Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

I'll see if I can stretch to a wax / polish.

That would help no end!!

Did I just say that?....best sit down and recover from the shock

Robsey wrote:I'll see if I can stretch to a wax / polish.

That would help no end!!

Did I just say that?....best sit down and recover from the shock

Save up for a clay kit

At the moment, I am just glad that I am getting more than just 90 miles out of £20 worth of petrol. (Which I have been for the last few months).

At todays prices, I would expect to get about 130 miles for £20.

Will find out for sure on Tuesday, when I do my weekly round trip to Birkenhead from Manchester, via Ellesmere Port (approx 115 mile round trip + visits).

Robsey wrote:At the moment, I am just glad that I am getting more than just 90 miles out of £20 worth of petrol. (Which I have been for the last few months).

At todays prices, I would expect to get about 130 miles for £20.

Will find out for sure on Tuesday, when I do my weekly round trip to Birkenhead from Manchester, via Ellesmere Port (approx 115 mile round trip + visits).

That it? I managed 179 miles out of £22.53 last night (around 20litres)
Same engine, very little in the way of tweaks and an exhaust blow

Are u sure your speedo Is correct. Seems rather good at 11p a mile mines more like 14 to 15 p. Though I have heavy foot

sriguy wrote:Are u sure your speedo Is correct. Seems rather good at 11p a mile mines more like 14 to 15 p. Though I have heavy foot

Couldn't tell ya, but Newcastle to Leyburn is around 55-60 miles, Leyburn to Wetherby is over 25 miles, then the same trip in reverse. Not a kick up the arse off

mine must be dyer then lol thought 400miles to a tank was good. so u getting around 500 to the tank then

sriguy wrote:mine must be dyer then lol thought 400miles to a tank was good. so u getting around 500 to the tank then

Constant yes, stop start no.

Envoy CDX wrote: That it? I managed 179 miles out of £22.53 last night (around 20litres)
Same engine, very little in the way of tweaks and an exhaust blow

Like I said, I will know better on Tuesday when I do my round trip to Birkenhead and back (from 10 miles east of Manchester).

Will keep you posted.

Robsey wrote:

Envoy CDX wrote: That it? I managed 179 miles out of £22.53 last night (around 20litres)
Same engine, very little in the way of tweaks and an exhaust blow

Like I said, I will know better on Tuesday when I do my round trip to Birkenhead and back (from 10 miles east of Manchester).

Will keep you posted.

will be interesting to know

Mine should do better than yours then

There are inherent losses in a fluid system, this is why most autos after 2001 pay a higher road fund license tax rate.

I will have to get better than 180 miles from 20 litres then won't I !! - It's the law!!

Robsey wrote:Mine should do better than yours then

There are inherent losses in a fluid system, this is why most autos after 2001 pay a higher road fund license tax rate.

I will have to get better than 180 miles from 20 litres then won't I !! - It's the law!!

It should, I managed 190 miles in my MPi 1.8 with an f16 box, 3 people in and a full interior in the boot and half the back seat last year.

Envoy CDX wrote: It should, I managed 190 miles in my MPi 1.8 with an f16 box, 3 people in and a full interior in the boot and half the back seat last year.

Ahhh, but mine has 216,780 miles on it...so quite worn.
I will have to put 20 litres in, rather than £20 and then that will give some idea of MPG.

I know my gauge now says an average consumption of 54 MPG, but that's probably because the fuel computer is set for 15" wheels, and I'm running on 14's..strangely the remaining distance (range) is always spot on.

although after calculations, this still comes out at 50.4 MPG... I wish

As you know, it previously said an MPG around the 25 to 27 mark, until I did the Oxy sensor.

Robsey wrote:

Envoy CDX wrote: It should, I managed 190 miles in my MPi 1.8 with an f16 box, 3 people in and a full interior in the boot and half the back seat last year.

Ahhh, but mine has 216,780 miles on it...so quite worn.
I will have to put 20 litres in, rather than £20 and then that will give some idea of MPG.

I know my gauge now says an average consumption of 54 MPG, but that's probably because the fuel computer is set for 15" wheels, and I'm running on 14's..strangely the remaining distance (range) is always spot on.

As you know, it previously said an MPG around the 25 to 27 mark, until I did the Oxy sensor.

Mines just breaking 100,000 miles on it. I go by litres myself usually.

Envoy CDX wrote: Mines just breaking 100,000 miles on it. I go by litres myself usually.

Yours is just run in nicely then!!

Litres? ooh that's them funny euro units used by them young folk isn't it ?

Now then is that miles per litre, or kilometers per litre?

ahh just re-read your post... you do your filling by the litre, not the cost... okay! understood now...I do get there eventually..

Robsey wrote:

Envoy CDX wrote: Mines just breaking 100,000 miles on it. I go by litres myself usually.

Yours is just run in nicely then!!

Litres? ooh that's them funny euro units used by them young folk isn't it ?

Now then is that miles per litre, or kilometers per litre?

ahh just re-read your post... you do your filling by the litre, not the cost... okay! understood now...I do get there eventually..

Yep, fill up on the litres, makes more sense as you get around 8.64litre to £10 now.

As said a few days ago,
I was going to find out today how much better my fuel economy was since fitting my new Lambda sensor.

Gary suggested that I should get in excess of 179 miles with 20 litres of fuel

Well, I have covered 165 miles in the last two days, and my gauge says that I still have 31 miles left in the tank before I have used 20 litres of petrol. (allowing for initial tank contents).

This would equate to 196 miles for 20 litres of fuel... so I am a happy bunny.

Three weeks ago, 20 litres of fuel only got me about 95 miles at a squeeze.

Here is my new friend - the £17 oxy sensor from LMF.
And here is the reading from my fuel computer...I know it is reading higher than it should, but it looks good all the same, especially as it was reading 26.5 mpg three weeks ago...so just by comparison, the improvement is obvious.

Also as promised, I did give the old girl a quick polish over...not with Megs (as recommended), but with some stuff I had in my shed.

Well the reflection off the paintwork is quite reasonable.

My colleague at work, asked if I'd had the car resprayed.. .I had to say no, I just gave it a well deserved wash and polish!!
Not as shiney as most on here, but for me...that's the best it's looked for about 5 or 6 years.

Looks much better Rob, really happy that it's working as it should again for you

Thanks Gary

Yes I am pleased that my fuel bills have now been harved by something as simple as the oxy sensor.

Had I known 5 months ago that LMF sold it at such a low price, then I would have changed it then.

I have to say thanks to you Gary, for pointing me in the right direction.
as you know, I had been reluctant to change the sensor as it was only 18 months old!!

Now I just need to crack on with my interior bits..finish my dash, replace the window switches, repair the central locking, reprogram my temperamental omega sun-roof....and so on.

Robsey wrote:Thanks Gary

Yes I am pleased that my fuel bills have now been harved by something as simple as the oxy sensor.

Had I known 5 months ago that LMF sold it at such a low price, then I would have changed it then.

I have to say thanks to you Gary, for pointing me in the right direction.
as you know, I had been reluctant to change the sensor as it was only 18 months old!!

Now I just need to crack on with my interior bits..finish my dash, replace the window switches, repair the central locking, reprogram my temperamental omega sun-roof....and so on.

Twas nothing Rob, just a bit of guidance As you've said to me in the past one task at a time and you'll get there
I'm hoping to get cracking on mine this weekend, keeps getting put off for some reason or another.

Well did a little 5 minute fix on the Cav with some unexpected results..

For about 5 years now, I have had issues with my central locking.
Symptoms were that sometimes all the doors would lock / unlock in unison with the drivers door lock and when operated via the Meta Alarm key fob.

Other times just the driver's door, fuel flap and hatch lock would operate and the remaining doors did nothing.

On other occasions, the doors would unlock after five minutes, setting the alarm off. - All very annoying.

To get over this, I just pulled fuse 17, and returned to manual locking.

Another fault I had was that my electric window switches were collapsing into the panel, making operation of the windows quite difficult.

My Meta Alarm has a M8 full closure unit on it, and this was wired to my windows, so that the windows closed when I operated the alarm set button.


Today, I swapped my electric window switches, but to do this, I had to cut out the wires from the alarm loom. (The alarm fitter had soldered the wires directly to the switch wires, approx 1 1/2" from their solder joints on the switch panel assembly.

I fitted the new switch, without reconnecting the full closure wires, and hey presto - fully working electric window switches (as they left the factory) and also fully working central locking .

The first picture shows the switches collapsed / sunk into the switch panel.
The second picture shows all the connections that I had to cut to get the old switch panel out (8 in all).
Obviously I refitted fuse 17 to check that the central locking worked...which it did faultlessly.

Now after looking at the switch panel, it appears that some of the circuit has become a little fried, and it was these fried switches that had affected the central locking (not the full closure / alarm module as I first feared).

Remember that the brown/white wire on facelift cavaliers locked the doors AND raised the windows.

Robsey wrote:Well did a little 5 minute fix on the Cav with some unexpected results..

For about 5 years now, I have had issues with my central locking.
Symptoms were that sometimes all the doors would lock / unlock in unison with the drivers door lock and when operated via the Meta Alarm key fob.

Other times just the driver's door, fuel flap and hatch lock would operate and the remaining doors did nothing.

On other occasions, the doors would unlock after five minutes, setting the alarm off. - All very annoying.

To get over this, I just pulled fuse 17, and returned to manual locking.

Another fault I had was that my electric window switches were collapsing into the panel, making operation of the windows quite difficult.

My Meta Alarm has a M8 full closure unit on it, and this was wired to my windows, so that the windows closed when I operated the alarm set button.


Today, I swapped my electric window switches, but to do this, I had to cut out the wires from the alarm loom. (The alarm fitter had soldered the wires directly to the switch wires, approx 1 1/2" from their solder joints on the switch panel assembly.

I fitted the new switch, without reconnecting the full closure wires, and hey presto - fully working electric window switches (as they left the factory) and also fully working central locking .

The first picture shows the switches collapsed / sunk into the switch panel.

collapsedsw1.jpg

The second picture shows all the connections that I had to cut to get the old switch panel out (8 in all).

butchlightsw1.jpg

Obviously I refitted fuse 17 to check that the central locking worked...which it did faultlessly.

Now after looking at the switch panel, it appears that some of the circuit has become a little fried, and it was these fried switches that had affected the central locking (not the full closure / alarm module as I first feared).

Remember that the brown/white wire on facelift cavaliers locked the doors AND raised the windows.

Probably was using the switches as a power feed too. Just wire it in at your leisure
A nice result all the same though

Full closure on the alarm is a nice touch, but I can live without it, if it means that the window and CDL functions are working properly.

Just need to remember to close my windows before leaving the car.
And to stop relying on the alarm to do it for me !!

Robsey wrote:Full closure on the alarm is a nice touch, but I can live without it, if it means that the window and CDL functions are working properly.

Just need to remember to close my windows before leaving the car.
And to stop relying on the alarm to do it for me !!

Look at Andy K's how2 on VXon, he has a nice work around