In 2007, a new turbocharged engine A16LED with a capacity of 1.6 liters, which is a continuation of the unit Z16XER and a modified version of the Z16XER Family 1, appeared on Opel brand cars. In fact, the refinement was reduced to the installation of a BorgWarner compressor. The engine has a cast iron block, four valves per cylinder and distributed injection. The power unit does not have hydrocompensators.
The piston group in general corresponds to the size of the basic model, but assumes the presence of certain differences, for example, the compression ratio in the cylinders of the turbocharged engine is reduced to 8.8:1, there is a new crankshaft. At the same time, the main liners are interchangeable with the atmospheric engine, but the connecting rods are not.
The power unit was produced in several versions with forcing in the range of 150-211 “horses”, and after 2010 Opel 1.6-liter turbocharged motors received updated firmware in order to meet more stringent environmental standards. It is noticed that engines with the letter “A” in the beginning of the abbreviation, for example, A16LED, actually turn out to be less powerful than declared by the German manufacturer.
Technical characteristics and service regulations
The Opel A16LET 1.6 Turbo is a turbocharged inline 4-cylinder engine that combines reliability and high performance. With 180 horsepower and 230 Nm of torque, this engine is in demand among drivers looking for an optimal ratio of power and economy.
Main Specifications:
- Engine type: in-line
- Volume: 1598 cm³
- Cylinder bore: 79 mm
- Piston stroke: 81.5 mm
- Power: 180 hp
- Torque: 230 Nm
- Compression ratio: 8.8
- Fuel: gasoline AI-95
- Environmental standard: Euro-5
- Number of cylinders: 4
- Number of valves: 16
The engine is equipped with a distributed fuel injection system, which improves fuel efficiency and reduces emissions.
Gazore Distribution Mechanism (GDM)
Opel A16LET uses a belt-driven timing gear, which is recommended to change every 90,000 km. In practice, this resource is confirmed by the owners of the car. One of the main advantages of the design of the timing in this engine is that when the belt breaks, the valves are not damaged, which significantly reduces the cost of repair in case of breakage.
Valve adjustment
The valves on the A16LET engine require adjustment every 150,000 km. The principle of adjustment is the selection of tappets, and the clearances for inlet valves are 0.21 – 0.29 mm, for exhaust valves – 0.30 – 0.38 mm.
Recommended service regulations
Oil Service
- Oil change intervals: every 15,000 km
- Oil volume in the engine: 5.0 liters
- Approximately 4.5 liters of oil will be required for replacement
- Recommended oil: 5W-30 or 5W-40
Consumables replacement
- Oil filter: every 15,000 km
- Air filter: every 30,000 km
- Fuel filter: every 60,000 km
- Spark plugs: every 30,000 km
- Auxiliary belt: every 90,000 km
- Coolant: every 3 years or 45,000 km
Thus, compliance with the maintenance regulations of the Opel A16LET 1.6 Turbo engine will ensure its long and stable operation. Regular performance of all procedures ensures that the motor will retain its characteristics at a high level throughout its life.
The motor has become really popular and has been installed on various Opel models including Corsa, Astra, Meriva, Insignia, and for Opel Zafira a version with methane gas connection has been developed.
The example used for disassembly is a damaged 1.6 Turbo engine, dismantled from a compact Opel Corsa D, produced in 2010, after the timing chain broke.
The degree of reliability
In most cases, owners of cars with 1.6 Turbo engine are real Opel fans, for whom quality service and care of their own car are mandatory attributes of life. That is why cases of timing chain breakage are not typical for the power unit, but they get to the “overhaul” with enviable regularity.
The reason lies primarily in the pistons, prone to destruction, but the German turbo motor has other weak points, which must necessarily be mentioned in the story about the common engine.
Plastic tubes
One of the weaknesses of the motor is the use of plastic tubes. Over time, they dry out and begin to crack. First of all, this applies to the vacuum tube and air supply. As a result, the car begins to hiss noticeably when the engine is running, the depleted fuel mixture does not allow you to use the full power of the engine, and the gas pedal in operation becomes much harder.
Practice shows that problems begin even in relatively new cars that are five years old or older. After the vacuum tube loses its tightness, the system begins to suck in additional air, mixing it with fuel in the wrong proportions.
The cooling tubes and the splitter behind the thermostat are also plastic. It is common for the replacement of the latter to damage the splitter as well. There are known cases when the splitter installed on the “return” of the expansion tank is destroyed. The tank itself is modest in terms of manufacturing quality and can crack. That is why experienced owners of Opel cars recommend independently switching to rubber or silicone pipelines, qualitatively crimping them with clamps in the places of connection.
The risks of cracking are also great at the vacuum receiver, installed under the intake manifold. Immediately afterwards, all vacuum-related elements begin to work with serious deviations, negatively affecting the compressor performance. You can recognize the problem by a characteristic whistle that appears when driving at high speeds after releasing the accelerator pedal.
ECU
Among the common ECU problems are falling off solder, burned-out tracks and so on. The resulting errors cause the electronics to give different commands, which often causes the throttle to shut off. Among the common problems of ECU operation are short circuits that occur with the cooling temperature sensor.
In most cases, it is not possible to carry out repairs, so it is necessary to buy a new ECU on the secondary market or attempt to restore them by downloading data stored on the immobilizer.
Turbocharger
The BorgWarner K03 turbine is the only alternative, and it has a bypass valve, which allows you to output excessive boost to the second circle in the closed position of the throttle.
In general, the reliability of the turbocharger is good, the main thing is the use of quality oil and limited time of operation of an overheated engine. In particular, it is not recommended to immediately shut down the engine after a long drive at high speeds. Practice shows that if these rules are violated, owners often have to face the problem of changing the compressor cartridge.
A rupture of the membrane of the bypass valve is not excluded. In this case, too much air will be discharged from the system, and the turbine operation will be accompanied by a clearly audible whistle.
There are also cases of cracks on the “volute” of the turbine in the area of the bypass valve, but this is still an exception to the rule. The result of the defect is a sharp drop in boost.
The electrovacuum valve (55574902), which is responsible for the operation of the bypass valve actuator, is not very reliable. Being late with the cycles, it does not open the flap in time, after which the system starts to generate an error indicating excessive supercharging. For some time, the supercharging continues even after the driver has released the gas pedal. In this way, the electronics tries to get rid of excess air detected by the sensors.
After the engine is shut off, the error disappears, and when restarting it may not appear, even after the powertrain operation is brought to high revolutions. To cope with the problem, many people try to clean the pressure sensor in the turbine, but in the vast majority of cases, it turns out to have nothing to do with it, and the true cause lies in the operation of the electro-vacuum valve, which ensures the correct cycles of opening/closing the air bypass flap.
Similar problems can occur with the bypass valve, which is controlled by a similarly designed actuator. If there is a malfunction, it simply fails to operate, keeping all the air in the system and causing excessive boost.
Heat exchanger
One of the known problems of Opel engines with a volume of 1.6 liters is the preservation of tightness of the oil cooler. The cause of leaks is the oil channel gaskets that lose elasticity, and this is where the oil starts to leak. In some cases, oil is pressurized into the cooler. You can notice the problem by the formation of a characteristic oily film on the surface of the liquid in the expansion tank.
On average, it is recommended after 150 thousand kilometers of mileage to replace the heat exchanger gaskets with new ones. This approach will help to exclude possible leaks and related more serious malfunctions that require long and expensive repairs.
VAC valve
Among the signature problems of the engine and the reliability of the crankcase ventilation valve, or rather the integrity of its diaphragm. Over time, it begins to crack, manifested by the appearance of a characteristic whistle and deterioration of traction characteristics of the car due to insufficient saturation of the fuel mixture. Fuel detonation may also occur. Replacement of the diaphragm is carried out without major problems, and it is possible to use analog spare parts, although initially Opel engineers considered the possibility of replacement only in a set with a cap.
Dripping from under the valve cover
The tightness of the valve cover is provided by the gasket. Made of rubber of not the highest quality, it rather quickly “blows”, after which oil begins to leak from under it. Depending on where the leak occurs, it can simply go outside the engine circuit or flow into the wells of spark plugs.
Attempts to do with a simple tightening of the bolts in most cases do not yield positive results, and the problem can only be solved by buying and installing a new gasket.
Ignition module
In the “German” engines, a single ignition module is provided for all four coils. Over time, cracks very often begin to appear on its insulators, leading to the destruction of elements. Failure of the insulator is accompanied by skipping of the cylinder for which the destroyed insulator was responsible. All this is accompanied by a strong vibration of the engine and loss of its driving characteristics.
Candles
To avoid unnecessary problems with the operation of the engine 1.6 Turbo, do not save on spark plugs. The appearance of uneven acceleration with characteristic jerks and ignition skips signal the need to check first of all the plugs, it is possible that they have already served their time. Old plugs also negatively affect the fuel efficiency of the engine.
The cylinder-head gasket
Cases of destruction of the gasket between the cylinders are isolated and are not considered as a characteristic defect of the engine. If this happens, the engine will pull very weakly, fuel detonation in the cylinders is possible. Compression measurement is required, along with the loss of cylinder tightness, it will fall below the permissible values.
The fourth cylinder
In general, the Opel 1.6 Turbo engine can not be called successful in terms of reliability, but its last cylinder is considered a real problem. The design of the pistons turned out to be very unsuccessful, and in the fourth cylinder it is also not cooled efficiently enough. The reasons for the temperature rise can be very diverse, up to detonation of low-quality gasoline, but the result remains the same – melting or destruction of the piston. This problem is characteristic regardless of the presence or absence of additional engine firmware.
There is an opinion of experts that pistons installed at Opel services under warranty are of better quality than originals, but for those who faced the problem in the post-warranty period, it is recommended to choose more expensive forged variants.
There are cases when a single acceleration up to 200km/h leads to overheating and a problem with the piston, while in other cases they overcome up to 200 thousand kilometers without problems, without requiring attention. As they say, as luck would have it.
Crankshaft wear
In general, its reliability is good, but occasionally there are situations with abrasion of the main liner, which begins to scroll. With minor damage to the crankshaft journals, you can get by with grinding and installing new liners, reducing the cost of repair.