tapatalk yet.

[Rusty2009]

What year car have you got mate?

[tucpal]

it only took vauxhall 5 years to get round to that then

[Rusty2009]

it only took vauxhall 5 years to get round to that then

I read somewhere Vauxhall removed this from the J after having problems (people going under warranty or something).

I will have to try and find it...

[Gatch]

62 plate gtc 2.0 Sri cdti

[tucpal]

i think in the astra j the rear heated button would light up when it was doing a regain
and no one knew what it meant so they just turned it off and carried on doing what ever they were doing before the light light up

[Rusty2009]

Found this

The diesel particle filter system filters harmful soot particles out of the exhaust gases.
The system includes a self-cleaning function that runs automatically during driving without any notification.
The filter is cleaned by periodically burning off the soot particles at high temperature.
This process takes place automatically under set driving conditions and may take up to 25 minutes.
Typically it needs between 7 and 12 minutes. Fuel consumption may be higher during this period.
The emission of smells and smoke during this process is normal.
Under certain driving conditions, e.g.
short distances, the system cannot clean itself automatically. If the cleaning of the filter is required and if previous driving conditions did
not enable automatic cleaning, it will be indicated by the control indicator %.
Simultaneously Particulate Filter Is Full. See Owner's Manual or warning code 55 appears in the Driver Information Center.
% illuminates when diesel particle filter is full. Start cleaning process as soon as possible.
% flashes when diesel particle filter has reached the maximum filling level. Start cleaning process immediately to avoid damage to the engine.

[LiamTurner]

I did have a dpf light come on about half a year ago and did a regain
Just for some reason it didn't come on this time and the problem got worse and worse

[Tottybye]

Mines done something similar, Service Vehicle Soon then goes into limp mode, booked it in with Vauxhall to see what wrong with it...

[manofkent]

Looks like you guys have had the same thing as Im having. "Service now" warning and "Limp Mode". I want to exit limp mode without going to the dealer so that I can go for a blast and clear out the DPF. Is there a way of getting out of Limp Mode without shelling out at the dealers. Thanks in advance. I'll report back.

[Rusty2009]

You would need to clear the fault codes and that would be an MDI (vauxhall or someone who has it) or a vauxcom both not cheap.

Where abouts are you?

[manofkent]

Hi Rusty, Im in France (expat). So I am technically an Opel owner. Same thing. The garage cleared the codes for nothing, confirmed it was the diesel particle filter. Makes sense as I drive short distances and when I am on the motorway, I stick the 2.0 160bhp diesel in 5th and wack on the cruise control. So it never got a thrashing. But this afternoon I'll see to that. Garage man said to do 100-200km to blow out the nasties in the filter, with more than 2000rvs. Im no longer in "limp mode" but and the yellow puff of smoke light comes on at ignition. (means it is in filter cleaning mode). I hope I wont be back in Limp Mode any time soon.

[manofkent]

The garage cleared the codes and it came out of limp mode. He said I needed to take it for a good 100 to 200km run. (not that practical). Ive sine my best though. On click 2 of ignition I still get the yellow, static puff of smoke ikon. Does that tell me its in regen mode? Ive wacked some dpf aditive to help clean burn of the soot. When will I know if ive been doing enough? Will I be back in limp mode if it dosent work. Feel like a wally driving 70mph in 3rd!

[Rusty2009]

The DPF symbol will light every time as part of the system checks.

But a good blast will help, normally takes around 20 mins max to do a regen of the DPF, TBH if my 2.0 starts getting a bit sluggish I use 2nd gear and take the revs upto about 4-4.5 when around town.