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1

Omega Gallery / Re: Polar Blue '96 3.0 MV6

« on: 01 August 2025, 12:12:07 »

To be honest I was absolutely not familiar with the Omega. It was clearly out of my scope a few months ago. Actually, I was looking for a C5 Hydractive HDi. I make the Nantes - Nice journey once a month, and even if the GTC is very comfortable and has a lot of nice features, I wanted to preserve it from high millage.

But, you're right, I'm familiar with other Opel / Vauxhall and I can admit that the Omega is really in a higher level regarding the quality of fabrication.
Clearly, this car would cost a lot if I would bring it to the service repair. Doing it myself is an unexpected learning experience.

At the end, when the Omega will run on ethanol, it will cost the same as my diesel GTC, with the V6 sound and smoother suspension 

2

Omega Gallery / Re: Polar Blue '96 3.0 MV6

« on: 01 August 2025, 11:52:45 »

What has been on the list in April / May :
- Timing belt kit - OK with Gates
- Water pump - OK with SKF
- Oil diff change - OK with Castrol Transmax Limited Slip 85W-90
- Oil engine change - OK with ISOTech 10W-40
- Replace the stop switch - OK
- Fix the sampler fan - OK, just the small axle lubrication
- Replace the 4 speakers door, they were completely torn - OK
- Replace the climate control unit bulbs - OK
- Recharge the AC gas - OK with EazyKlima cans
- Clean the leather - OK
- Install a bluetooth receptor wired on the R/L CD changer input at the back of the radio - OK

Some pictures of what has been done until today :
Diff oil


Timing belt, it was clearly TIME TO CHANGE!!! (this one was at least 12 years old and more than 80.000kms)




Stop switch, that little thing was worn inside, and never went back to its normal position. New one fixed all the issue linked to it.


While working on the timing belt, I checked the cooling system and I think it needs to be fixed as well. Too much coolant build up in this area...




I bought a pair of '98 headlights without xenon. The goal here, totally refurbish the units and properly fit bi-led lenses. Something I already did on my Calibra and the result is astonishing.
For now they are waiting, I need to make the spacer for the new bi-led lens.


Talking about cleaning now, first time with leather seats, first time with clear leather. I just took a medium polishing pad with a soft leather cleaner, cleaned gently and the result is perfect!






Then the carpet with an injector/extractor


Nice and clean


And one of the last big work this car deserves : body work / painting / detailing. Just to see what's possible on this nice Polar Blue. And I can't wait to be at this special step of the revival. Dent puller, paint, DA polisher they are all ready
The bumpers are in pretty bad shape, as well as the front left fender. The rear passenger door is completely rotten on the bottom, maybe I'll have to replace it.
Just a try on the hood


Next steps :

- Unclog scuttle drain underneath the cabin filter - already done
- Fit z20let injectors to convert the X30XE to ethanol
- Replace spark plugs
- Replace front discs and pads
- Replace rear pads
- Replace the oil cooler with specific stainless steel custom parts from ACS
- Replace the thermostat
- Replace both complete tie rods
- Replace the blinker's stalk

And that should be good to take the road and drive 2400kms for the next trip

3

Omega Gallery / Polar Blue '96 3.0 MV6

« on: 01 August 2025, 11:45:47 »

Hi folks !

As described in my presentation I bought this blue whale in March and so far it's a really really good car. I never thought it would be so good at any levels.

All started when I was with some friends in Millau for a trip, and we where talking about a Vectra GT (SRi) that I missed to buy because the owner changed his mind every week, and finally increased the price like 3 times... But as we say here (and maybe over there) misfortune of some, makes happiness of others. Because the same day one of my friend found this Omega. I sent a message to the owner to have some more info, and the deal was almost concluded. The car was sold by the owner's wife as he passed away few months before. The car was 600kms away, in the city my father was born, how funny! By searching the names and dates, we found out that maybe my grandfather and the Omega owner could have been friends, because they lived in the same street as kids. We will never know, both are no longer here to tell us

We set a rendez-vous at the end of March, I called a friend to come with me and come back by the road with the two cars.

Here we are, we stopped over my friend's family to sleep overnight before going home.

First impression of the car : it's comfy, seems heavy compared to my GTC, and I can feel something is wrong with the diff. After the diff is up to temperature, we can feel the teeth vibrating in the car when we make 90° turns while accelerating. I was not aware of the LSD at this moment, then I found that every 3.0 and 3.2 had one. My friend was jealous because he doesn't have one on his 996 3.6
We took care of corners after that, trying not to put any gas while turning. It was a bit tricky but it worked. Green light, accelerate enough to have inertia, release, turn, accelerate again same story in the roundabouts.






Journey to come back home was lovely, weather was great, we drove over Paris external peripheral area. It was great until we found out the stop lights never worked... And so was the cruise control disengage function while braking 
My friend who was driving the Omega at this moment, had a moment of panic because as he was braking hard arriving near trafic jam, the car downshifted and accelerated harder to reach the set speed. As he was not familiar with the stalk button, he shifted to neutral. Sounds like a movie, right ?

Another small annoying thing was the sample fan in the central dashboard. It was so noisy! I didn't know what it was at first, fearing something very bad in the climate control unit. In fact... no

Finally arrived home around 7pm. Oh I forgot to say, there was no mention of timing belt replacement in the last years on the bills history (the Great Book of Bills, 273 pages) I got with the car  Last replacement seemed to be in 2013.

4

Omega Gallery / Re: 01 3.2 Auto Executive

« on: 01 August 2025, 08:52:07 »

Looks like it just came out of the factory

5

Omega General Help / Re: water ingress

« on: 22 July 2025, 09:54:20 »

Okay I managed to free the clogged drain yesterday, it comes out in the wheel arch and it's easy to reach with a screwdriver to take out all of the dirt inside.
The cabin filter was totally wet, then I removed the filter holder to have more space

There were living organisms in there






After cleaning I poured 2 liters of clear water and the drain is totally cleaned, the flow is large, 3 or 4 seconds for 1 liter.
No rust on the junctions areas


I dried the inside as much as I could, removed the glovebox, peeled out the carpet, the black insulation underneath the carpet was not very wet. As you said, the foam on the junction floor/transmission tunnel was soaked in water, not easy to dry. Then I tried to reach the bulkhead to check any rust. I guess everything is spotless here.


I think you're right, water came inside the fan and ducts, I found some dry drop marks on the foot ducts edges.

6

Omega General Help / Re: water ingress

« on: 21 July 2025, 14:38:31 »

Hi there,

Yesterday we had a very violent and massive rainfall in the Nantes area. After 10 minutes with the wipers at full speed, I realized the windscreen was suddenly very foggy. Then I switched on the AC to full windscreen, which solved the issue, until I decreased the fan speed, but the fan didn't respond. In fact, all the AC system never responded to any action on the control panel, even if I switched it off, it was still blowing air at full speed. Then... I saw that the carpet on passenger side began to be wet !

After switching off the car, the AC fan stopped. I took a look at where the water came from, and there were drops on the plastic panel just under the glove box. Not in the air ducts, just on the corner near the central tunnel.

I inspected on the engine bay side, and found out the famous blocked drain in the scuttle just under the cabin filter. But all the junctions between the scuttle and the bulkhead are totally rust free. Do you think the level of water was so high that water entered the fan's duct ?

After 2 hours waiting in the sun, the AC restarted and was totally fine. I hope the water didn't damaged or corroded any electronic component 

I will make further investigation by removing the carpet and cleaning all the scuttle area, and put pictures here 

7

Omega General Help / Re: Oil cooler from ACS Parts

« on: 30 June 2025, 11:12:14 »

I bought the car for this purpose. My GTC eats 2400kms per month and I wanted to divide this by two with another car, which could be at the same time a very comfortable and original car.

First I wanted a C5 2.0HDi Hydractive but I found this Omega. 2 of my friends converted their V6 to ethanol and I know it works perfectly. So, next move is to put 6 z20let injectors, and fully refurbish the cooling system. With cooling and timing belt kit all new, I can drive with peace of mind.

Even if today, the car seems to cool down properly on regular road, it has some difficulties to regulate on mountain roads or traffic jam. Especially when I'm stopped, the gauge reaches 100°C, and even with the fans ON, hardly cool down, until I bleep the throttle a little bit, at this moment the gauge moves down to 95°C. Like if the rpm moves the coolant faster in the radiator and the bloc. Looks to me as an abnormal behavior from the cooling system. The car should cool down without the help of rpm's increase.

Let me know if you guys have the same experience of it

8

Omega General Help / Re: Oil cooler from ACS Parts

« on: 29 June 2025, 13:10:18 »

When I changed the timing belt I could see some limestone deposits around the thermostat box and the cooler plate. I have no oil in water yet, but I really want to avoid any cooling issue as I'm using the car to travel through France once every two months, from north west to south east (total of 2400kms).
Mine is a '96, pretty sure it's not stainless steel.

9

Omega General Help / Oil cooler from ACS Parts

« on: 27 June 2025, 19:31:03 »

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to change the oil cooler this summer, in the same time as the thermostat box, before anything break I prefer to be preventive.

The only cooler I found is the improved one from ACS Parts

https://acsparts.biz/en/maslookholodzhuvach-90412391-opel-saab.-nerzhaviiucha-stal/?srsltid=AfmBOoph8Efr1gX13rbQ8HyG-FO_OTtma1wOa0Sfhz6-D5pgFHYR-25X

Does anybody tried this cooler from them ? It looks made in a better way, especially the material which is stainless steel, while the OEM one is made of aluminum if I'm not wrong.

10

Omega General Help / Re: Simple Code Reader

« on: 17 June 2025, 16:06:47 »

Speaking about code reader, I have this vLinker that I use for my 2012 Astra J with OPL Manager (Polish app made for recent Opel/Vauxhall models).

vLinker on Amazon

Can I use this dongle on the Omega? And is there a preferred application that you can recommend ?

11

Omega General Help / Re: Massive Clattering Noise

« on: 10 June 2025, 09:50:38 »

My advice is simple:


the marks on the timing belt are a distraction, and aren't helpful even to position the belt initially.


Use a timing tool kit, and keep turning the engine through and adjusting the belt until all the marks on the tools line up every time.


Torque all of the relevant fasteners, and turn the engine through one more time.

Agree with this advice. But the fact that white marks are located in a place that will never match the teeth, makes me think the belt is mounted the wrong way. Check the writings references if they point to the right side (clockwise). I did this mistake the first time . Or those marks are only for the pre-98 timing scheme and in this case forget what I just said before

12

Omega Electrical and Audio Help / Refurbish speakers for 15£

« on: 23 April 2025, 14:47:00 »

Hello everyone,

Last week I removed the door cards to check the speakers because they sounded like totally destroyed, and they were.

I ordered a set of 6" rubber suspensions and rubber glue on Amazon.

Prepare the speakers for the new suspension : remove the old suspension and gently degrease the surfaces. The Amazon suspensions were larger than the original speaker, and you have to remove the edge/lip all around to make a flat surface. To do this in a very easy way, just saw the edge every inch / 15mm, then with a pliers just bend the sections and they will break effortlessly. Then grind a little bit with 240 paper and degrease the surface.

Apply the glue on both the suspension and speaker, wait 10/15 minutes, and assemble in contact both parts. Firmly press the contact surfaces, and gentle adjust to have the suspension concentrical to the speaker. Always verify the cone is not touching the bore in the magnet by pushing the center with the finger. If it touches, adjust again the suspension in the way to free the cone. Speaker always on a flat horizontal surface, periodically check that the cone moves without touching. I say that because I didn't check enough, and the paper cone was quite deformed, result is the cone is slightly touching inside and on some piano frequencies we can hear it.

13

Omega Electrical and Audio Help / Re: Philips SC804

« on: 23 April 2025, 13:46:37 »

Ok I finally got the changer to load CD's and try to read them. It struggles a lot to find tracks and to stay on them, jumping every time the car drives over a small road irregularity.

BUT, plugged the jack to the L/R/GND lines and now it works just fine ! Until the changer's death

The jack is plugged to a Bluetooth receiver hidden in the glovebox

14

Omega Electrical and Audio Help / Re: No brake lights, cruise control doesn't disengage while braking

« on: 22 April 2025, 09:46:00 »

Hello everyone !

Finally received the new switch, needed to be 2 persons to remove the old one without destroying it > press the brake the most you can, slide the red cylinder out to the maximum, disengage the 2 side hooks and it's free.

The new switch works perfectly, the brake lights and CRC finally react as they should.

I tried to understand why the old one was faulty, and I think it's pretty simple. When new, the switch rod (grey) is fully extracted. When the pedal pushes the rod the first time on uplift position, it slides in and set the uplift position by default. Inside there are several "clic" positions and each of them is a starting point for the internal actuator to switch on and off. I guess it's to be compatible with several pedal positions on the different cars it's fitted. On the old one, this starting point was broken inside, but there is no way to see it from outside. Thus, the pedal needed to be pressed very hard for the switch to eventually work on another starting point.

Here is a picture of the original part

15

Omega General Help / Re: Door card handle 3d model

« on: 18 April 2025, 09:57:00 »

I think he talks about the grab handle because it's shaped like a banana on the pre-facelift. I have the same issue as I needed to remove the door cards, I had to remove this banana handle to reach one screw, and it disintegrated into pieces (sort of flexible rubber that becomes sticky and looses its flexibility over the years).

The shape of this part is very difficult to replicate in 3D because it's an "organic" shape without real reference faces. It's like a thick rubber skin that goes around the plastic handle clipped in the door card. I know there is one person on Instagram that sells them new but I don't know if it's 3D printed or old stock.