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[ronnyd]

Nice one, looks far to good to break.

[SP_3.2]

Looks very well, James

and will all the bells and whistles working  .

Once all fix you will have piece of mind knowing that its a good runner and will last 

Nice find 

[Mr Skrunts]

Nice car, would question the garage though.

Upon arrival at their very modern and presentable workshop my fears were soon put to rest. The Omega was outside, and whilst not valeted (I wouldn't expect this) it was clean inside and out and looked presentable. The owners of the garage Marc and Louise were extremely friendly and basically told me they had maintained this car for the last ten years. From what I could gather the ad was written as spares and repairs purely because the car is not in the same league as the modern cars they sell worth tens of thousands.

Never done a cambelt change on it ?

[ronnyd]

Perhaps they were taking the old boys money but doing the bare minimum . The Indy guy who looks after mine knows all the service intervals and does it accordingly.

[JamesV6CDX]

Nice car, would question the garage though.

Never done a cambelt change on it ?

We don't know both sides of the story though - it could be the case that they were breathing down his neck because it needed to be done, but he didn't want to spend several hundred pounds doing it...

It's a shame it's not got a full service history, I think servicing wise it's been a little neglected to be honest, I will be interested to see the state of the filters when they come off

[Andy H]

Nice car, would question the garage though.

Never done a cambelt change on it ?

We don't know both sides of the story though - it could be the case that they were breathing down his neck because it needed to be done, but he didn't want to spend several hundred pounds doing it...

It's a shame it's not got a full service history, I think servicing wise it's been a little neglected to be honest, I will be interested to see the state of the filters when they come off

I would be interested to see the state of the oil pickup. A blocked filter won't starve the engine of oil because there is a spring loaded bypass to allow oil to flow if it does get blocked. A partially blocked strainer is enough to cause cavitation and prevent the pump from lifting the oil from the sump.

[Elite Pete]

So last night I went North to collect my impulse eBay purchase. The ad was brief. The car was described as a 2003 late Elite with Bose and all the toys. Last owner for 11 years, who was an old boy, who very sadly passed away a week ago, and the family wanted the car gone asap.

The car was being sold by "MW Performance" in Cheshire. This company started as a GM specialist garage, and then moved to performance stuff, still largely specialising in Vauxhalls.

The ad for this car stated that it was sold as spares/repairs with possible faults, on the basis they haven't checked the car over properly in their workshop.

I very, very nearly walked after exchanging some messages with the garage, didn't go through with the deal, because, my interpretation of them was such that the car had something wrong with it. For example I sent a message similar to "I know you can't offer any warranty and it's sold as seen, but can you just confirm if it starts and drives without any major faults, such as inability to change gears or serious engine knocks". The response to this was simply "you might be better off looking for something more local to you", which again just didn't fill me with any confidence.

I made the decision regardless, that, for £595, I wouldn't lose even if I were to break it. And I needed something to keep me mobile. So in light of there being not much else around, apart from a 3.0 Manual on ebay (which I suspect will be a rustbucket with dodgey brakes) I went for it.

The garage said on the phone there was a lot of interest (which I believed) and that the first person to pay secured it. For this reason I didn't wait a day, to potentially travel and find it had gone, so I paid in full over the phone.

Upon arrival at their very modern and presentable workshop my fears were soon put to rest. The Omega was outside, and whilst not valeted (I wouldn't expect this) it was clean inside and out and looked presentable. The owners of the garage Marc and Louise were extremely friendly and basically told me they had maintained this car for the last ten years. From what I could gather the ad was written as spares and repairs purely because the car is not in the same league as the modern cars they sell worth tens of thousands.

I needn't have worried, because they were clearly being very honest and just trying not to raise buyers expectations to not expect dealer service and warranties on an old motor.

The drive home was excellent. The 2.6 V6 has absolutely bags of power, possibly the swiftest and smoothest of the baby V6 range I've driven. It's recently had Eibach springs fitted all round, which makes it sit lower than I would ideally like at the front, but it handles much better than you would expect any second hand cheap Omega to - with brand new tyres on the front, and good ones on the back. Brakes pull up well, discs look perfectly serviceable and there is plenty of meat on the pads.

Couple of faults I noted on the way home

- Thermostat is goosed. Stuck open. The car is "overcooling". At 5 deg external temperature, the needle sits just below the 80, and, at 2deg external temp, at motorway speeds, it only just lifts off the bottom. When this happens the heat in the cabin reduces too.

- Warning on the screen for a bulb out. They seem OK, so might just be a false alarm.

- Sticky drivers door lock

Cosmetically the car is very good. As per the pics, there is some surface rust just starting on the rear arches, but they are by no means badly gone, and all of the metal is still solid, so this will be able to be nipped in the bud easily enough once the weather warms up.

Mechanically it's all fine as far as I can tell. All fault lights come on with the ignition and go off upon engine being started. There's no EML lit, not even the precat code issue.

Apologies for the quality of these pics. They are after 200 miles of salty road grime and drizzle, and it was also just starting to snow and poor light, so they don't do the car any justice at all, but will give you a general idea:

Flintshire

Good customers of mine. I would have happily had a look for you, I'm there a couple of times a week. They have a lovely Monza there but they wont sell it to me

[JamesV6CDX]

I did think of you mate, but don't see your posts v much anymore so wasn't sure if you were still about for want of a better expression

Cheers tho. When you next go there please tell them I'm chuffed with it

[JamesV6CDX]

So driving back from a medical appt earlier..... after 300 trouble free miles since purchase....  just died, with no warning at all, about 15 miles from home. Didn't just cut out at idle, died mid rev range in a national speed limit 

Anyhooo.... quick pedal trick - yep, P0335. Crank sensor 

Let it cool, started again, tried to run the gauntlet, but cut out after 5 miles, I then gave up, got a lift home and left her parked in a safe place.

Returned armed with a good crank sensor I happened to have in the garage - now all sorted

There's something to be said for knowing a car, as well as we know these. I'd have been scratching my head with many other cars. But, quick pedal trick, new crank sensor, no garage bills, no being off the road

[X30XE]

So driving back from a medical appt earlier..... after 300 trouble free miles since purchase....  just died, with no warning at all, about 15 miles from home. Didn't just cut out at idle, died mid rev range in a national speed limit 

Anyhooo.... quick pedal trick - yep, P0335. Crank sensor 

Let it cool, started again, tried to run the gauntlet, but cut out after 5 miles, I then gave up, got a lift home and left her parked in a safe place.

Returned armed with a good crank sensor I happened to have in the garage - now all sorted

There's something to be said for knowing a car, as well as we know these. I'd have been scratching my head with many other cars. But, quick pedal trick, new crank sensor, no garage bills, no being off the road

Yeah, knowing the fault is almost as good as erm... having a reliable car   

Might as well put the HBV in the boot now 

[Doctor Gollum]

Hat, coat and gloves are easier to change at the roadside should you need to turn the heating down to stem the leak...

Incidentally, I wonder how many recovery firms would attend to fit a part that you carry in the boot 'just in case'?

Surely feeling the need to carry a part suggests that you either knew or were expecting it to fail... Which in turn implies that you willingly drive the car knowing it could fail at any moment, and therefore nullifying any breakdown cover

Hypothetically speaking of course...

Carrying the spare bits if away from home makes sense as it will keep you mobile with the minimum of fuss

[Andy H]

Spare wheel / tyre ?

I have yet to use the spare wheel in an Omega. I have needed a crank sensor  twice (but I didn't have one with me )

[Bigron]

DG, tyres often fail - hence you carry a spare - and recovery agents are happy to change them, so I think it's ok to carry spares for known problems.

Ron.

[STEMO]

Hat, coat and gloves are easier to change at the roadside should you need to turn the heating down to stem the leak...

Incidentally, I wonder how many recovery firms would attend to fit a part that you carry in the boot 'just in case'?

Surely feeling the need to carry a part suggests that you either knew or were expecting it to fail... Which in turn implies that you willingly drive the car knowing it could fail at any moment, and therefore nullifying any breakdown cover

Hypothetically speaking of course...

Carrying the spare bits if away from home makes sense as it will keep you mobile with the minimum of fuss

If you drive an omega, you know it could fail at any moment. So recovery companies shouldn't really cover them. 

[Mister Rog]

Hat, coat and gloves are easier to change at the roadside should you need to turn the heating down to stem the leak...

Incidentally, I wonder how many recovery firms would attend to fit a part that you carry in the boot 'just in case'?

Surely feeling the need to carry a part suggests that you either knew or were expecting it to fail... Which in turn implies that you willingly drive the car knowing it could fail at any moment, and therefore nullifying any breakdown cover

Hypothetically speaking of course...

Carrying the spare bits if away from home makes sense as it will keep you mobile with the minimum of fuss

If you drive an omega, you know it could fail at any moment. So recovery companies shouldn't really cover them. 

Regrettably, that is exactly why I've given them up, and throwing money at them didn't make any difference as garages don't really understand the concept of preventative maintenance. They fix and replace things when they are broke, not before.