NEW OWNER 2.5 TDS LWB

[adamh]

Hi all my names Adam, I'm completely new to the world of frontera's and 4x4's in general. Just recently sold my golf gti and bought a 1997 frontera 2.5 tds. Shes abit of a fixer upper as it has been used for some serious green laning in the past. Came with 4 new Pirelli scorpion 265 75 16 tyres and a 2'' suspension lift. Although having owned it for 2 days its already cost me a new battery and is running abit rough on idle. haven't a clue where to start or if in deed I shall own her long. If anyones got any ideas where to start on the running rough side I would 100% appreciate it. cheers

[nitromotor]

welcome to the forum and hope you have settled into your new frontera
The engines are loud and rattle by comparison to a golf.
is it just at idle or is it lumpy / ruff at a fast idle too?

[snapper]

Welcome to the madhouse Adam, have a look here for all things 2.5 mate. Oh and it will help folks later on if you put some details about your truck in your profile (model/year/engine type etc) that way we can tell what model your on about.

[Rifleman]

Welcome Adam. They are quite an easy fix bud.
Give us more details of the faults and you will get loads of help.

[jellybaby]

Welcome to the fold mate where in the midlands are you from.

[adamh]

Hi everyone thanks for the welcome, The motor is only rough on idle and then smooths out when you build the revs. I'm from the Coventry area mate

[Rifleman]

Clean out the egr valve mate.
It will be caked in carbon.

[adamh]

Hi mate cheers for the heads up, Is cleaning the egr valve easy?? as I'm not particularly gifted when it comes to working on car engines

[Rifleman]

Yeah bud, you will need to get the new gaskets which are nice and cheap.
See here.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=42347

[adamh]

cheers mate for the detailed thread just out of curiosity do you know if anywhere makes a egr blank plate for the 2.5tds??

[Rifleman]

There are threads on here but rrally the best bet is to make up a wee plate in place of the small gasket in between the exhaust outlet to the valve. You need to keep the solenoid connected or the ECU thinks there is a fault. But a good clean usually keeps the engine in good repair.

[adamh]

cheers mate, I reckon ill just stick with the cleaning method as soon as I can find somewhere to get the gaskets

[Rifleman]

I get mine from the dealer bud.

[adamh]

sorry to sound like a noob but is that just your local Vauxhall dealer or is there a specific number for a Vauxhall parts dealer?

[Rifleman]

Vauxhall dealer mate. They will get them usually for the next day.

[snapper]

Local main dealer will supply what parts they can get (the list gets smaller by the day unfortunatly) lots of gaskets can be made from a sheet of gasket material with a sharp knife or a ball pein hammer where the old liquid gasket stuff is unsuitable.

[adamh]

been on the phone to a few places now including my local main dealer and none of them can find the egr gaskets. Is it possible to use the gasket sheet method to make my own as im not sure if all three gaskets needed are metal?

[Rifleman]

Only the 1 is metal. Ask your dealer how come the Edinburgh dealer can get them without any problem?
Sounds like they dont want to try.

[adamh]

cheers keith, I think touch wood I may have just sorted it. although a new problem has arose with a lot of light grey smoke in initial start up and still smokes slightly when warm. I think I'm out of my league with this frontera. I've changed fuel filter and that but wondering now if it could be an injector problem as don't think its head gasket as its not over heating or loosing coolant?

[adamh]

eureka!! must be my lucky day gaskets on order and smokes now gone after a change of fuel filter as previous one was old and had water inside! no smoke haha