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871

Omega General Help / Re: Strange front track rod / toe angle goings on

« on: 18 February 2019, 09:38:18 »

Part number is GM 9195731. However I suspect that factory original is long obsolete and no longer available. So phone your local dealer and ask. Also factory was likely ZF but they don't seem to sell these in the aftermarket. Which probably means there are no ZF left.

872

Omega General Help / Re: Strange front track rod / toe angle goings on

« on: 14 February 2019, 18:48:20 »

Hold the face of one hammer against the joint and then hit the joint with the other hammer, to reflect the shock so to speak. Simultaneously press down on the end of your chisel so that upward pressure (at the other end) is applied to the bottom of the socket on the drop-link steering idler. Add up the number of hands required and then it will be obvious why it's a pain in the rear.

If your Omega has an original GM drop-link idler then I suggest you make triple sure that it really is the source of your problems. OEM spec ones are no longer made and are scarcer than hen's teeth. The next best was at one time deemed to be a Lemförder. It seems to me that nowadays Lemförder no longer manufacture the links and just import and re-brand the same Chinese made rubbish everybody else does.

873

Omega General Help / Re: Strange front track rod / toe angle goings on

« on: 14 February 2019, 13:40:32 »

Not just a random clouting with two hammers. There's a knack to it and a forum guide is available here. The trick is to have some upwards pressure on it before you hit it with the hammer(s). Hence the cold chisel in the guide.

874

Omega General Help / Re: brake pads

« on: 13 February 2019, 23:56:57 »

The set on the right is an analogue of GM 9192123 used with ATE(?) 286mm vented discs.
The set on the left is an analogue of GM 9192124 used with Lucas Girling calipers with 296mm vented discs.
So two different part numbers

Haynes says 286mm discs are used on 4 pots upto Model Year 1998.
All V6's are 296mm.
All models are 296mm from MY2008 onwards.

875

General Discussion Area / Re: Parking Ticket - Win

« on: 13 February 2019, 15:38:47 »

Get a blue badge to deal with the council ones

Difficult these days even if you have a disability.  My condition is covered by the disability act but as I can walk 200m unaided I dont qualify for a blue badge.  Admittedly I dont need it all the time, just when I need to rush to the bathroom without worrying about getting a ticket.

I was being slightly sarcastic... Mum walks with two sticks but can't qualify for one for similar reasons... Yet the disabled spaces at Tescos in the village are always occupied by people in their shiny Motobility cars with their badges proudly displayed and no obvious mobility concerns

That said, when she's with me, I make a point of using the spaces on principle... Woe betide anyone who dares to challenge me for it.

Well done you.

There is rampant abuse of Blue Badges. Two many BBs are being being used by relatives for their own benefit and not for the holder's benefit.
Motability cars are supposed to be used for the lessee's benefit. IE the person whose disabilty allowances are being used to pay for the car. Due to lax controls it's quite clear that a significant percentage of Motability cars have never even been seen by the lessee. Let alone driven in one. There's no financial incentive for Motability to enforce the rules. Their incentive is to grow the market. They are biggest purchaser of new cars in the country. And look how much the Chief Executive of a supposed charity was being paid  £1.7m with a £2.2m bonus. £1 billion in "unplanned" profit. And £2.6 billion in cash reserves. So the government starts to crack down and it will be the genuinely disabled who will suffer.

876

Omega General Help / Re: hard to start

« on: 13 February 2019, 14:24:08 »

I wouldn't change anything until you've read the codes. Whilst the fuel filter might have crud blocking it's probably the least likely cause of your problems. Get the codes first and then decide what to do.

Snap-on is professional stuff so I would hope that your Snap-on reader would at least read and reset any engine fault codes. Might need a software update?

877

Omega General Help / Re: Steering knocking

« on: 13 February 2019, 13:06:00 »

From that list, Delphi. Their balljoints are far better than their bushes...

A good solid diagnosis with a straightforward solution 

They won't sell me the delphi one as it doesn't fit their database for the 3.2 !!  Even though I've told them they atre all the same

I never bother to give ebay sellers the vehicle details. Or I say it's a Vauxhall Omega or a Skoda or whatever. I've never known them not to send the parts and in the main I've had no trouble. I have very occasionally had to return parts because they did not match the description, leaving aside the intended application. But that's true of parts for all sorts of things.

In this case it seems that the Delphi steering parts for Omega are obsolete and no longer manufactured and the Delphi application list hasn't been updated for cars beyond Model Year '99. And being new old stock might explain why Doctor Gollum sees the ball joints as better quality then some current ones.

In this case Delphi saya the part is

878

Omega General Help / Re: 3.0V6 not starting on all cylinders, black smoke, strange errorcodes

« on: 12 February 2019, 09:25:51 »

Hi Tomas,  I read your problem and don't have any answers for you. I just happen to  be a owner of Cadillac Catera that I've  put a lot of work into keeping it running.  Including getting a new coil that was not very good/ran the same as the old ignition coil.  My supplier give me another one, but the work doing it was too much.  If you been there it's barred really deep.  So I read your pain in getting it to run correctly..   Do you get fix?

Gary Fox

I suggest that you open up a separate thread on your problems. That helps avoid confusion. A failed coil pack is a right pain. And they all eventually fail. As does the crankshaft sensor.

The good news is that the V6 engines are very robust and durable. So can be kept going with a bit of knowledge and some patience.

879

Omega General Help / Re: Strange front track rod / toe angle goings on

« on: 11 February 2019, 17:20:50 »

The spec is -0°10' +/-10' toe-in. There is a GM TID advisory somewhere to increase the toe-in to the max limit, that's a total toe-in of  -0°20',   primarily aimed at reducing abnormal wear to the inboard edges of the front tyres.

AIUI the intent is to compensate for the 'give' in the wishbone bushes which can add toe-out when the suspension is loaded.

So in addition to anything else you choose to do I would add some more toe-in.

880

Omega General Help / Re: brake pads

« on: 11 February 2019, 15:15:15 »

Wear indicators are a separate thing from the pads .... they are not part of the pad.

I didn't say the wear indicator was part of the pad?

The terminal pin of the wear indicator cable snap fits into the bore in the bush that's factory pressed into the pad backplate. Usually bronze (or is it brass) on genuine GM pads. The bush that also acts as the pivot for the spring.

If the bush is pressed in from the wrong side, as robson indicated above, then the wear indicator won't fit. It'll rattle about.

Robson asked if it was a manufacturing fault and I was commenting on that. More likely that the pads in the box were intended for some other vehicle that uses the same Lucas Girling caliper, but maybe has no wear indicator. So the parts actually in the box are incorrect for the indicated application as opposed to incorrectly manufactured.

881

Omega General Help / Re: brake pads

« on: 11 February 2019, 00:17:57 »

I recently purchased front pads from UO and the inserts for the pad wear indicator were the wrong way around.They could not explain how this happened. Manufacturing fault?

Who are UO?

If the press-fit bronze(?) bushes for the wear indicator are installed the wrong way round in the pads, then I can only imagine that the pads were originally intended for some other vehicle that maybe has the same calipers but does not have wear indicators fitted.

882

Omega General Help / Re: suspension problem

« on: 10 February 2019, 21:20:20 »

Can someone explain drop links are they the bar running from the wishbones to the back of the shock

They don't run from the wishbones. The drop links connect the body of the shocks to either end of the anti-roll (aka sway) bar. The intent is to reduce the body roll / diving effect when cornering. Worn out, poorly manufactured or incorrectly tightened links can cause a clonking noise.

A worn-out or loose nearside steering idler can also clonk and cause abnormal tyre wear.

883

Omega General Help / Re: 1995 2ltr 16V CONTITECH Timing belt problem

« on: 07 February 2019, 11:13:59 »

I haven't removed locking tool so they are still in position as in the first set of pics I put up, showing cam sprockets and camlobe positions.

Do I remove camlock before setting pointer over to right, or after it? also Will the tension be slightly hard when adjusting over to the right? Sorry for questions just want to make sure I have directions right before I do something.

When you put the belt on the left side should be taut and all the slack on the tensioner side. And yes when you add tension and move the pointer all the way over to the right side, you are slightly but deliberately over tensioning the belt. You can then remove the cam lock and rotate the engine by hand twice, four or even six times to settle the belt. Assuming the timing marks are still correct then you release enough tension to move the pointer back to the new belt marker and lock it in position. Then rotate the engine twice to double check.

Otherwise remove the belt and start again.

When rotating the engine it is always in multiples of two full rotations aka 720°.

884

General Car Chat / Re: Buying at car auctions - any advice?

« on: 06 February 2019, 14:25:36 »

At the big car auctions you're better off going for a three year old ex-lease. With older cars you need to set a limit that factors in the cost of unknowns. And stick to the limit, no matter what happens.

I bought an Omega at the Chelmsford auction. Had to replace the front suspension, coil pack and cam cover seals etc over a period of time so cost a bit. But it lasted me 14 years. But now the auction premiums are ridiculous.

I suggest you try Gumtree. A higher proportion of the seller seem to be more realistic as to the actual value and condition of what they are selling than on Autotrader and the like. Last Omega I bought was found on Gumtree.

885

Omega General Help / Re: 2,4,6 coilpack

« on: 03 February 2019, 15:22:40 »

There is a supposedly new but unboxed 2,4,6 Bosch 0221503473 coil pack for a Vectra available here for £29 delivered. Looks a bargain to me.

I have one the same part number for vec c 3.2
BUT .....
mine says made in Germany ,and has a bosch logo , though that one is manufactured in 2011 , so did bosch move manufacturing country 

I think it does have a Bosch logo. It's mostly out of shot on the left hand side of the photo. Bosch will be just like everybody else, they have parts made all over the world including Slovenia and South Africa. Especially once the product goes aftermarket only, which is the case here.

So I'd be surprised if this is not a genuine Bosch product.

The only difference between Omega B and Vectra C on the 2,4,6 bank seems to be the colour of the seal. DG suggests that the Vectra seal is more weatherproof. It can't be electrically different. And as mentioned above somebody else has the Vectra part running on an Omega. However at £29 it's less than half the cost of a Bosch from elsewhere. Worth a punt maybe?