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31

Omega General Help / Re: Loosing coolant

« on: 07 March 2024, 17:27:43 »

........
HBV is quite new so not suspecting that either.

I wouldn't completely dismiss the HBV, as my original on my 3.2 lasted around 80K miles but it's replacement lasted less than 5K miles. The replacement was purchased from a main dealer and the box had the hologram on it. The second replacement was still OK when I sold it. Worth checking using the max high temp, max low temp method. 

There did appear to be a duff batch a few years ago, a few people, myself included, got caught out

I did get 2 new ones a couple of years ago with GM numbers on them, hopefully mine's isn't one of the duff batch.

The other snag is that although they're unused, they are still just old.

32

General Car Chat / Re: Signum woes.

« on: 03 March 2024, 11:18:40 »

I thought the ATF was supposed to last the life of the car without the need to change it.

It is. But you'll notice that they don't define the life of the car.

33

Omega General Help / Re: Timing belt kit question

« on: 01 March 2024, 12:26:14 »

Of course it can, as plenty of people do.


But it's much simpler to do than the V6 and the tools for doing it correctly are so cheap, it's hard to understand why you'd even consider doing it without.

34

General Car Chat / Re: £25 million for this ugly bastard

« on: 29 February 2024, 18:20:04 »

For the more dignified approach you can pick up a usable old Silver shadow for less than £10,000.

A sub £10,000 Shadow will only look like a car. A very scruffy, rusty one with expensive(everything is expensive on a Shadow) mechanical faults. It's a pity, because a good one drives like a large American car that was built properly

35

Omega General Help / Re: Head gasket?

« on: 29 February 2024, 15:27:25 »

Head gasket replacement is a lot of work, and money in parts. Consequently, you need to be sure it's the problem.


That means spending some time, and probably money, on proper diagnosis.


The chemicals that check for combustion gases in the coolant are probably the place to start as they're quick, cheap and easy to use without any dismantling.


I'd do a pressure check on the cooling system for similar reasons, although you need to remove the spark plugs and check the bores with a camera to be thorough.


A leak down test is the definitive method, but requires some costly kit and a lot of time - you could probably lift the heads off a Ford OHV V6 in the time to do this test on an X30.


My 3.0l exhibited similar symptoms, in that it only lost water after switching off, but briefly produced noticeable steam from the exhaust when restarted from cold. The cause was failure of the gasket at rear of the RH cylinder head, although the LH one wasn't much better - that cylinder was cleaner than the other two, unlike the RH which looked like it had been steam cleaned.

36

General Car Chat / Re: £25 million for this ugly bastard

« on: 29 February 2024, 12:56:19 »

The sort of think Lewis Hamilton or some wealthy yank rapper would own.

Rolls Royces were always bought by people needing to show off their cash.

37

General Car Chat / Re: £25 million for this ugly bastard

« on: 29 February 2024, 12:34:43 »

Looks like what you'd get from rear ending a Rolls with a 911 and running out of filler halfway through blending the bits together.

38

General Car Chat / Re: Can I buy one?

« on: 27 February 2024, 15:00:36 »

This is exactly right. It's all very well saying you should run an older XYorZ but when any kind of minor repair at a garage, or even routine items like suspension bushes runs well into three figures it makes much less sense to buy cheaper older cars.

For a lot of people a £500 bill (easily achieved these days) will quickly become £6-700 by the time the credit card company has had its due.

Economics like these are why large and expensive cars always depreciated quickly, before their value dropped through the floor for the third or fourth owner. The problem now is that all cars have the complicated, expensive and unreliable 'extras' that was only fitted on the high-end stuff. Which makes the margins extra thin for an ordinary car, so even a car less than ten years old can easily need a couple of four figure jobs(£1000 clutches, £1500 timing belts, water damaged electrics etc, etc) that previous owners wouldn't pay for. Just consider what we used to recommend for a 15 year old £1000 Omega, but triple the cost and time involved to do the work at £75/hour.

39

General Car Chat / Re: Can I buy one?

« on: 27 February 2024, 13:20:56 »

The few I MOTed looked okay but the interior was nasty cheap plastic, not sure if they have got better with the new ones.

.


I suppose if you're on a bit of a tight budget & your after a new/newish car they're perfect.

That's moronic.

If you're on a tight budget you don't buy a newish anything.

A tight budget doesn't necessarily mean small. It does mean that you can't have any unexpected expenses, which for a car requires a long and extensive warranty. Which means as new as you can manage.


New MGs(and Dacias, Hyundais, Toyotas etc) are not meant for the buyers who obsess about 0-60 times, have to upgrade the radio or think that paying £600 extra to have the seat stitching done in platinum rather than titanium coloured thread is good value(or even discernible). The first group are the majority of buyers, the second take their middle aged crisis to BMW, Audi dealers. Those with a real problem will head to Porsche for a real wallet kicking with extra condecension

40

General Car Chat / Re: Might be of imterest JLR independant garage

« on: 27 February 2024, 10:42:51 »

And we still hear that Germans don't have a sense of humour. Who else would consider putting an inadequate chain, running on shitty plastic guides, poorly fed with dirty oil, at the back of the engine a good idea?


Unfortunately, every other engineer who can't resist complications has decided to join in the fun.


I dropped several BMWs with timing chain issues at the dealer just around the corner from that independent, and the yardman tried to keep a space in the car park for them. That space was under the sign with the then current slogan  BMW, the value of perfect engineering. It's difficult to see the value in common, severe failures on engines with <10,000 miles. As for Mercedes, that was the dealer we all went to the most.

41

General Car Chat / Re: Cadilac Catera 3.0 V6 is it worth to buy for fun or collection ?

« on: 26 February 2024, 12:28:01 »

Yes but mileage is low. So its interesting what belt is inside
About UK market I think the same.

The timing belt problem isn't a problem, and is eliminated by correctly fitting a new belt kit. That's a routine maintenance item, that should have already been done several times on a twenty plus year-old car.


Note the emphasis on correctly


Here in the UK, I suspect a Catera would be worth even less than a similar Omega due to it being left hand drive.

Timing belt replacement is done on a mileage and time schedule; the requirement is whichever comes first. Personally, I'm happy with being a bit looser on the time and fairly strict on the mileage.

And, probably for the first time ever, I completely agree with Stemo , it's an hour's work and £100(probably, I haven't priced one recently) in parts

42

General Car Chat / Re: Can I buy one?

« on: 26 February 2024, 10:55:01 »

This garage is probably a lot cheaper if you're looking for something to blow up? 

I w2as, of course, referring to one of their cars, rather than the garage.  I can't see selling Rovers is a long term business in 2024

True, but the current MGs are very popular.

43

General Car Chat / Re: Cadilac Catera 3.0 V6 is it worth to buy for fun or collection ?

« on: 26 February 2024, 10:53:15 »

The timing belt problem isn't a problem, and is eliminated by correctly fitting a new belt kit. That's a routine maintenance item, that should have already been done several times on a twenty plus year-old car.


Note the emphasis on correctly


Here in the UK, I suspect a Catera would be worth even less than a similar Omega due to it being left hand drive.

44

General Car Chat / Re: Breakdown cover

« on: 22 February 2024, 17:38:03 »

.....

He decided to ignore all his own warnings about towing and towed me home 1/2 mile rather than call in a pick up truck. We went very slowly but I hope my trans is OK.  ....

it's ok to tow an auto 1/2 mile 

Upto a certain speed.

In theory you can tow start an auto but you need to have your wits about you.

These things are all possible. But actual data relating to distances or speeds that are safe is lacking.
Which is why not towing automatics is the sensible, rational approach.

45

General Discussion Area / Re: What a bargain!

« on: 20 February 2024, 12:29:33 »

Its the last one you go to that you can worry about!

S'pose I *HAVE* to turn up to that one!

There's still a chance the hearse will break down on the way to the crematorium. Although with your reputation, a burial might be safer....