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5131

Omega General Help / Re: manual gearbox

« on: 08 November 2009, 21:38:25 »

Vauxhall gearboxes are prefixed R for rear wheel drive (& longitudinal engine) or F for front wheel drive (& transverse engine). The number is the torque rating (in 10's of Nm)

The Saab is based on a Vectra so it will be front wheel drive and have an F28 gearbox.

I didn't know that Saab did an AWD version. If it is like the Volkswagen the drive to the rear wheel s will be taken from the back of the crown wheel of a FWD gearbox via a viscous coupling.

5132

Omega General Help / Re: Antifreeze

« on: 08 November 2009, 10:49:57 »

What's with this Red or Blue...or whatever anyway ?    :-?

Antifreeze doesn't have any obvious colour so the manufacturers add dye to identify it.

Generally Blue = standard antifreeze
Red/pink = long life antifreeze

Vauxhall genuine longlife antifreeze is pink. Mixing different types of antifreeze is not recommended

5133

Omega General Help / Re: Antifreeze

« on: 07 November 2009, 19:04:39 »

If you drain the coolant using the radiator drain there will be 4.5 litres of old coolant left in the block and heater matrix.

I think the idea of the advice given by Haynes to disconnect a heater hose is that you can use a garden ose to flush through the block & heater matrix which will give you 4.5 litres of fresh water in the block and heater matrix. If you add 5 litres of coolant you should then have a cooling system full of fresh water/coolant mix at slightly more than 50/50 strength

The alternatives are
1. to remove the water pump (not such a daft idea if you are fitting a cam belt kit) to completely drain the block.
2. to fill with water, run till the thermostat opens then drain. You would need to do this 3 or 4 times flush most of the blue antifreeze out.
3. Use the technique described here http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1167917774 which strikes me as being wasteful of antifreeze and damaging to the environment (sorry Tunnie)

5134

Omega General Help / Re: Leaking Oil Pressure Switch

« on: 01 November 2009, 10:08:30 »

Does the oil go to the oil filter after going to the pressure switch?

Obviously you will want to keep the quantity of swarf going into the oilway to a minimum but a tiny amount shouldn't do any harm if the filter captures it before it can get into the system.

5135

Omega General Help / Re: Omega auto box. Modulator or No ???

« on: 03 November 2009, 10:32:30 »

ive seen some were that there is a rev counter for the auto box or somthing like that will change gear when rev's hit a certen speed have you had a look at that, it neds to be right so the gear will change, think some one said he had to leave the engine running for 5 min before he could drive it as would not do anthing until then, he changed the sencor and works fine again.

What :-?

As said earlier, its normal but a pain, I used to leave the car idle for a while before setting off

So the handbook says that the engine is allowed to rev higher before gear changing to aid warm up. Somebody else has said that they changed a sensor to fix a problem.

Logically that would have to be a temperature sensor. If still working but giving an incorrect reading it might not flag up an error code so you would need access to tech2 or "My Naff Code Reader" to see what sensor was giving a garbage reading.

My 2.6 auto revs to about 2000rpm when I first pull away but seems to be almost normal after about 100 yards. It might behave differently when winter sets in 

5136

Omega General Help / Re: Stat?

« on: 03 November 2009, 20:03:27 »

Sounds very much like the thermostat.

I changed mine last month, the symptoms were a little bit worse (it wanted to run at about 70degC). With the new stat it runs between 85 and 90degC.

Fuel economy is better now too.

5137

Omega General Help / Re: Air suspension not working/car bouncing all over

« on: 07 October 2009, 16:03:03 »

Are the steel springs fitted to a car with self levelling suspension weaker than standard? If you choose option 2. then do you also need to fit heavier springs?

5138

Omega General Help / Re: outside temperature censor

« on: 03 November 2009, 18:05:12 »

Or simply not plugged in.

Until I discovered that it was easier to pull the sensor out of the grommet than it was to unplug the plug there were a couple of occasions after I had refitted the front bumper when I forgot to reconnect the sensor afterwards.

5139

Omega General Help / Re: Engine Seized ?

« on: 21 October 2009, 17:24:12 »

I suspect a siezed aircon pump (or another ancillary) resulting in the belt slipping and smoking.

This would give to much strain to allow the starter motor to crank the engine once it had been stopped.

My alternative snap diagnosis was based on
They didn't say it wouldn't start
They did say 'no dash lights came on' (dash lights would be on when it isn't running).

I was thinking that the 'suggested engine seized' was the kind of helpful  advice you get from passers by with a warped sense of humour....

5140

Omega General Help / Re: Engine Seized ?

« on: 21 October 2009, 17:06:19 »

I suspect a siezed aircon pump (or another ancillary) resulting in the belt slipping and smoking.

This would give to much strain to allow the starter motor to crank the engine once it had been stopped.

Agreed

There must be an art to accurate diagnosis based on almost no information (except the owners level of pain). What people don't say seems to tell us more than what they do

5141

Omega General Help / Re: Engine Seized ?

« on: 21 October 2009, 16:56:44 »

Was it still running?
No unusual noises?
Temperature gauge reading normally?

Sounds like cam cover gasket dripping oil on the exhaust manifold TBH

5142

Omega General Help / Re: Multiple problems or am I an idiot?

« on: 29 October 2009, 08:35:55 »

True.

See www.carsurvey.org   

The link does work if you lose the trailing space http://www.carsurvey.org/

5143

Omega General Help / Re: Front wheel lateral movement

« on: 31 October 2009, 09:52:31 »

After 200,000 miles my last omega had had many components replaced but the steering box was fine.

Parts that were replaced several times were:
lower balljoint
track rod balljoint
wishbone bushes

I would start by checking the lower balljoint given your description of the problem.

5144

Omega General Help / Re: phone

« on: 22 October 2009, 14:23:43 »

damn will get a o2 simcard then only got 3 network ones that are credit card size at the mo

Doesn't 3 fall back to GSM on the O2 network if they cannot find a 3G signal?

You might get lucky with a 3 sim card (though more likely that the Vauxhall phone will not recognise it at all)

5145

Omega General Help / Re: phone

« on: 22 October 2009, 13:35:11 »

I think the original big two companies (Vodaphone & Cellnet/O2) got to use GSM900 and then the newcomers (121/TMobile & Orange) got GSM1800.

I think the phone in the Omega is just GSM900 (ie the origiinal band used for GSM mobile phones).