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[TenTornadoes]

Hello, this is my first post to the forum, I have joined specifically because I am in need of some advice.

I have just been given a 2002 2.2 Omega CD (petrol, auto) by my sister and her fiance, as he had just received a new company car and didnt want the Omega any more. I was told it was in decent condition, had hardly cost them anything to run for the last 18 months, so it seemed pretty good. Unfortunately, it turns out that neither one of them know the first thing about cars and I fear that the reason it has cost them so little in their ownership is because they have done little to no maintenance and have been happily putting up with/oblivious to several glaring faults.

The list of issues is as follows:

- Engine warning and immobiliser/electrics warning lights are lit on the dash, it alternates between the two but one is always there.

- The front wheels are completely out of alignment, and have taken the front tyre to the wear markers on the outside edge (though the rest of the tyres are hardly worn at all).

- There is an alarming gearbox fault where it sticks in gear (2nd or 3rd?) at 50mph; to go any faster you have to lift off the accelerator for a second to let it change up. In sport mode it wont change up at all. As you can imagine, this one is not much fun on motorway sliproads.

- There is an intermittent whining noise from the engine bay, which sounds like a rubber belt in anguish.

- Somehow, and this may actually be the worst one, somehow they have managed to put a foot long, inch wide, shallow band of scratches on the windscreen, right across the drivers eyeline. I dont know what happened to the wiper blade to do that, but even if you are clueless about cars, how can you be oblivious to that happening literally right in front of your eyes?

- I'm pretty sure the car hasnt been serviced in the 18 months they had it. The car came with no paperwork other than the v5. They couldnt even find the last MOT certificate.


Other than that (hah!) the car isnt too bad. Its done just under 60k miles, has no rust and is pretty straight. The ride is very comfortable and its a great place to be at 70 on the motorway.

My question to you fine people is: In your opinion is this worth trying to fix, or should I just be rid of it? I do not want to spend much money, if it sounds like it might be a case of sensors giving up rather than the things theyre sensing, then it might be worth a shot.

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to reply, it will be greatly appreciated.

[mickyboy123]

hi. i would say with that sort of milage on it is worth sorting out

none ofwit sounds to major. i would start with getting the engine and gearbox codes read to determind where you go from  there 

[joff]

Welcome to the forum, and others will be along soon to give you answers to your questions.

As for the tyre wear Omega's do wear out front tyre when the front bush on the wishbone has come to the end of its life, but that is normally on the inner edge of the tyres. The steering idler wears out as well. Most of us change them with poly front bushes. There is a how to on here for that.

The auto gearbox problem you need to do a search but as I say others will be along soon

The windscreen can be replaced on the insurance.

[RobG]

Would help if you put your location as there may be members near you

[joff]

Would help if you put your location as there may be members near you

And RobG is just the man to talk to about 2.2's 

[TenTornadoes]

Thanks everyone for the responses so far. Im in the Newcastle area (well, Hexham really). And youre right about getting the codes read, its just one of those things that i'm always loth to do as paying someone ~£50 just to plug the car into a computer has always seemed a bit much. Still, sensible advice which I shall heed.

Fair point about the windscreen, too!

[powerslinky]

Thanks everyone for the responses so far. Im in the Newcastle area (well, Hexham really). And youre right about getting the codes read, its just one of those things that i'm always loth to do as paying someone ~£50 just to plug the car into a computer has always seemed a bit much. Still, sensible advice which I shall heed.

Fair point about the windscreen, too!

Check out the pedal trick in the code reading section of the maintenance guide index on here .

Being a 2.2 it will probably need a code reader  . .  but as it says you may be lucky  the pedal trick might work

sorry I can't do links  . .  you will have to search for it    but HTH

[mickyboy123]

code reader 20 frm amazon if the pedal trick dont work. plugs in the fuse box.

[plym ian]

Brought this one on eBay for £12 odd. Does the job it needs to and resets the engine light to

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/111400687669?nav=SEARCH

[the alarming man]

yes that will do the job...as for gearbox fault oil/filter change may be in order as both my 2.2 did suffer with holding onto gears/rough changes until oil/filters where replaced

[Bigron]

Ian, does the Maxiscan work on a 2.6 V6 facelift?
Ta.

Ron.

[plym ian]

Ian, does the Maxiscan work on a 2.6 V6 facelift?
Ta.

Ron.

No idea Ron all I know is it works on my 2.2. One of the more knowledgable members may well know

(RobG please stand up )

[Kevin Wood]

If the engine has some fault codes stored, I would hold off on worrying too much about the gearbox faults as some engine problems can cause the gearbox to misbehave (e.g cam sensor which is a common problem on the 2.2).

At 60K miles I would be checking that the cam belt has been changed (should have been done at 40k) and do that ASAP if not. Failing that, usual service things. Oil and coolant change, oil filter, air filter, spark plugs and see how it goes after that.

[RobG]

Ian, does the Maxiscan work on a 2.6 V6 facelift?
Ta.

Ron.

Yep

[TenTornadoes]

Top tip Ian with the ebay code reader, ill give it a shot. Thanks for that.

As I mentioned before, the car came with no paperwork at all, so I have no idea if the cam belt has been done. Is it something thats easy enough to check, visibly? I dont have any problem getting my hands dirty, but I'd rather leave off opening the engine to someone a little more... competent. Less prone to snapping the heads off bolts, etc.

That being said, I can have a bash at doing the oil/filters to save a few pennies. Would it be worth picking up a workshop manual to do this, and if so is there one thats recommended by the community? (My other cars an old mx5, and theres a manual a couple of blokes did in their garage thats better than the Haynes one)

That lack of adequate servicing might be the root of some of the issues would make sense to me, as I mentioned before the car hasnt really been looked after that well.

Ill get the code reader and post the results when it arrives. Thanks everyone for the continuing help and interest in the thread!