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[deviator]

I thought I'd start a bit of a project thread, mainly is a reminder for me!

On the 2nd of May I bought this car. 105k




I went straight through the MOT with only basic advisories. As such, I had myself a new daily car.

Today it is insured and tax and ready for the road. Barring an annoying alarm fault to fix.

The job list currently looks like this...
1. Oil change
2. Tyre pressures check
3. Levels check
4. Sort alarm
5. Front brake want swapping (advised)
6. Wash it
7. Shampoo or replace interior. (Not a fan a smell of dog)

Once I've put some miles on it, I'll revisit everything and see where I am at. Then I can start working through the fine guides on here to make sure it's running in tip top condition. Thank you!

[flyer 0712]

If it is the power sounder going off at random...then bin it before it catches fire 

[Toledodude1973]

looks good, i wish i'd gone for an estate now, i've spent too much on my saloon to justify changing

[deviator]

If it is the power sounder going off at random...then bin it before it catches fire 

No noise from the power sounder, I think I better add that to the list.

looks good, i wish i'd gone for an estate now, i've spent too much on my saloon to justify changing

Thanks. I prefer the look of the saloon over the estate, but the level loading area wins for me.

When I bought Oscar I knew the battery was duff. I put a suspected good battery on when I used him. Well Sunday the battery decided to fail on me. Luckily my jumper pack saved the day. Once home, I took a battery from another car and my tools. I again jumped Oscar and dropped a multimeter on the battery, Mrs Deviator pressed the throttle and it kept about 13.8v - which seems a little low for my liking, but should still be working. This is when I realised I had a problem. The vent on the battery was spitting acid out.  like a redneck, I pulled the t-shirt from my back to catch the acid whilst instructing Mrs D to stop the car. Less than a minute later the battery was out, I mopped up as much acid as I could with the t-shirt before washing the area (carefully) with a hose. It has marked my radiator cover, but I somehow feel that is a small price to pay. Today and yesterday has been a lot less eventful.

Overall I am loving the Omega, it just wafts along quietly. Which has a couple of problems in it's self. The first being I have found myself tickling the speed limits without realising, the second is the quietness can occasionally mean I don't notice that I could gear up  No usual knocks, yet, I have picked up on a whine that needs adding to the list, but I can't locate it yet.

Job List
1. Oil change
2. Tyre pressures check
3. Levels check
4. Sort alarm
5. Front brake want swapping (advised)
6. Wash it
7. Shampoo or replace interior. (Not a fan of smell of dog)
8. Whine (firstly F or R)
9. Front seat electrics
10. Powersounder

I've crossed one off and added three!

[Elmstoneboy]

Re: Power sounder

I had a problem with mine in that if I just did a short journey and stopped the engine (went for a takeaway) then the sounder would go off when re-starting the engine, embarrassing.
Turned out to be the battery was old and running at a low voltage, and the starting up first time just drained it a bit more and below the sounder voltage (it thinks the battery is being disconnected)
New battery, problem solved.   
There is a post in the help pages about optimum voltages batteries should be when standing or charging, lights on etc, but not sure where. Maybe somebody could put up a link.
If however its going off random, then get it off quick, the internal batteries leak onto the circuit board and the board shorts across the main battery which can set it alight, as suggested by
flyer 0712.

Nice buy.

[deviator]

Time for an update, I had a bit of time spare tonight after other jobs and thought it'd be a great time to do the oil & filter.
Picture of the rad cover damage 

As I said before, I still consider that lucky.
On to the oil change, I start with 24mm 6pt 1/2 inch drive socket on a ratchet. I progressed up to a 3ft breaker bar. Yep you guessed it, 15Nm means nothing as the filter housing started to spin. My mate has my big FO grips and my other ones just aren't big enough. Then I remembered something I read one here, a chain oil filter wrench, well I can't say who suggested it, but great idea!

I finally got the cap off. I have seen this so many times, each time it makes me wince. WRONGLY FITTED OIL FILTER 

GM Part fitted badly, although I accept I can't blame the dealer. What did annoy me a little, I knew I had the right filter, but the part number on the box didn't match the one I removed. Then I found that the part number on the filter was different to the box and correct. Thanks Vauxhall. I tried to tighten the 12mm allen bolt in the housing up, but it wasn't taking any more pressure.

The cap wasn't much better, in fact I found it scary......

The sludge and crap in there is worrying. I think the sump may need to come off. I cleaned the cap out, sorry no pictures as I was fighting the clock a little.
There is also an oil leak down there that needs investigation. It seems low down. I think the alarm was down to the battery, all good so far, a bit to soon to cross it off the list.

As usual, one job off, three on!

Job List
1. Oil change
2. Tyre pressures check
3. Levels check
4. Sort alarm
5. Front brake want swapping (advised)
6. Wash it
7. Shampoo or replace interior. (Not a fan of smell of dog)
8. Whine (firstly F or R)
9. Front seat electrics
10. Powersounder
11. Lower oil leak.
12. Fit oil canister adaptor.
13. Clean sump out.

[deviator]

Good news! The oil change has seen my commute reach the dizzy heights of 27.2mpg, this can mean only one thing - the gauge tells lies 

[deviator]

Here we go again.....
Job List
1. Oil change
2. Tyre pressures check
3. Levels check
4. Sort alarm
5. Front brake want swapping (advised)
6. Wash it
7. Shampoo or replace interior. (Not a fan of smell of dog)
8. Whine (firstly F or R)
9. Front seat electrics
10. Powersounder
11. Lower oil leak.
12. Fit oil canister adaptor.
13. Clean sump out.
14. Rev needle sticky

Again I cross off one, and add another  I've crossed the alarm off as since changing the battery, not a single false alarm.

On the plus side, I worked out my actual MPG for my work commute and got 27mpg. I can't complain.