New workhorse - 2.5 V6 Hatch.

[Lowrider Dave]

Good job!

[himselfunknown]

Bit of an update. During the hot weather, I thought I'd have a crack at getting the aircon working on the workhorse. As I noticed that the compressor was covered in the green dye, indicating a leak, I changed that a couple of weeks ago, which was useful as the bearings in the old compressor were knackered and making a right racket!

Anyway, I took the car for aircon check and it failed due to a leak from the condensor, so I had a look on t'internet and found a condensor/drier for £99 delivered.

So this weekend I started dismantling:



It soon became obvious why the condenser had failed!



Shiney!



All fitted...



All gassed up and working!



Initially, it failed the nitrogen charge test as the join between the car plumbing and the condenser hadn't sealed quite right, but after undoing it, having a fettle and rejoining, it sealed properly.

Also put the Saab rims back on (which were on the car when I bought it), as they have come off the 3.0 due to a new set of boots for that (see my other thread for that).

[humbucker]

Wow at first glance that last pic above ^^^ really does look like a SAAB!

[Envoy CDX]

Nice to see that you're tinkering again

[himselfunknown]

Wow at first glance that last pic above ^^^ really does look like a SAAB!

Erm, thanks... I think!!!!

Nice to see that you're tinkering again

Gary, I never stop tinkering, just forget to take photos to prove it happens!

[himselfunknown]

Well, aircon has died again (probably another leak somewhere), and the EML is on with a knock sensor fault code, which came back 10 minutes after swapping the knock sensor. Bloody car.

[Envoy CDX]

Well, aircon has died again (probably another leak somewhere), and the EML is on with a knock sensor fault code, which came back 10 minutes after swapping the knock sensor. Bloody car.

That blows, but get a leak test done.. it'll sort

Nice to see that you're tinkering again

Gary, I never stop tinkering, just forget to take photos to prove it happens! [/quote]


I know that feeling at times.

[himselfunknown]

Recently the car has developed a fault where it runs sluggish and the EML was coming on intermittently, then continuously. So I got my mate who has a code reader to read the code off and I got:
Knock sensor
No RMP signal.

I figured that the no rpm was due to the engine not running at the time; this was confirmed by clearing the fault codes with the engine running. I duly changed the knock sensor for one I had 'in stock' - the fault went for 10 minutes into a test drive, then reappeared.

So I did what anybody would do, and cracked on with some pointless bling!!! Before:



Then after some tinkering (headlight unit isn't fitted back into the car in these pics!):





All wired up. Sidelights (This isn't too good a pic tbh, they are much more 'angel eye' in reality):



Dipped:



And mains (I used a relay and diode circuit to make all four lights come on at the same time):



Then, as a bonus, having the battery off overnight reset the ECU, so now the fault appears to have gone and the EML is out again (for now!). WIN!

Now all I have to do is find the leak in my aircon, ready for summer. Hmmmm.

[Envoy CDX]

Now all I have to do is find the leak in my aircon, ready for summer. Hmmmm.

What is this "summer" you speak of?

All in all though, interesting mods.

[humbucker]

Those SAAB rims look great. Are the the same offset as the Cavalier wheels?

[himselfunknown]

Sorry about not responding to your comments guys, for some reason my email notification has gone tits up again.

Yeah, summer, hmph!

I believe the Saab rims are the same offset - there are no problems with them catching and I think the Saab they came off was based on a Cav floorpan anyway.

Anyway, another update.

Since I got the lights upgraded, I've been feeling a little bit happier with the car, even though the aircon is still not working. Though, to be fair, with the summer being what it is, it's no great loss. I think I might have a look at it over winter once the aircon folks are less busy and (hopefully?!) less expensive, lol!

So I've finally got around to installing the ICE into the car. Only taken me about 4 years or something stupid! I think it was due to the last remaining decent speaker giving up the ghost! The ICE is nothing special by todays standards, it's just better quality sound than the OEM setup. Upgraded speakers all round, front door and rear speakers are now amped, as is the sub. Sounds a million times better than before, and drowns out all the rattles quite nicely thanks very much!! All I need to do now is to install a false floor in the boot to hide the amps and LPG tank.

Brakes were getting a bit shonky, so I had a look and the fronts weren't looking too hot. Further investigation showed that one of the calipers had got a bit lazy, so I worked it in and out full travel a few times and that seems to have freed it up quite nicely. I also cleaned up the discs and put new pads in, as I had a set lying around. Brakes now much improved, which is good.

Changed the wiper motor again, as the one I put in must have been off another car and they weren't parking right nor did they have the full travel, which was doing my head in. Now fully sorted and I have full functionality back. Super!

Fitted a 3rd LED brake light, which I originally bought for my old Astra but never fitted. Thought I may as well make use of it. Here's a pic, but it doesn't seem as bright as it is, probably due to it being late evening:



Hopefully it will encourage people to not drive into my back end!

Last weekend it passed the MOT with only a handful of advisories, most of which I knew about anyway. So that's that sorted for another 12 1/2 months.

Lastly, this evening I decided to give it a wash as it was getting a bit dirty and covered in bugs to the extent that visibility was reduced, so it had a quick tickle and came out looking OK:

[himselfunknown]

Been having some fun and games with the Cav!

Bought a pair of replacement HID ballast units, as the ones on the car aren't the best quality and sometimes didn't strike up first time if at all. While I was fitting them, I noticed that coolant was leaking from the engine somewhere, so I did a 'quick' check of the header tank, revealing:




Not best pleased. After a bit of research, I reckon it could be either head gasket failure, or oil heat exchanger failure.

Figuring that the exchanger would be the easiest to sort, I purchased this:



I limped the car to a mates house as I didn't have the tools to do the job at mine. Then we stripped down the inlet to get to the heart of the engine, to flush and blank off the cooler:



While I was there, I thought I'd change the thermostat, as I thought it might be knackered as the car has always taken an age to warm up. This is where it all started to go wrong!
I couldn't split the thermostat housing from the link pipe, and nor could I twist the two around to get to the thermostat. In trying to seperate the two, I broke the link pipe. Luckily Harvey from AstraMk2.com had one I could borrow. So we cracked on and rebuilt the inlet up, and fitted the new oil bypass hose, which was unfortunately a bit long, so it needed a couple of zip ties to hold it away from the exhaust and rad fan!



So the job was progressing nicely, and the bucket of bits was emptying and I thought I was on a winner, until I found the engine lift eye at the bottom of the bucket. This is held on by the same bracket that holds the link pipe in position, so I undid the bolt... and the mounting point for the link pipe fell away. Obviously the pressure of the bolt, without the lifting eye behind it, had caused it to snap. Pants!

Not to be disheartened, I got some chemical metal, bonded the mount point back on, reassembled it, had a cuppa while it all set, then filled the coolant system up ready to flush out all the residual oil, and saw this:



Obviously, I must have caught the rad with the link pipe at some point. By now, I just wanted the car off my mates drive, so I limped it back home with 8 litres of hot water in pop bottles (used every drop on the way home!), so now it's sat on my drive awaiting further attention. I'll pick the spare rad up from my parents at the weekend, and have a couple of new link pipes on order (may aswell fit a whole one while the rad is out, as that is what stops access to the pipe).

Not the best few days, if I'm honest. It would have been quicker to just chuck the spare engine in!!!

Thanks to Ben and Harvey for their help. Much appreciated guys, thanks!

[Envoy CDX]

No pics?

[himselfunknown]

Pants, must've moved them or something. Can't edit the post though to put them back.

[Envoy CDX]

Pants, must've moved them or something. Can't edit the post though to put them back.

Strange. Link me up and I'll sort it for you.

[chrisy-m]

The Saab alloys do look well must say

[John Owens]

Looks good matey . It pays to be different

[himselfunknown]

Looks good matey . It pays to be different

The Saab alloys do look well must say

Cheers guys. I like the Saab rims a lot - they're different, suit the car, and are p1ss easy to clean!

The car is still living on, despite almost being broken a couple of weeks ago. I had a persistent EML which no amount of code reading and sensor changing could sort.

Eventually discovered that the cable for the rear knock sensor had rubbed through, and was probably earthing out causing the variety of fault codes. Now it's running sweet again - excellent!

[Envoy CDX]

Radiator sorted I gather?

[himselfunknown]

Radiator sorted I gather?

Yes Gary, everything is sorted now, apart from the occasional whinging sound coming from the passenger seat.

When it goes above freezing long enough for the hosepipe to thaw out, I might even give it a wash!

Cheers for sorting the photo links out too Gary, appreciated.

[Envoy CDX]

No worries. Glad to hear everything got sorted

[5853moore]

Still gutted i didnt buy this

[himselfunknown]

Still gutted i didnt buy this

There is still chance

[5853moore]

Still gutted i didnt buy this

There is still chance

Missis would have my nuts on a plate!

[himselfunknown]

Still gutted i didnt buy this

There is still chance

Missis would have my nuts on a plate!

She might, until you get her in the passenger seat and wind it up to 3-4k rpm, then she'll be pestering you to buy her a V6 too!