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106

Cars for Sale & wanted / For Sale, 2003 Elite, Colour Nav, Telematics, 136k, New Cambelt Kit + Full MOT

« on: 07 April 2017, 13:33:24 »

Here on sale is my 2003 '03' Vauxhall Omega 2.6 V6 Elite (MF03 ODX).

FULL MOT with no advisories which expires on 18th March 2018.
136k miles
Automatic Transmission
Colour Screen with full computer display and (working) integral Satnav
Full Telematics - The car has it's own Sim card and hands free kit built into the computer
6 x CD Changer
Full Leather
17 inch Alloys in good condition (Rear tyres excellent, fronts still well above legal tread depths) with no uneven wear.
Front and Rear heated seats
Air Conditioning and Climate Control

The owner prior to me, Mr Gatward, was an elderly gentleman, and sadly passed away, which was the reason the Omega was available for me to purchase. He had owned the car since 15th March 2006, so almost from new. Since 2006, he and I have been the only owners, so aside of the first three years, almost the entire life of the car is accounted for. Sadly, I do not believe there is a full service history, as Mr Gatward had the car serviced at an independent garage, rather than a dealer (MW Performance, a GM Specialist in Chester).

There are NO previous MOT advisories for corrosion in the history of the car, as can be seen when checking online. There was one for slight corrosion to brake pipes last year, but not this year. The pipes looked as good as new so I can only assume they have been done (or thinking about it maybe the previous tester was picky)

In February this year, less than 1000 miles ago, I carried out the following work personally:

Cambelt KIT replacement with water pump and aux belt and aux belt tensioner

Thermostat replacement - the heat in the cabin was slightly cool due to the old 'stat being a bit lazy. I have replaced this with a genuine quality part and it now reaches and maintains a perfect temperature.

Antifreeze flush and replacement - At the same time as the cambelt

Oil and filter change using Genuine GM Fully Synthetic Oil with full crankcase breather clean

Air and fuel filter replacements

New GM spark plugs x 6

In addition to this I also replaced both wiper blades for the MOT.

Invoices in my posession include:

18 March 2008 - 91,435 miles - Full Eibach Suspension Kit Fitted plus full alignment - £473.53
23 Oct 2008 - Service - 94,997 - £76.49
2 Sept 2009 - 99,569 miles - Replacement Rocker Cover and spark plugs - £323.66
15 June 2010 - 103,590 miles - Camshaft sensor £105.75
1st June 2011 - 108,311 miles - Crankshaft sensor replacement - £69.85
18 January 2013 - Service - 116,212 miles -  £126.22
7 August 2013 - 119,649 miles - ignition barrel replaement £95.02
25 June 2015 - 129,079 miles - Alternator replacement £254.16

Issues:

1) The Paintwork on the top of the rear bumper appears faded. I didn't notice until I was told when I bought the car.

2) There is some slight cosmetic surface rust appearing under the arch on the rear offside. See pic.

3) When you first set off in the morning, the Satnav CD sometimes ejects itself. If you pop it back in, it stays in, and works without a problem.

4) When for example in a car park, at very low speeds, if you corner on full right lock and apply the brakes at the same time, a creaking noise can be heard. I have not been able to identify what this is! The wishbone bushes are all in good shape, and no play or wear can be identified anywhere. I asked the garage about this, who couldn't find it either, and neither was it identified on the recent MOT.

5) There is an error on one of the previous MOT certificates. If you check the certificates, on the GOV.uk website, you will see that the mileage steadily increases at each MOT, but on one year goes back to a lower mileage. The subsequent ones are all correct. This is almost certainly just a human error, as there are no indications whatsoever to suggest the mileage has been altered - especially given that, this was all during the ownership of the previous elderly gent.

6) Lazy drivers door lock. Fine on the key, but doesn't usually work with the remote. Also I only have one key.

Purchased by me with a short MOT for £600. To account for the cambelt kit and other work done plus the full MOT I am asking for £1000. Please do not comment on the price etc if you have no interest - this is a nice example and I'm in no rush to part 

107

General Discussion Area / No longer a man of leisure!

« on: 16 March 2017, 20:18:22 »

Yesterday marked ten months to the day when I broke my spine (among other injuries) in an RTC at work.

As is natural with such an injury I have been off work for a long time with both the physical and psychological impact of such an event, and due to the nature of emergency services work, I have had my progress reviewed several times with the work's doctor.

My medical certificate from the consultant runs until 19 April, however, by mutual agreement with the doctor, my return date was changed to yesterday, 15 March. I think part of getting him to agree to the early return was the fact I explained how have been keeping very active and improving my health and fitness.

The agreement was that I would work in the office, until such a time a course becomes available for me to enrol on, for my annual fitness test and personal safety techniques annual re-certification, which had long since expired.

By pure chance, I managed to gatecrash on a course at short notice today, well ahead of schedule, and passed them without any problems.

So tomorrow is my first day back out on the roads

Work have insisted on a phased return, so this set I will do 50% of my usual hours, next set 60%, and so on, until I am back up to my normal hours. There are a few other supportive measures in place, for example I will not be expected to crew alone etc, until we know I am coping OK with everything.

Nervous, excited, happy, never thought I would see the day! Still yet to be seen that I will cope with all of the physical demands and carrying the kit for the full hours, but, as I said to the doctor, I will never know until I try - and try I am ready to do.

I don't start until late afternoon tomorrow, so a couple of real ales are coming out to celebrate

108

General Car Chat / Possible O ring in sump. Argh!

« on: 13 March 2017, 15:24:44 »

The dipstick tube was getting in the way of locating the TDC locking pin. So I decided it was coming out.

It came out with a bit of a wiggle (hardly any force at all), and the first thing I noticed was no "O ring" on the end of it.

I had a look around on the ground immediately thinking "don't have fallen into the sump"!

I found a broken rubber seal under the car which, looks like it may have been for the dipstick tube.

Inserting it into the hole, it certainly looks as though it's where it's come from.

As you can see from the picture however, if this is the seal, there is still a piece broken off / missing. I found a couple of other tiny bits of rubber and I couldn't tell you whether or not they were from this seal.

My worry is that the broken bit may have fallen into the sump, worst case scenario.

My gut feeling is that, given most of the seal is still intact, if there were a small amount dropped in, then it wouldn't get past the screen or cause any problems and would probably just break up and end up in the filter in tiny particles.

Any thoughts?

I'm off to the dealers shortly to pick up a new dipstick tube seal, so I can compart it against the bit I found.

I wish I knew what was wrong with me, I am losing confidence by the day, and today I've achieved the grand total of sod all other than creating more worries 

109

General Car Chat / TDC query

« on: 13 March 2017, 14:45:49 »

Beemer again.

With the "crank tdc locking pin fitted" the crank can still be spun a fair few degrees each way to the point it's not that accurate. Guessing an Ill fitting pattern tool (laser).

With it fitted, the highest piston 1 will go is flush with the block.

Without it fitted, piston 1 will go a bit higher and protude from the block a couple of mm.

Does that mean the TDC locking pin is not true TDC?

I always thought TDC was when the piston was as far as possible from the crank ?

110

General Car Chat / Thank you

« on: 12 March 2017, 20:44:47 »

Just wanted to extent a genuine thanks to everyone who has contributed to my threads asking for second opinions, etc on my BMW overhaul.

I really struggle with patience and motivation with such tasks these days, and only enjoy doing mechanical work in really short doses (2 hours max usually). This has been the case since my accident / physical limitations.

So far, the BMW has been off the road for a couple of months, and I'm no further than removing the head and lapping in the valves. Goodness knows how long it'll take me to put it all together.

But, if it weren't for the encouragement here, I would have probably had the thing towed away to make dog food tins by now.... so cheers

111

General Car Chat / Valve won't seat!

« on: 12 March 2017, 16:06:22 »

So I have lapped all of the 24 valves in my cylinder head. And have refitted them all.

To test that they are seating correctly, I have filled the ports with paraffin, and have left it some time.

All of the valves are sealed correctly, apart from the no1 exhaust valve. I've tried a couple of times now carefully lapping again with some fine paste, but when I refit it and fill the port, the fluid gently drips out from the valve seat.

There is a nice clean ring around the valve from lapping as expected. There is also one in the seat, although less so - the seat is more shiny.

I can't refit it in this condition, as it would lose compression (and being a diesel it relies on this more than a petrol) - and also might cause it to burn out early.

Any ideas? I'm just off to Halfords to buy some more paste 

I guess in reality I could take it to the machine shop, I doubt it'd be too expensive just to fit one new seat.... but I've got 23 of them to seat properly... surely I can sort the last one?

Had to walk away for a bit, back aches from leaning over it and I'm getting fed up with it 

112

General Car Chat / Bore damage. Game over for BMW?

« on: 10 March 2017, 17:59:04 »

Just doing final clean before refitting head hopefully tomorrow. Span the engine by hand to wipe the bores clean.

Found this.

Gutted doesn't come close to covering it.

113

General Car Chat / You can say "I told you so".......

« on: 20 February 2017, 22:27:46 »

..... But, I have never had a new(er) car, and it was too good a deal to pass by

2.0 TDCi, 6 Speed, one careful (family) owner and 60k miles with FSH.









The only mark of note, was this one:



Having decided I couldn't do any worse than the chap who murdered the MV6 door, I had a go myself:



Reset the trip computer before heading home, and after the 40 mile trip (all twisties and backroads) the display was reading 49mpg.

114

Omega General Help / Creak/Knock on braking, bad on full lock

« on: 14 February 2017, 21:52:25 »

My 2.6 Elite has a funny noise.

Braking (steering at any angle) once the braking force has been applied for a little while, if it's firm braking, you will hear a sort of "knock" or creak noise as a one off

If you steer on a full right lock (or a significant amount of right steering) and brake, there's a "knock knock knock" coming from the right. It's loud.

Steering box doesn't appear loose and the bushes and joints all appear free from play both loaded and unloaded.

Any ideas? Top mounts have crossed my mind, not sure how to test them. I can see when I turn the wheels with the bonnet up, they move about a bit, but I don't know much of this is normal.

Any ideas? It isn't linked to roadspeed and nothing is fouling that I can tell. Sadly my knowledge of suspension fault finding is only basic.

Hoping the MOT will pick it up

115

General Car Chat / Mondeo valuation

« on: 11 February 2017, 19:45:11 »

I'd rather not go into the details, but to cut a long story short a relative of ours has become a little unwell and is no longer able to drive. He has offered us first refusal on his car. None of us have any idea of it's true value, so thought I would post here for opinions on both the motor itself, and it's potential value. It will be offered at a family rate, but equally I don't want to take the piss.

The car is a 2010 plate Mondeo 2.0 Diesel (dunno which spec) manual. No idea on service history. About 80k miles. MOT expires in April, advisories on last one for brake discs and pads. The aircon is inoperative - maybe just in need of a top up. 2 or 3 previous owners. Otherwise extremely tidy and although I haven't yet driven it, I'm told it drives spot on. Last year the engine light was on a lot with no apparent drop on in performance, but I think it's now gone off. I'm not sure it was ever investigated or a conclusion found.

I wouldn't normally look twice, but as from next month I am likely to be doing 70 miles a day for work, so the alleged combined 62mpg online is quite appealing. Has been used to tow a 2 birth caravan for the last 4 years but only on a couple of long trips each year.

Any thoughts on both the car, and what a sensible offer would be, would be very appreciated

116

General Car Chat / BMW 530d Overhaul Thread - With Pictures

« on: 27 January 2017, 21:35:32 »

I've created this thread to record and share the progress of my BMW 530 repair, mainly in pictures.

I must start by saying that I don't have any experience of working on BMW's whatsoever, I don't have so much as a Haynes book, and am working from instinct only - so sorry if anything I write is wrong - and don't rely on it being correct!

The car is my trusty W plate 2000 e39 BMW 530d with 175,000 on the clock. It's the 3 litre straight 6 commonrail diesel.

The turbo began whining a few weeks ago, it's got steadily worse, and the turbo is now throwing oil into the inlet at quite a rate, so it's had to be taken off the road for repair.

Yes most folk are saying just scrap it, but A) It's an absolutely solid car, I've spent a lot on getting suspension etc up to scratch, and I think it's worth saving. It makes more financial sense to spend, say £500 fixing it, as opposed to buying a replacement with a whole list of unknowns.

Additionally, I need a challenge, and to broaden my mechanical horizons away from Omegas, and learn new things. And I've nothing to lose by learning on this one!

The problem with the car, is the turbo. The project is to strip stuff down, replace the turbo with a new one, and also the exhaust manifold whilst it's stripped, and to carry out a swirl flap removal procedure. I also at the same time will investigate why it's losing coolant. (It never overheats).

So, armed with a toolbox I opened the bonnet, and was faced with something that looked like this. (Note, this is a stock photo, as I forgot to take a picture before removing the engine cover. Apart from the first one, all other pictures are mine, taken today:




Then, I removed the cosmetic engine cover, and it looked like this:





Next step was to remove the inlet manifold, which needs to come off for both the exhaust manifold change, and in order to change the swirl flaps. Note the kitchen roll in all of the inlet ports. You have to be very careful getting the manifold off, because there are several rubber washers mounted on the underside of it, with metal inserts, that can easily fall into the inlet ports. Note the kitchen roll in the inlets, as soon as I had access to them:







Next step was the removal of the pipe which goes from the air filter assembly to the turbo. The job of this pipe is to carry ambient air after it's been through the air filter, to the turbo, ready for cooling and compressing:





Next, off with the charge pipe, which carries compressed air from the turbo, into the intercooler:





Now, I remove the radiator cowling and viscious fan. I don't think this is scrictly necessary, but for five minutes work it seemed like a good idea to get much better access to stuff. I found that by removing the two turbo pipes first, I could let my viscious spanner rest against the metal casing of the vacuum pump, which then nicely locked the water pump and gave me two hands to grunt off the fan (The thread of which is reverse to most bolts):





This is the offside cabin filter, needed to remove the air filter assembly and rocker cover:





Now all of that rubbish is out of the way - we can start to at least see the turbo, and where it lives:





Next job is to remove the top cover for the air filter, as below. Just a few alan key type bolts, and it lifted off:





And with the cover removed, you now see the air filter:

117

General Car Chat / Please can someone lend me...

« on: 27 January 2017, 10:16:16 »

A V6 locking kit?

I have had mine for ten years, and I now cannot find it anywhere. Last time I had it, was when working on the MV6 in the autumn. I have searched so hard for it, that I have nowhere else to look, and I will need it in the coming days to change the cambelt on my Elite, which is looking like the original from when it was new in 2003 

I cannot help but wonder if it has been nicked by an opportunist, as when I work on the drive I have a habit of leaving my tools out when I pop inside  - it's extremely doubtful where I live, but running out of other ideas.

Hopefully I am considered trustworthy enough on here  but I will gladly pay deposit if required, tracked courier either way etc.

Thanks in advance 

118

General Car Chat / My Unseen eBay Elite

« on: 26 January 2017, 17:44:01 »

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:

119

General Car Chat / That sinking feeling of doom

« on: 25 January 2017, 14:53:30 »

Does anyone else get a feeling of "what have I done" when you're nearly 4 hours into a one-way train fare, buying a cheap old Omega totally unseen, wondering "is it even going to get me home"     

I'll let you know at about midnight 

120

Cars for Sale & wanted / Wanted

« on: 24 January 2017, 16:22:33 »

 Close to bucks as possible. Omega with couple of months MOT and in safe condition. Cosmetics and history not important, it's a stopgap while I fix the beemer and will then be broken or scrapped