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[Pmacca2000]

Ever since a mate of mine has owned Wilbury Bodyshop, MOT and Service Center in Hitchin I have taken my cars there for tyres etc, since having my Omega I have had a lot of help of Paul, Nick Chris and sloth to restore my CD to a proper condition, I adopted her from my Dad in 2008 after a lot of arguments regarding weather I can afford a car doing 28 mpg.

Sadly she'd been a victim of the low walls eather side of our drive and had primer coloured scrapes on both corners of her front bumper, removing what was left of the mud flaps I descoverd light rust on the lower front wings.

Restoring the Omega kind of crept up on me, I noticed the number plate light was mouldy and spent an afternoon stripping and cleaning it before reassembleing it, in her last few years our CD was used to ferry our dog about and after a good day hoovering her out and polishing the glass she was beginning to look half decent although there was plenty left todo.

Thanks to Paul's help I was able to get the bumper and wings stripped and repainted to a really high quality and with a perfect match.

Over the coming years the wheel arches were thoroughly washed clean of the 100,000 miles of road dirt as we're the inside of the wheels.
Months of washing and polishing left her looking far better than when I adopted her and I began to take her out on sunny summer days, the sound of a petrol V6 sounding more appealing than the diesel I used for work.

As time went on the omega began spending longer and longer in the garage to the point we're service parts were exceeding there service life.

The change of management at my local VX dealer and subsequent drop in customer care resulted in the car being recovered to Wilbury for major service and MOT as well as sorting the rear bumpers cracked and peeling lacquer.

Wilbury last saw the car at the end of last year when the fuel tank and rear suspension were dropped off the car to re seal the floor and deal with any rust issues.

Pleasingly these were few and light although the compleat underbody was reseated to protect against the dreaded Tim worm.

I have been making notes on my adventures with the car and how I got into  Vauxhall when I was at secondary school (yes it involved a girl) so maybe put them together at some point.

[Pmacca2000]

Despite the continued low grumble and very wet looking sump I'm pleased to say Wilbury have today taken my CD in for a major service, they will be busy over the coming three days with the drivers door latch, external temperature sensor and rear brakes as well as looking into the low grumbling noise when she's started, something I suspect a replacement water pump will cure.
As useual Paul, Nick and sloth were welcoming and for my interest they will email me pictures of the work in progress for this thread.

[Pmacca2000]

Sadly my CDs wows continued this week, Paul telling me the oil leak was in fact both cam cover gaskets and leaking oil cooler.
Unlike my local VX dealer Wilbury have received the genuine VX parts the following day and by Friday replaced the thermostat and gaskets as it would appear to be the source of the coolant leak.
The clean up from the oil leak has been extensive with one bank of cylinders flooded by oil to the extent the plugs were swimming and Paul couldn't believe it was still ruining.
For the time being I'm in a corsa while the rebuild continues, but it's clear she's in good hands

[Pmacca2000]

A little over a week after I dropped my omega at Wilbury I'm pleased she's back together and running without leaks.
With a couple of tweaks to the pretensioners and the main oil leaks sorted I was hoping to pick her up this coming Friday.
As with cars of this age the work is never finished and I think we on here can all relate to that, a rattling exhaust mid section sounding like a slot machine means I may not get her back yet.

[VXL V6]

With a couple of tweaks to the pretensioners

I'm intrigued, what 'pretensioners' are you talking about? The only ones i'm aware of are fitted to the seatbelts.

[Doctor Gollum]

£1350 clearly buys alot of fluff

[Pmacca2000]

There not happy with the auxiliary belt tensioner

[Doctor Gollum]

There not happy with the auxiliary belt tensioner

New pulley is less than a tenner... new tensioner is a waste of £80

[Pmacca2000]

I'm useing genuine VX parts and service practices as she's always had, the good news is Wilbury are looking after my CD for sensible money

[Doctor Gollum]

We clearly have different perspectives on the phrases "looking after" and "sensible money"...

[Pmacca2000]

mantinance can be done properly or cheaply, if done cheaply it can cost far more long term.
As with any mechanical thing, the higher standard achieved in mantining the car (in most cases) the more reliable it will be.
In my CDs case it's had little use since 2008 as it's been lightly restored and was a second car for the past 8 years.
It's  of an age were mechanical and electrical parts are coming to the end of there fatigue life so yes it's more costly to service than a brand new insignia and it can become frustrating when she goes in for a service and extra work is needed but if I look after her, she will look after me!

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

On the other hand, proper care and maintenance needn't cost an arm and a leg if time and intelligence is put into researching the subject properly. 

[minifreek]

If any of my cars need over £1k spent on it just to keep it alive, it'd be baked bean cans quickly....

[2boxerdogs]

On the other hand, proper care and maintenance needn't cost an arm and a leg if time and intelligence is put into researching the subject properly. 

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I bought my 2.6 CDX in 2010 one owner with full history (2001 MY) with 50,000 miles apart from service items nothing had been replaced or repaired. I ran it for a further 5 years it was serviced as per schedule it only failed the MOT once on the exhaust system which was replaced at the supplying dealership with OE parts, the only other repair I had was the usual HBV ,I sold it to a member on here in 2015 .Was I just lucky or did regular & correct maintenance prevent some of the problems I read about on here occuring ?    If my memory serves me correctly it had covered almost 100,000 miles and never missed a beat.

[Pmacca2000]

Define reaserching the subject properly and inteligance?
Inteligance suggested I booked the omega in six months ahead of its service date because it sounded like the water pump was beginning to fail and the cam cover gaskets were weeping slightly.
on further investigation the team at Wilbury found a cracked oil cooler (not un common aparantly) and failing thermostat gasket.
Neather capable of inspection as they are berried in the heart of the V.