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271

Omega General Help / Re: How long does car battery last when standing?

« on: 06 December 2006, 22:17:10 »

I have a new battery in my Omega and can leave it for around a month with no problems.  I had thought about a solar panel but then remembered that you should not charge a battery with the alternator still connected.  It could well damage the diode pack.  Just a thought.

If it were me, and I was not confident about the battery, I would simply buy a new one, charge it fully overnight using a trickle charger and then fit it.

272

Omega General Help / Re: Whats that red smartie on the top of my dash?

« on: 27 November 2006, 14:52:46 »

It is the sunlight sensor for the climate.

Don't know where the remote receiver is for the alarm though - early models (95 - 96 I think) used infared but all later models use IR so it could be anywhere.

273

Omega General Help / Re: Strange little cold starting issue today

« on: 19 November 2006, 21:42:19 »

Battery may well be on it's way out BUT.............................

I had a similar sort of thing last week with my V6.  It took a long time to fire, a good deal longer than normal.  I was talking to my mum at the time and when it started, she said "I thought that it was not going to go".

There was no evidence of a power loss, radio still had it' memory etc.

This is the first time that the car has done this, and a new battery (Vaux GO) was fitted earlier this year.  All very strange and it has not, touch wood, done it since.

Any thoughts???

274

Omega General Help / Re: Should my traction button illuminate at night?

« on: 07 November 2006, 14:13:00 »

No worries and thanks again! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

275

Omega General Help / Re: Should my traction button illuminate at night?

« on: 07 November 2006, 13:15:23 »

Cheers for that Salty - much appreciated.  I noted that the switches have the same number of connections (three) but am not sure if they are the same electrically.

Can you clarify if the wiring is the same i.e. the same wires connect to the same terminals on the new switch it is a simple swap

I just think that the small TC button looks so much better.

276

Omega General Help / Re: Should my traction button illuminate at night?

« on: 07 November 2006, 09:59:46 »

I think it should. I have changed mine for the smaller type button and that illuminates using the wiring for the larger button, so there is power from the lights to the switch to illuminate it.

How did you do this?  This is a mod that I am very keen to do I have sourced the switch but this is as far as I have got.  Any advice would be appreciated!

Like others, I can confirm that the TC button should illuminate which the other dash switches.

277

Omega General Help / Re: Oh Shit - The End!

« on: 10 November 2006, 10:47:33 »

So sorry to hear about this - with all the work done you must be really gutted.

278

Omega General Help / Re: VX OIL EXPLAINED !

« on: 15 November 2006, 08:38:25 »

Good idea to break down the oil spec, i personally follow the ACEA ratings as i find the API specs to be too wide. It would be interesting to know what the TBN number of the oil is and what the base oil consistancy is. If i would guess i would say a TBN arround 9.5 and mineral base with a percentage of group3 hydrocracked stuff. Which is not bad by all means. Very good oil indeed but i wouldn't call it hghly rated.

All very interesting but will the mods thinks of this oil thread??!!

I usually follow ACEA as well - this being a bit easier to understand, although just recently I have been using the API A3 B3 etc.  What, though, is the TBN number?

279

Omega General Help / Re: oil change.

« on: 12 November 2006, 22:14:35 »

Very regular oil changing is probably better than flushing. If you think it possibly needs a flush, just do some 1k oil changes....

Yep, I second this.  I took over the maintenance of a minibus that was never serviced for about 6 years.  The old oil was like treacle.  Rather than flush, I simply did as TheBoy says and did several short oil changes.  Each time, I used the cheap £5 a gallon oil (on the basis that it was not going to be in the engine long) and a new filter.

When the oil changes were done, filled with Castrol and now when the oil changes are carried out at regular intervals, it comes out nice a clean.

Personally, I would never use any sort of flushing oil.

280

Omega General Help / Re: Omega won't start HELP!!

« on: 13 November 2006, 08:49:55 »

Glad you got it sorted.  This same thing happened to me years ago.  I had no markings to tell which lead went to which cylinder though!

I believe that you do get quite a "belt" from modern ignition systems.  The voltage of the spark is far greater than the old distributor systems.

Hope the weather holds up for you today to get the rest sorted.

Good Luck

281

Omega General Help / Re: LED replacements for dash buttons

« on: 09 November 2006, 13:38:50 »

You could try http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/.

I have used them in the past and found them to be very good.  Not sure if they will have exactly what you are looking for though.

One advantage of the LED of the standard bulb, is that the switch will not get hot when the function is switched on.  I generally drive round with climate on ECO and have found that the surface of the switch gets very hot.

Anyway, good luck.  Hope this helps.

282

Omega General Help / Re: will this work

« on: 11 November 2006, 10:37:28 »

Hi,

The reason that the cam sensor plug is now different is because Vaux have modified it.  When I had my Cavalier (16V X20XEV engine) EML light diagnosed, it was the cam sensor (again).  The dealership replaced the sensor and informed me that it had been modified.  They cut the original plug off the loom and soldered the new sensor plug on.  Why could they not have terminated the end of the new plug wiring into a socket that would fit the old one?

Anyway, they made a bit of a hash of it and I had to do some tidying of the wiring, including cable tieing the loom so that it was not draping across the inlet manifold!

Is the sensor more reliable?  :-/  Only time will tell.

Hope this helps.

283

Omega General Help / Re: Possible Battery Issue

« on: 07 November 2006, 13:19:01 »

No worries.

Based on what you have said about it being fully charged and the fact that there are no lights left on, and what you say about being run and the central locking - this was exactly how mine was.

New battery time me thinks.

Whatever you do, good luck and keep us posted as to how you get on.

284

Omega General Help / Re: Possible Battery Issue

« on: 07 November 2006, 11:59:55 »

Nixoro,

I fully agree with what Mark says about the charging and the fact that the car is not used much.  However, batteries should be able to hold their charge for more than 3 days (assuming that it is fully charged of course).

Yes, the vauxhall Go batteries are the way to go and this is the very type that I fitted.

However, the multimeter approach is a worthwhile way of moving forward.  If you have not go a multimeter, I have a number of multimeters around that I do not use - one of them could be yours for the price of postage.  They are good, general purpose meters, measuring volts amps resistance etc.

285

Omega General Help / Re: Possible Battery Issue

« on: 07 November 2006, 11:20:39 »

Deffo sounds like the battery is duff.  My Omega is used fairly infrequently and the old bettery used to go flat in a few days.