New N16 owner with a problem, please help...

First of all, apologies for posting this if it turns out to be a duplicate but I'm in urgent need of help as im starting to go a little crazy....
I purchased an 03 plate Almera 1.5 S 3 door recently for the bargain sum of 180 pounds (first mistake haha) but it had 11 months MOT and it's only done 112 thou, it has an issue on start up, it needs 1/4-1/2 throttle til it's warmed up then its fine but until then it's lumpy as hell and just dies without throttle. Once warmed up it is remarkably smooth
The previous owner has changed the crank shaft sensor to no avail, the fault code is "0340" which could be a number of things, I'm going to start with the cam sensor....
Yesterday at work i left it running outside to warm it up with a cardboard tube holding down the throttle and it was fine for several minutes, then...it went mental, racing like crazy and it took me about 30 secs to get to it and shut it down, no harm done i don't think, i was able to drive it home with no other issues but my colleague said there was some "glowing" underneath which he researched and came back with a blockage in the cat or elsewhere in the exhaust so, my questions (finally)
1) has anyone else has the "idling" issue that ive got and how did they solve it cam/maf/crank/lamda sensor or blocked exhaust?
2) if it is (also) a blocked exhaust or cat, is a decat an option with regards to emissions

Thank you in advance for your kind help and comments :)
 
Hard cold starting could indicate that the timing chain has stretched. By taking off the rocker cover you should see past the cam gears to inspect the tensioner. Excessive protrusion (10mm+) would confirm this.

You could try changing the cam sensor first.

Glowing cat sounds like it's burning a lot of unburnt fuel. Number of reasons why this would happen but my two cents is that it is related to the misfiring (as you said it's lumpy as hell) and the cold running issue.
 
Hard cold starting could indicate that the timing chain has stretched. By taking off the rocker cover you should see past the cam gears to inspect the tensioner. Excessive protrusion (10mm+) would confirm this.

You could try changing the cam sensor first.

Glowing cat sounds like it's burning a lot of unburnt fuel. Number of reasons why this would happen but my two cents is that it is related to the misfiring (as you said it's lumpy as hell) and the cold running issue.


Thanks for your help :)
Although it has come up a few times already, I can't understand how a stretched cam chain would "go away" once the engine has warmed up?

I'm not dismissing it because it's been suggested before it just doesn't make much sense...
 
A blocked cat/exhaust wouldn't go away when warm either.
Could be lots of things....ecu coolant temp sender, lambda.
CEL ? ....checked for codes?
 
Sorry didn't read that bit. Cam sensor error comes up when chain is out of tolerance.
Take off the cam cover and check the tensioner as already stated.
 
That's great! :)
Be sure to keep changing the engine oil regularly, I've read that maintenance neglect possibly contributes to the chain problems.
I had a little chat with her yesterday and promised her a valet and service if she behaved with her new sensor so that's the next job, fluids and filters
 
Does anyone know the part number for a 1.5 S VVC cam chain kit...I can find the non VVC ones all over the net but can't seem to find a single VVC one anywhere???
 
OK, so i finally got her to a garage after she was refusing to start at all...chain stretched, stretched so far that it had skipped a tooth on the sprocket, waiting for a quote, i was told yesterday it would be about a hundred quid for the chain kit and 4 hours labour, fingers crossed :)
 
Right, got the chain replaced, new fluids and filters and a few other odds and sods...400 quid...it hurt but it could have been a lot worse?! I fought it as long as i could, everyone on here was screaming that it was the chain, everyone at work was telling me it wasn't I did fight your corner and lo and behold you were right...thanks guys :)
Now it's fixed i wanna sort a few other things out, why does my interior light not come on when my door is opened? it does come on but only if you switch it, it looks like there was room for more bulbs in there so i bought some more only to find that although the moulding looks like it was designed for more bulbs, there are no contacts there???
 
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