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136

Omega General Help / Cam cover gasket - am I missing something

« on: 04 November 2015, 09:52:19 »

Morning all,

Last time I serviced the 2.2 I noticed some oil in the plug wells. No worries I thought, new cam cover gasket should do the trick.

Thing is, I was looking through the history file last night to see when the cam belt is due (which btw is due now too, last done 23k ago, in 2010) and spotted that the gasket was replaced in 2 years and 10k miles ago.

So, my question to the OOF collective is which of these scenarios seems most likely -

a) The replacement work was bodged and just needs doing again.
b) 2 years seems about the right lifespan for that gasket (seems unlikely).
c) I need to replace the gasket and another part to properly cure the leak.
d) something else I haven't thought of.

Thanks all.

137

General Discussion Area / I Really shouldn't watch Question Time

« on: 29 October 2015, 23:44:29 »

About 4 minutes into the question about the "collapse" of the British steel industry and I'm about to have a oppsing aneurysm.

Also. Billy Bragg; a man I couldn't get tired of punching. 

138

Omega General Help / Best source for brake discs & pads

« on: 28 October 2015, 08:24:41 »

So I've got the "Check Brakes" message on the car's SID and looking at them it's pretty clear its a genuine fault and not a dodgy sensor. Not to mention that although the pads have been changed, according to the service history, the discs appear to be originals (12 yrs and 63k)  .

So, where would be the best place to buy them? Are they the sort of thing that should be VX only? Eurocarparts have the pads at £20-25 and a pair of discs at £40-50. Also, I don't have ready access to Trade Club, but I'm willing to have a go at getting one if it would be worthwhile, cam belt and water pump are due over Christmas so might be worth getting one anyway. 

139

General Car Chat / New job, means new(ish) car, looking for left-field choices?

« on: 13 October 2015, 15:59:16 »

So, I'm starting a new job in 2016 which will unfortunately mean that the omega will be retired from executive chauffeuring duties. I am planning to stave off the change for a few months but ultimately something new has to come along. My budget is pretty healthy as I'll be borrowing to fund it and would like to treat myself - I've never run a car that's less than about 10 years old before.

My Criteria:
1. Must be big (5-series ish big) - I'll be doing about 20k per year and I'm a fat barsteward big chap (6'1" and 20 stone).
2. Must be comfortable - see above
3. Must be 4-5 years old or less - I'm planning on doing the job 3yrs ish and the car scheme stipulates that a car must be less than 8yrs old, I'd consider a private plate to mask the age to push it for a while if I had to.
4. Must be a 4 seater - kids (2) are in the plan and SWMBO isn't going to give the green light to a sporty 2 seater number.

Where things get interesting is that the company operates HMRC's Advisory Fuel Rate Policy, meaning that the amount I get paid per mile varies according to the fuel I use and the cc of the car.

CC	Petrol (p/mile)	Diesel (p/mile)
<1400	11	9
14-2000	14	11
>2000	21	13

So, diesels actually fair really badly under this scheme, for example, a 520d auto doing 46mpg actually costs me 1.5p a mile in fuel, whereas a 535i doing 31 mpg on the same route pays 5.5p per mile. This example would translate to nearly £1,500 per year difference running the big Gas guzzler.

The point of all of this is I would like some left-field suggestions on cars I might not have considered as all my thinking up to today has been geared around looking at diesels.

So far I am struggling to think of anything much better than this.

140

General Car Chat / Anyone ever had a garage pit dug?

« on: 23 July 2015, 14:44:54 »

So, Mrs 944 and I made the decision to stay in our current house rather than moving as planned next year. One of the upshots of this is I'm thinking it may be worth having a pit dug (or doing it myself). I'm aware of the issues with fumes and water ingress and plan to take steps to address these.

I suspect that due to the proximity to the 3 storey house wall I will need a structural engineer/surveyor to advise but I wondered if anyone has had this done and what sort of costs are involved? I'm thinking of a cast concrete one rather than one of those fibreglass jobbies.

141

Omega General Help / Annoying water drip from estate boot lid

« on: 22 July 2015, 10:50:34 »

Morning all,

My Mig has developed an annoying habit. After its rained, water collects behind one of the plastic trim pieces attached to the boot lid (circled in the picture below. When the tailgate is raised this water either dribbles on my shoulder, down my neck or (if parked on an incline - like on my drive  ) into the boot itself.



I figure these must be sealed on with some gack or other and its just come unstuck or gone brittle with age. Shouldn't be a problem to seal it again but I was wondering how they attach. Are they just stuck on or do they screw through from inside the tailgate? I don't want to go pulling my rear trim apart if I don't need to!

Thanks,
Jimmy

142

General Car Chat / Gap between what a dealer offers part-ex and what they re-sell a car for

« on: 16 July 2015, 10:23:44 »

Just pondering this (slow day in the office).

Its possible to see on Autotrader and manufacturer's own websites how much new cars "lose" in value during the first years of their lives, but what isn't apparent is the "spread" between what a dealer offers you in part-ex (or if you sold them the car come to that) and what the car goes back on the forecourt for once its been valeted.

Just wondered if anyone had any kind of idea on this? I appreciate its a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question as it will vary by the value of the car being traded in but any direct experience would be great.

143

General Car Chat / Stupidly low mileage MIG for sale

« on: 22 June 2015, 15:37:27 »

Sorry if this has been posted before, but if the mileage is correct this could be a real bargain for someone....

It's a bit billy basic, but only 26k

For the record, the car is nothing to do with me, just thought it would be of interest

144

Omega Electrical and Audio Help / Advice on Knackered Rood Aerial rubber

« on: 17 June 2015, 13:30:57 »

So, I noticed today that the rubber seal round my roof aerial has split, probably due to the recent warmth and the rubber on the antenna has started to perish. Trouble is I can't seem to find a replacement rubber seal online and I don't want to wait until theres a nice damp patch on my headlining (or head come to that!) before I get it sorted. The aerial I have is one of those combo ones I think. My car doesn't (and never has had) nav, but I think it did have a phone kit in it at some time...



Does anyone know if these rubber seals are sold individually?

Also, I only have FM radio in the car now, so an aftermarket replacement could be an option but there are 2 issues with this. Firstly I live in a low signal area so I don't want anything that isn't at least as good as the original. Second, I had a look at this when swapping the HU but found the plug was a non-standard "stepped" plug similar to the one below, although mine had more than one cable going to it  .



Is it possible to but adapters for these? I don't even know what the blasted plug is called so can't google it . Also, are the "pins" for this plug in the same places on all cars... ie, could I buy a Vectra C aerial with that plug on and connect it up or would I be trying to connect my HU's FM aerial to the antenna's GPS aerial? Finally, are these aerials amplified and if not would an amp'd aftermarket aerial be the best option (presumably involves running new cable so not totally keen on that option!).

Any help greatly appreciated!

145

Omega Electrical and Audio Help / In search of a permanent live for my new Sony head unit.

« on: 08 June 2015, 16:38:44 »

So, I managed to install my new mechless head unit and cup holder (just waiting for a blanking plate to complete the effect) and I have a curious problem.

The head unit works broadly as expected, even down to continuing to play when the ignition is switched off but stopping when the key is removed  . BUT, when I take the key out for any period of time (from 2secs to overnight), all the settings on the radio disappear, including clock, station presets, equaliser presets, the whole lot. - Very annoying.

What I think must be happening is that the HU pin for permanent live must be matched off to a switched live on the car side of the connector. Currently, one of the three parts of the block connector on the car side is left blank as I haven't yet fitted the steering wheel control unit I purchased. But I can't see that making any difference?

So, does anyone have a wiring diagram for the vauxhall radio plug so I can splice in a proper permanent live and keep my radio settings?

Thanks in advance 

146

Omega Electrical and Audio Help / Potential AC trouble spots?

« on: 03 June 2015, 22:06:06 »

So, now that summer seems to be upon us and the miggy is soon to be my only car, it's time to sort the AC.

I get absolutely no cooling from it, in fact it warms the air a tiny but  . I suspect due to the previous owner never using it. Now, thus is one of the few areas of a car I know comparatively little about.

I understand if they go unused the seals can dry out, is there any way I can test this (I'm not a fan of paying for maintenance I can do myself) and any other likely trouble spots to start with before I hand it over to a "professional".

147

Omega General Help / CDX estate Broken Seat Recliner - advice please

« on: 27 May 2015, 13:41:46 »

Good afternoon all, the recline function is broken on the passenger side of my CDX estate. The seats are cloth, heated with manual adjustment except for the height adjustment which is electric. it also folds forward for long load carrying.

The specifics of the issue are that turning the recline wheel causes the outer side of the seat to start reclining, but the inner side doesn't move. Turning the wheel gets progressively harder (as the angle between the two sides increases) and can only be turned about 3/4 turn max. If you let go of the wheel, the seat springs back to the same recline position as it was before you turned the wheel.

What I think has happened is the inner side adjustment mechanism has become detached from the shaft that runs through the seat. The whole lot is kept in place by a mushroom shaped plastic end cap. If I put my fingers between the transmission tunnel and the seat I think I can feel that floating around in the seat mechanism.

My question is, does anyone have one of these end caps available for me to buy from them for beer tokens or an exploded diagram of the seat mechanism so I can try and get a part number?

I tried to convince SWMBO that this is a sign I should swap the interior for a full leather heated one, but she's having none of it . Also, one more question, does the front seat folding forward gismo come as standard on Elite/MV6/other leather interiors? Its one of the most useful features on the car IMHO and I wouldn't want to be without it if I swapped the interior.

Cheers,
Jimmy

148

Newbie Welcome Area / Morning all

« on: 17 April 2015, 11:41:22 »

Hi everyone,

Thought I would drop by and introduce myself. I found this site wile looking for a way to stop the ignition key in my Omega from sticking. Really useful guide!

Oh, and this is my car