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[Impact Pete]

Hi I have had my car for over a year, had suspected head gasket earlier this year which just turned out to be oil cooler. Since then it does seem to be leaking a bit of oil which I need to get looked at.
I've been told as my car is a 'Y' reg that the tax is going up to £400+ next march? I'm not sure what to do It is a fantastic cruiser and makes trips round the M25 much better! it has done 120,000 miles now and I wish it was LPG as it's costing me alot in petrol and I refuse to drive it like an old man!

A problem aside within a week of purchase the auto box sometimes comes out of gear revs very high then bangs back into gear not good when your trying to join a motorway, normally I have to manually put it into 3rd.

Any advice help would be great

[Martin_1962]

Is the oil leaking or burning?

[Kevin Wood]

Welcome to the forum, Pete.

Unfortunately the road tax is being hiked for cars with higher CO2 emissions for vehicles first used ater 2001, and yours (just) fits this category. Although £400 sounds like a lot of money have a think about your total motoring costs, particularly fuel, and it doesn't actually make a huge difference. It has brought the value of these cars down, however, so on balance it's probably best to keep it than to give it away.

Regarding the oil leak, check near the oil filter where the oil cooler lines attach to the block. It could be that they are loose following the oil cooler replacement.

Any automatic gearbox fault should be taken seriously and the car not driven with a box that's misbehaving for fear of doing more damage. First call is to check the fluid level, and at the mileage you have I would suggest changing the fluid and filter as it will be getting rather tired after 120k.

LPG conversions are a good option. Several of us have done this, myself included, and I'm very pleased with the results. My 3.2 Auto saloon is currently costing me 12p a mile in fuel.

Anyway, there's plenty of information on the above on here so have a search, and if you have any further questions feel free to ask.

Kevin

[The Elite]

Can't help with the other probs but with regards to the tax I wouldn't worry either way. If it is affected and you want to sell it, its gonna be worth about as much as a bag of crisps as everyone who's buying will know about the tax. With current fuel/tax prices you're damned if you do and damned if you don't so you may aswell enjoy your car, before they make it illegal!  

[Kevin Wood]

Put it this way, if you do 12K a year and average 30 MPG (good going in a V6 Omega) you are spending over £2K a year on fuel at today's prices. Another £200 on road tax doesn't seem so bad... :-/

Kevin

[Impact Pete]

Is the oil leaking or burning?

Hi thanks for reply, the oil I suspect is leaking and dripping onto parts of the hot engine causing the bad smell

[Impact Pete]

Put it this way, if you do 12K a year and average 30 MPG (good going in a V6 Omega) you are spending over £2K a year on fuel at today's prices. Another £200 on road tax doesn't seem so bad... :-/

Kevin

Hi it is a run around, weekend car and visiting inlaws mobile with a couple of caravan tows! I can get 32 average if I sat at 65! but normally around 24 around town if not thrashed

[The Elite]

Check your cam covers, thats where mine was leaking. I often saw little whisps of smoke coming out between the bonnet and wing at traffic lights and when you looked you could see burnt oil stains on the exhaust manifold...

[Impact Pete]

Thanks for all the advice everyone is as I suspected, I will look at cashing in my tax disc feb and buying a 12 month at old rate if I'm able.
With Lpg what are the tax costs and is it really worth it on a 120k mile old car?

[The Elite]

What date was your car registered? The exact date, is on the log book...

[Impact Pete]

28/03/2001

[The Elite]

Cars registered on or after 1 March 2001 (based on fuel type and CO2 emissions)

The rates shown only apply to cars that have been type approved in category M1 and registered on the basis of CO2 emissions measured in grams per kilometre (g/km) driven. These details are shown on the Registration Certificate.

Petrol car (TC48) and diesel car (TC49)

Band      
CO2 emission (g/km)      
12 months rate      
6 months rate

A      
Up to 100      
Not applicable
      
Not applicable

B      
101-120      
£35.00      
Not applicable

C      
121-150      
£120.00      
£66.00

D      
151-165      
£145.00      
£79.75

E      
166-185      
£170.00      
£93.50

F      
Over 185      
£210.00      
£115.50

G      
Over 225 – for cars registered on or after 23/03/06
£400.00
£220.00


Seems like you fall into the £210 catagory as yours was registered before 23/03-06. Source is DVLA website...

[Kevin Wood]

Seems like you fall into the £210 catagory as yours was registered before 23/03-06. Source is DVLA website...

But those are the figures this year. Next year and the following year is when the hikes come in!

Kevin

[The Elite]

Then buy now!  
According to AA website they apply into 2009 or am I reading it wrong...
*EDIT*

[Martin_1962]

Depends on who gets the job after the snap general election.

The current chancellor is a complete joke, and the previous one was not very good either. AFAIC the only decent chancellor of recent times was Mark-DTMs MP.