Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: Stargazer57N on 11 December 2016, 14:01:21
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I'm finally calling it quits for my Omega ownership. Lost confidence, patients and to much cash now to waist any more on her, shame as when she's running right it a lovely car to drive. Sad day :'(
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It's a conclusion that a few on here have come to. They are great cars when they are behaving themselves, but a lot of folk treat them as more of a hobby than a daily user.
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Lovely cars to drive just not as reliable as cars do when they get older. It never bothered me when I was younger, often fixing my car at the side of the road.
The passing years however have made me rather reticent about using the Mig as a daily driver, especially as I drive to work in the dark and more than often home again in the dark.
Sad day when you have to have it ''put to sleep'' so to speak.
Lovely weekend car if you can afford to have it as a second car
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Sorry to hear that. :(
Maybe you will find a way to keep her around.
By the way, so most here do not use their Omegas as a daily?
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By the way, so most here do not use their Omegas as a daily?
Apparently so!
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Lovely cars to drive just not as reliable as cars do when they get older. It never bothered me when I was younger, often fixing my car at the side of the road.
The passing years however have made me rather reticent about using the Mig as a daily driver, especially as I drive to work in the dark and more than often home again in the dark.
I totally agree getting older myself and and certainly feel it the following day now after rolling around on the tarmac. same work in the dark home in the dark.
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It's a conclusion that a few on here have come to. They are great cars when they are behaving themselves, but a lot of folk treat them as more of a hobby than a daily user.
Yup :(
I had four, the last one till very recently. But I need a reliable daily car, also for reliable long hauls down to southern France. If I was mechanically handy, then maybe oK, but my car goes to a garage for everything except the simplest of jobs.
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By the way, so most here do not use their Omegas as a daily?
Apparently so!
I use one of mine as a daily driver, covers up to 40K a year... Not sure where all the issues of unreliability come from, mainly just wear and tear items on all three of mine although I suppose maintaining them is more a hobby rather than a task to me.
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Mine isn't a daily driver. Too thirsty to use for that, so it only covers around 5000 mile p.a.
Fuel costs apart though, I wouldn't have any doubts about its ability to be used every day.
Regular servicing and preventative maintenance is the key imo. I can understand those who don't do their own spanner work having a different view though.
Having said that , every car Ive ever known have had their issues and "characteristics". The omega is no worse than others, unless its a newish car under manufacturers warranty, to take the worry out of the equation - in theory at least.
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Of course it's a daily driver. There's no point in having a car you can't just get in, turn the key and drive to today's destination. If you can't rely on that, it's junk.
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By the way, so most here do not use their Omegas as a daily?
Apparently so!
I use one of mine as a daily driver, covers up to 40K a year... Not sure where all the issues of unreliability come from, mainly just wear and tear items on all three of mine although I suppose maintaining them is more a hobby rather than a task to me.
Exactly, the more mileage you do, the sooner the regular stuff comes round...
By regular, I mean tyres/wishbones/discs/pads ;)
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Of course it's a daily driver. There's no point in having a car you can't just get in, turn the key and drive to today's destination. If you can't rely on that, it's junk.
My understanding of the term "daily driver", is a car that gets used pretty much every day.
Mine isn't, hence the post. ;)
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Mine was used as a"daily" for 5 years never let me down once, sold it a year ago
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Luck of the draw as to if the car has been well serviced ect before purchase . 4 pots seem to suffer the head gasket problems more :( The V6 runs very well , never had to replace a crank sensor ever and the only criticism is they leak oil and water if not maintained . I even got home on 3 pots when the old style coil pack started to eat itself ;D
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Buy new every three years.....not a problem,if you are made of money! :)
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As somebody looking for an omega to buy, it's great to read all those reports of daily driving without major problems. :y
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Buy new every three years.....not a problem,if you are made of money! :)
May be one year I be able to by what I want rather than what I can afford.
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My Desmond is the only drive in our household (SWMBO & me) and i take it anywhere in UK. Same with my old PFL i had for 8yrs. :y
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Got two omegas as daily drivers. I drive a 95 opel omega mv6 estate thats done 450.000km(280.000 miles) on norwegian poor roads which are covered in salt/snow half the year. It does around 30.000km a year in temperatures between 30c and -30c. Had it for 8 years now and very few problems. Have done some welding due to rust and done regular maintenance. Girlfriend bought her first car this spring. A 94 Omega 2,0 saloon. Its also in daily use. Hasnt gone wrong once since she bought it. And it also did a 3000 km trip to the north of norway this summer without issues. This car has done about 300.000 km. Good cars with regular maintenance. Have found however that some parts (at least here in norway) are getting harder to come by. Which leads to longer downtime than a modern car when they do go wrong.
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My 2 are our "daily" drivers... ...not that either of us use a car every single day...
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Let's face it any car can break-and buying new ever 3yrs or so does not guarantee success[and the number of manufacturer recalls on new stuff is quite frightening]but you do have the warranty to fall back on.It all depends on how much you are willing to pay out on any given vehicle as to whether it's worthwhile or not.Regular maintenance is key on older cars in particular depending on d.i.y or if you have to pay a trusted garage to do this.
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I bought my Omega at the end of Sept 2016, with 162K on the clock. I didn't pay much for it.
I intend it to be a daily driver. Although at weekends I have access to a mk1 Mx5 and a BINI cooper.
I figure that if the MV6 fails to proceed, I'm in the RAC, and I can use the MX5.
4800 miles later, I've found a few things wrong with it. All are solvable, by throwing time and money at it.
I don't have much time (I work away from home during the week) and I don't trust professionals to do the job right. I can't even get an omega in my garage. (I did some welding on the MX5 and that was TIGHT) .
However, I'm prepared to accept that it will cost more than the car cost me, to make it right.
Once it is, it's just a case of keeping up with preventative maintenance.
One thing though, is that I like driving it. Unlike the PERFECT low mileage mk4 astra that I had before, which was reliable but painful.
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One thing though, is that I like driving it. Unlike the PERFECT low mileage mk4 astra that I had before, which was reliable but painful.
By the way, are MK4 astras particularly known for being reliable or more reliable than omegas? I'm just curious as I know somebody who swear by them.
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One thing though, is that I like driving it. Unlike the PERFECT low mileage mk4 astra that I had before, which was reliable but painful.
By the way, are MK4 astras particularly known for being reliable or more reliable than omegas? I'm just curious as I know somebody who swear by them.
In the grand scheme of things, the Omega isn't particularly unreliable... each engine type has a couple of weak spots, and there's perhaps half a dozen common items such as wishbone bushes/geometry related niggles and central locking motors.
If serviced regularly, they'll easily hit 300,000 miles... my last one was a Police car for its first 4.5 years before I then used it as a taxi for further five or so years. Still going strong. 8)
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Oh, I like my Omegas! I newer will through them away.
One is the beauty, the other one is the worker. Both mine. The beauty sleeps during wintertime, the worker rests over summer.
So I have enough time to do maintenance on the car that is actual not in use.
Of course any Omega will need expensive repairs over the time. Learn to do it by yourself!
Bodywork, suspension service, brakes, timing belt? Not a real problem!
Learn to do and keep the car. I did so and I am very happy with that. A selfmade Omega is not expansive!
Rolf
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One thing though, is that I like driving it. Unlike the PERFECT low mileage mk4 astra that I had before, which was reliable but painful.
By the way, are MK4 astras particularly known for being reliable or more reliable than omegas? I'm just curious as I know somebody who swear by them.
In the grand scheme of things, the Omega isn't particularly unreliable... each engine type has a couple of weak spots, and there's perhaps half a dozen common items such as wishbone bushes/geometry related niggles and central locking motors.
If serviced regularly, they'll easily hit 300,000 miles... my last one was a Police car for its first 4.5 years before I then used it as a taxi for further five or so years. Still going strong. 8)
What I meant was if the astra MK4 has a reputation for being extra reliable or something. Especially compared to the omega.
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As said recently, I run 6 Omegas and over 10 years have found them very reliable. Four are in Somerset, but one is in Chippenham and another in Enfield, and when these two remote cars misbehave I have always been able to drive them back to Somerset for repair, leaving another car for daily use.
Breakdowns have been crank sensors (V6s) cam sensors (4 cylinder cars) and aux belt pulley bearings, which I now know to grease and trust that problem is gone.
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I have a very cosmetically challenged 2.5TD auto which is somehow still running, but the list of faults is getting longer and longer. With the MOT just over a month away, I am reluctant to throw any more money at the car, so I'm weighing up getting a replacement.
The questions is, what? I like the idea of a big comfy diesel auto, but I'm not struck on Mercs or Beemers. I seem to be drawn towards the Vauxhall Signum for some reason, as there's a 3.0 V6 diesel version. I've no idea what they're actually like to run though.
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The Omega is a well put together car , feels solid .. i mean see how heavy just one door is :o :o I would always repair it rather than buy new . Repairs even if it needs a lot doing can easily be sorted and once your done all those repairs its just a case of servicing once a year :y I would have another omega any day over the bland new cars .
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I seem to be drawn towards the Vauxhall Signum for some reason, as there's a 3.0 V6 diesel version. I've no idea what they're actually like to run though.
We know a member of the Lincolnshire aristocracy who has one of these sat doing nothing on his crunchy drive! It's not a diesel though! ;D
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I certainly wouldn't call the Omega any less reliable than any other car I've owned. Granted, it left me stranded in France 12yrs ago, which comes quite high on the inconvenience scale, but I still have the same car.
I've had brand new cars that have let me down.
Many have just been abused on the servicing front, either by not servicing, or dealers/garages bodging it. That and the fact we're a forum predominantly to help owners, means we see the worst...
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I had my Omega for four years and put 30k on it, never let me down and the only problem I had was a misfire caused by leaking cam cover gaskets, and that was in the first three months, once I`d cleaned the breathers out and fitted new HT leads it never gave me another problem until the end when the ABS ECU gave up.
I`ve had far less reliable cars :y
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We'll it may not be the end just yet. Had a tinker with her yesterday and noticed that the turbo wastegate is stuck in one position (fully back i.e max vacuum) when the engine is running and does not move when blipping the throttle, and only returns to the forward position when the engine is turned off. So I suspect the vacuum solenoid may be faulty. Going to try another solenoid at the weekend.
I know swapping things around aint the best way to do diagnosis but just don't have the spare cash at the mo' to get a full check done. £15 for a solenoid as a quick test is affordable.
I must admit I really don't want to get rid of her, so am in two minds to keep her if I can find somewhere off road to winter/sorn the car, to give me tinker time. As the Omega is a great drive when running right and bloody handy as a family car for me, wife 3 kids and dog for those days out in the highlands.
The saga continues.
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Ive had omegas then went through a fair few other cars "peugeot" >:( but always longed for the omega back . i think a lot of us have been guilty of that ::) Round and round in circles but always back to the comfort of the omega :) Hope you get it fixed :y
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I stated that my previous Omega was definitely my last - and then I bought my current one.
This one is definitely the last one though
Probably. :D
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This is the longest obituary in history.
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Hi Stargazer
It is good to have two Omegas. One as a daily driver and one under service. I change my Omegas two times a year in springtime and autumn. Both Omegas have MOT and they are ready to use.
This way their condition becomes better every year, because the milage is low and there is plenty of time to do any service.
Rolf
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This is the longest obituary in history.
She's not dead yet Stemo, hell she's not even in A&E . ;D
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Hi Stargazer
It is good to have two Omegas. One as a daily driver and one under service. I change my Omegas two times a year in springtime and autumn. Both Omegas have MOT and they are ready to use.
This way their condition becomes better every year, because the milage is low and there is plenty of time to do any service.
Rolf
Rolf I think one is more than enough but I am thinking of keeping this one as a summer tourer ,maybe.
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I stated that my previous Omega was definitely my last - and then I bought my current one.
This one is definitely the last one though
Probably. :D
I said that a fair few years ago , im now on my 6th Omega ;D
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Well new turbo solenoid fitted just the same problem, it bloody weird motor runs fine until it's warm then start to misfire eml came on plugged in the code reader and when I restarted the car eml was off, typical. As it's only happening when the engine is hot I have a fear it might be the Pump ecu. Now another strange thing is happening when the ignition is off the speedo is jumping between 0 and 5 mph and sticks at 5mph with the key out.
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Well new turbo solenoid fitted just the same problem, it bloody weird motor runs fine until it's warm then start to misfire eml came on plugged in the code reader and when I restarted the car eml was off, typical. As it's only happening when the engine is hot I have a fear it might be the Pump ecu. Now another strange thing is happening when the ignition is off the speedo is jumping between 0 and 5 mph and sticks at 5mph with the key out.
Put it out of its misery. ;D
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Well new turbo solenoid fitted just the same problem, it bloody weird motor runs fine until it's warm then start to misfire eml came on plugged in the code reader and when I restarted the car eml was off, typical. As it's only happening when the engine is hot I have a fear it might be the Pump ecu. Now another strange thing is happening when the ignition is off the speedo is jumping between 0 and 5 mph and sticks at 5mph with the key out.
Check the leak off pipes and injector seals. It sounds like air is getting into the system. You do not want air in the system, the pump doesn't like it. Look for a puff of black smoke coming out at the back when it misfires. It'll quickly tell you if the air/fuel ratio is out - one of the few good things about diesels.
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Don't think it's the leak off pipes or seal AJ, as it starts to well when cold would have though air would be more likely to seep in when the engine was off overnight. But will take a look.
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Remember that a diesel per se will not misfire. It'll cough, splutter, stutter or die completely relative to the wrong fuel air ratio. Having had another thought, I reckon you've probably got a grubby or failing injector which is not dead yet, but is occasionally dumping not enough or too much fuel into a cylinder for a series of cycles close together, or more than 1 injector failing. Before you get rid of it, just remove them and do a test of the spray pattern and you might find it's no more complicated than that.