Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: dice on 18 August 2010, 18:20:00

Title: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: dice on 18 August 2010, 18:20:00
Hi

I have a Omega Elite 3l with a gas conversion.  I have recently become the owner of this car, but I have been driving it on and off for about a year. 
Until the weekend the car drove perfectly, but a few days ago the car has become very lumpy and sometimes loses a little power.  The engine management light has been coming on then going off for about a year, but previous owner was told by the guy he bought it from that it was nothing to worry about and so never had it checked out!

Has anybody got any suggestions as to what it could possibly be????

Di
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: Welung666 on 18 August 2010, 18:27:10
If you click the link at the bottom of my reply and do the paperclip test, then report back with the codes ;) :y
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: dice on 24 August 2010, 20:29:14
Thank you for the last reply, but sadly the car didnt make it to me being able to turn the engine over again.  The car is now with a garage who have now informed me that the problem is that I have a leak from my rocker gasket and that it has contaminated the oil and spark plugs and that I need a new HTC (I think) lead as it is covered in oil, plus they have to clean everything back up again.  Garage wants to charge me around £250 for the work!!!
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: dice on 26 August 2010, 12:52:19
new news from the garage..... my coil pack had gone and so they had to replace.  They told me it cost £200!!!  Is that normal???  I have done a little checking online and I have found them alot cheaper than that.
Oh and now they also tell me that the car no longer likes running on gas!!!  It did fine before...... I'm not sure if they have F***ed that up now too!!!

OMG!!!  I need a drink.... the work they have done so far has cost me £400 and of course I now have to find someone to sort out the gas at further cost and I also have to find a garage that deals with gas conversions!!!  NIGHTMARE


ARGHHHH they just phoned me back and now tell me that there is now a bad gas leak and now they have to strip it down again to see where it is coming from and then hopefully rectify the problem!!!

REALLY REALLY REALLY NEED a drink now!!!
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: Welung666 on 26 August 2010, 13:12:35
This garage is obviously staffed by idiots! You need to get the car off them by whatever means and get someone who knows what they are doing to have a look!

Where are you based?
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: dice on 26 August 2010, 19:32:21
I am in South wales (Newport area).

Do you think that they are seriously F****** up my car???
I really hope not!!!

I have only inherited this car 2 weeks ago!!!

Luckily I do have another Omega, though off the road too at the moment.....  No big problems luckily!!!
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: dice on 08 September 2010, 10:53:31
Hi Guys

An update on my Omega....

Car is now back from the garage after being stripped down 4 times!!!
Car is still not working properly!!!  It now struggles to reach any great speed (by that I mean as in getting up to 50mph).  She now backfires with lovely popping noises, is very lumpy to drive.  She is even worse on gas and have been advised NOT to drive her on gas. (and for some reason I now have an empty gas tank, but it went in the garage with at least £30 in it).
Garage says that the pistons are worn and something about them being shim and bucket and that the have to be done professionally and that it will take roughly 3 days costing me about another £1k.  Garage refuses to do it!!!

I have decided that this gorgeous car must go to a better home!!!  SOON!!!

Anyone have any idea as to expect for it???

It has 135+k miles, a gas conversion, full stainless steel exhaust and V reg on a private plate (6 digits instead of the usual 7) and of course all the added extras that come with an Elite 3L.

Depressed and upset now.... :'(
Dice

Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: henryd on 08 September 2010, 11:36:03
pistons and shim and bucket?? :-X,I think you need to speak to the likes of DLK and keep the car away from that garage
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: M Kerr on 08 September 2010, 12:30:25
Dice,

You are being well and truly Rogered  by that garage.  Avoid!!!!!!!!!!

As noted by Welung above; do the paperclip test and report back the codes.

When they allegedly changed the dis pack did they change the HT Leads? (just out of interest. not sure you mentioned them)

I don't like the sound of those popping noises.  Be careful driving this until you know what it is. Paperclip test only takes a couple of mins.  Do it now.:-/
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: Sixstring on 08 September 2010, 12:53:42
Matey, the garage is trying to baffle you with bull and get you to spend money like water. Tell them you have taken a second opinion and you will be speaking to them soon legally.

The Dispack is only £30 s/h maybe and less than £100 new anywhere, and popping noises suggest the plug caps have been put in the wrong places. if somebody has been fiddling with the gas conversion, it is possible to leech out all the gas in the tank via piping, and therefore lose it.
These "mechanics" are just morons, and should be avoided at all costs. have you paid them, and if so how much/ you should talk to the garages ombudsman about them, or if they are "backstreet" idiots, a few of us might have to talk to them sometime....LOL!

Seriously though, I joke, but its serious business fixing these cars, and those who don't understand them CAN bugger up a lot. There are a few people on here that would sort it in a moment, put a thread on here asking. Quite prepared myself to have a look and check plug cap positions, that is what you should do FIRST if you are mechanically adept. There is a guide on dispak changing in the forum, with a diagram of plug cap positions.
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: beemerdevil on 08 September 2010, 17:59:32
absolutely ditto what all the guys have said - seems like they (garage) don't have a CLUE what they are doing ... also, did they quote you a price for supplying/fitting DIS pack?? - they shouldnt have gone ahead without your consent after they gave you a price. Still, get the car back off them, but i would still question them why your car runs WORSE than you took it into them !! Theres guys on here that KNOW these migs inside out and what makes them 'tick' and i'm sure theres an OOF'er somewhere close to you willing to come and look at it  :y :y
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: dice on 09 September 2010, 20:58:22
Hi guys, Dice's partner here.
Just thought i,d give you all a run through on what has  been happening with her car and what we have been told along the way.
The car had always run smoothly until shortly after my partner came into possession of it.
It started by slightly bad idle when switching to gas and a slight odour was detectable.
As the days went on it would idle and run increasingly lumpy on either fuel and at that point decided to get it into a local garage that had done work on the car a year or two before (cam belt replacement etc.)
We were told by the garage that the coil pack was in need of replacement as there was oil leaking past the rocker cover/s and the plugs and leads had become contaminated, I think we were quoted £250.
So coil pack, leads, gaskets and plugs were replaced and we were then told the price had risen to £400.
After some discussion we were told they would try to reduce the price.
They must have done a proper last test run because an hour later they told us there was a strong smell of gas (turns out clips had perished as the conversion was some years old) so they would not be happy to let it go in that condition and would have to strip it down again.
then we were told it runs fine on fuel but did not like running on gas.
They handed the car back saying it was just idling rough but runs fine above 1200rpm (not true). He had run a camera through the to inspect the valves and said the problem was down to the shiney valves along the one bank of the engine block and the result was that running on gas burns out the valves faster, This is where the 'shim and bucket' part comes in to play as from what I could fathom they do not have adjustable tapets or hydraulic lifters (My mechanics stop at my transit where the only electronics make the engine start and everything is fixed with a spanner)
We paid £250 in the end to cover the work the mechanic had done to date.
The car runs a little smoother than it did with the odd little pop but is just not right.

One final thing i think I should mention is that the car was sat with a flat battery for a week in the beginning and when we jump started it she would run and then just cut out and after 3 attempts we took the battery off and trickle charged it, put it on a week later and the car was fine in all aspects until about a week later.
Will do the paper clip test tomorrow if I'm not too late (sorry not to take advice earlier).
Thanks all for taking time to read guys.
Ian.
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: dice on 11 September 2010, 17:42:39
Hi guys

Done the paper clip test and this is what we have found

13
21
71

Any idea whats going on or if these would give me the problems that i have been getting???

Thanks Guys and girls....

Di
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: Kneepad on 11 September 2010, 20:05:10
Quote
Hi guys

Done the paper clip test and this is what we have found

13
21
71

Any idea whats going on or if these would give me the problems that i have been getting???

Thanks Guys and girls....

Di


13   O2 Sensor 1 Open Circuit
17   Knock Signal Circuit 2
21   Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) Voltage High

I would get these seen to first and see what develops from there.   :(
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: dice on 21 September 2010, 23:58:56
Well guys....... I have 2 Omega's and now not 1 of them is working properly!!!  I give up and I am now going to put them both on eBay for sale as spares or repair.  I should be able to recoup some money back on my Elite as it has a gas conversion and a full stainless exhaust.....fingers crossed anyway. 
The other Omega is an MOT failure!!!  Puffing smoke, but passed emissions test, needs a new steering arm and a few new tyres.
Fingers crossed that I will get enough money back from both the cars to buy a car that is actually running fine!!!

Thanks for all the input guys.... It was greatly appreciated.

Di
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: dice on 16 February 2011, 22:43:55
Hi Guys

Latest update on my lovely Omega Elite..........
I have now advertised it for sale on eBay as I have lost the will to fix it.

The good news is.......  I found a garge who MOT'd my 2ltr Omega for a pretty good price and did the work that needed doing to it to get it to pass instead of telling me to scrap it!
The last garage who tried to MOT it said that it was nothing more than scrap metal.......(B******)!
The new lovely garage did it all for £175 including the MOT cost and even towed me up a great big hill in the snow, because I got very stuck...lmao!  BIG massive thanks to that garage.
Anyone in the Newport, S. Wales area, I recommend:  Newport MOT & repair Centre, Libeneth Road.  They are a cracking bunch!!!
Thanks guys for all the comments that I had.

Happy drving for me again now, in my 2ltr Omega!!!

Cheers
Dice
Title: Re: HELP!!! Lumpy driving!!!
Post by: pauls on 16 February 2011, 23:42:37
Well done nice to see you stuck with it :y :y