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76

General Car Chat / Re: V6 - Head Gasket Failure

« on: 28 February 2014, 07:49:06 »

Get a.n.other header tank cap, drill and fit a tyre valve. then use that to pressurise the cooling system whilst it is not running ... far easier to find the true source of leaks when nothing is rotating or vibrating .. you can also use paper towel to wipe away traces of coolant and see if they reappear from the same spot...

Never heard of this before, sounds genius though. Definalty going to adapt one of my spare header tank caps incase i ever need to try this

Just make sure if you are using a compressor to turn down the pressure before hooking up. There is a pressure figure I cannot remember, but its not much.

0,5...1 bar should do it, more will blow off something 

77

Omega General Help / Re: Petrol flap

« on: 26 February 2014, 08:27:34 »

Parts number guru, super bloke

And a picture guru! He seems to have a picture of every single part of an Omega

78

Omega General Help / Re: estate rear wiper blade

« on: 12 February 2014, 13:41:17 »

Took me some time to realise that the only wiper to use on the estate's is a genuine GM one, have tried lots, branded and cheapoo, GM is the only one ive found that is good enough. But a full set of GM blades on TC is peanuts anyway,and they work well,and don't seem to lift off at 70mph(officer)

I can agree this, have tried several blades of various brands until I realized that the original part is really special, it is curved from factory to fit the glass. Unluckily they have (at least here) replaced this original blade with some Corsa blade which is NOT the same even though the lenght matches.

As the blade body seems to hold together better than the blade I have renewed only the rubber blade to existing body with good results.

79

Omega General Help / Re: Battery / ignition light on with key out

« on: 11 February 2014, 07:35:00 »

I replaced once an brush/regulator pack to an Omega (pattern part) and it did that same occasionally; batt light flashed and/or went on for a few seconds after turning off the engine. Have so far not found any reason for it, seems it's because opf the pattern regulator.

80

Omega Electrical and Audio Help / Re: Canbus

« on: 07 February 2014, 13:16:58 »

The Drive-By-Wire Omega uses CAN between the Engine, Gearbox and ABS ECUs (also some other components if the mythical ESP option is present).

Trying to think if some of the head units use CAN between display and head unit / telematics? Might be another setup I'm thinking of.

.. but the Omega doesn't use CAN comprehensively as some newer cars do to integrate all control units.

What is so mythical about the ESP 

Ok, I know they never introduced ESP in UK but some of the latest ones in other countries have that. As mine does. Useless thing as it is way too agressive and very sharp in action... would change it to normal TC and might even do some work to have it "de-graded" but it seems I'd be changing the whole lot: ABS unit + ECU, some other things I'm not yet aware of, reprogramming etc etc....

81

Omega General Help / Re: Engine rattle??

« on: 05 February 2014, 09:55:01 »

Have not so far seen/heard a 2,6 which would run as sweet as 2,5/3,0 (not too many 3,2 here so can not tell). Also 2,6 seems to vibrate more than its predecessors, they knock, rattle, whine, no matter how well maintained. Just poor engines, peculiar design in many spots, they all use some oil, they tend to leak something even with reasonable mileage etc etc.

82

Omega General Help / Re: Rear Wheel Bearing

« on: 24 January 2014, 12:08:43 »

That shows that everyone has different and ideas of what they will put up with. I wouldn't get involved in the extra hassle of removing the arm just to change a wheelbearing. By the time you've removed the shock and spring, undone the mounting bolts and wrestled with a bloody heavy, awkward chunk of metal, you'd easily have the drive flange off, hub removed and finished swearing at the circlip. Possibly even got as far as cutting the outer race off the hub.

I do wonder about the uneccesarily complex design though. Granada's/Sierras use a similar setup that has the hubnut on the outside, combines the hub and the drive flange. Which makes servicing it much easier.

How do you cut the outer race? Not easy I'd say, esp. if it has rusted solid, you can not tell when you are cutting the hub... and you can not reach the end of the race due the collar in the back of the hub (where the bearing stops).

83

Omega General Help / Re: Rear Wheel Bearing

« on: 24 January 2014, 10:56:39 »

I believe they're ~£50 on Trade (or Trade Club) from Vx, somewhere in that region.. as for how hard the job is, ask me again in a few weeks

I'm sure I've also read that people have had non-genuine bearings fail within a few hundred miles (Entwood, maybe?)..

Fronts

Ah .. well I was half right! Rear non-genuine OK then as long as it's a decent make (SKF etc)?

Half right, half wrong all of you Here's facts I have found out the hard way:
- never ever fit any un-branded or pattern wheel bearings except SKF or FAG
- pattern rear ones will not tighten, inner races are not correct, have seen patterns fail within weeks and done a few twice due to this issue of not able to tighten them enough and learnt my lesson
- AFAIK original rear bearings are FAG, seems that FAG is identical part so most probably either of those companies produce the part and they are branded for the other
- fronts are dead easy to change but still I'd recommend SKF or FAG
- rears can be VERY difficult to change, that's why ONLY SKF or FAG, you just do not want to do it "in vain"
- rears are doable, you just have to be determined to do it. Very simple task, only outer race can be tight if it has rusted solid to hub. Doable under the car, though if I ever do this again I will start by taking the whole arm out.

One question to you experts, how on earth is the outer rear suspension arm bolt supposed to come off? It hits the floorpan/sill when removing and only violence can make the arm pop out. Still easier than working under the car if the bearing race is solid on the hub...

84

Omega General Help / Re: Major oil leak

« on: 22 January 2014, 05:55:34 »

Car is back on the road again, it was the cam cover gasket that leaked, replaced both sides and oil remains inside the engine. Quite a mess as oil was all over the place.

Wonder why it leaked? As said, breathers were clean. One assumption is that the "breather-unit" behind right-hand head had some moisture inside and the rubber diaphram inside it was frozen?

85

Omega General Help / Re: Major oil leak

« on: 21 January 2014, 12:41:41 »

Thanks, will check that also. Though when my cooler was opened the pipes were detached from the connections near oil filter. But you'll never know... But then again, would it not loose oil pressure in that case?

86

Omega General Help / Major oil leak

« on: 21 January 2014, 09:00:09 »

Yesterday morning, minus 25 degrees Celsius, driving to work and suddenly left side of engine bay is full of oil. Blown cam cover gasket was the first assumption, which can be right. Could not tell looking at the gasket while removing the covers. They look intact. Mystery starts here: the breather system is clean as a whistle! Some oil residue, yes, nothing else, no crud, no mayo anywhere. Down inside air intake, in the bottom of bagpipe system, some moisture was found, mainly water I think, but nothing to block anything.

Question is: what else could be leaking? If it was oil filter housing or oil cooler hoses the oil pressure would have dropped? Head gasket would leak water?

I have never ever seen nor heard an Omega suffering from frozen breathers, Vectra C with 3,2 engines do have this problem but never an Omega. Also never in my past this has occured and it has been colder around here and also have had non-serviced breathers on Omegas which have survived the winter.

Yesterday it took some two hours to wash the engine and clean all parts up, today I'm planning to put in new (GM) cam cover gaskets and o-rings with some black goo, fill up the oil and see if it is cured. Only two years back the gaskets were replaced and breathers have been cleaned at least once since that. 

87

Omega General Help / Re: gearbox ratios

« on: 09 January 2014, 07:58:23 »

that doesn't list 2.0L 2.5L and 3.0L

That's because its model year 2001 onwards ....  but AFAIK the gearbox didn't change so the ratios are the same for the equivalent cars

Auto boxes did change to DBW cars, at least in AR25 where first and second gear ratios are different. Can not remember or find the figures but that still is a fact

88

Omega General Help / Re: C0131

« on: 08 January 2014, 14:09:17 »

Thanks. You mean the switch by the pedal? That one is not that clever

Yes that one.

, it would not know anything about any pressure, it is only a "on - off" switch, right? So it must be inside the ABS ECU... which scares me...

Pressure sensor is on the back abs unit.

reading through some threads on other GM forums it seems it is related to the ECU and I'm probably needing a new one. Problem here is that my car has the "latest" ABS ECU with ESP function and I can imagine it is rare as hens teeth and a pain to get a second hand one.

Just check the brake switch, this abs unit is better than the other ones.

Luckily this was fault has so far appeared only once, this morning it was ok.

Yes that was also my problem sometimes an error.

Thanks for the encouragement Vega, I will source another brake switch. Does anyone know if they are the same through the range and is this "dealer only"- part or could I manage with second hand one?

89

Omega General Help / Re: how to get most power out of 2.5v6

« on: 08 January 2014, 08:45:39 »

3.0 cams plus inlet divider will see circa 18-20 bhp gains (3.0 cams have higher lift), if going further then 3.2/2.6 manifolds are much improved over the cast items on 2.5/3.0

Yes, but putting a whole 3,0 lump in will give the same/even better result and seems that these engines are available for less than 100 pounds so I'd be tempted to change the whole lot.. and then, if needed, putting the chipped ecu to that setup. And still the car will never ever be significantly quicker, nor it will become a sports car.

90

Omega General Help / Re: how to get most power out of 2.5v6

« on: 08 January 2014, 07:11:27 »

How much easier it would be to put 3,0 engine in, achieve same results and save a lot of money... With 3,0 cams and chipped ecu you will not get even near to +10% power. I'd say +10 horsepower max. 3,0 engine has got more.