The Wife's Vectra-C - The other battle wagon

[Robsey]

The hoses are readily available - AutoVaux / GPS are showing one at just over £100... £30 cheaper than the ebay sellers.

Strangely the Vauxhall Supermarket quote approx £124.
They show it discounted from £95.
Not quite sure that I would want a discount that costs £30 more - lol.

See the taped up pipe next to the suspension turret.



The hardest part was finding a garage who can slot it in,
The current task is figuring out how to afford the £70 fee to get the car transported to the garage 2 miles away.

[Envoy CDX]

Ouch, it's that age now where the car is gonna start wanting some moola.
Joys. It's fixable at least.

[3cav3]

I think at £70 for 2 miles I'd be tempted to push it, lol. Can you get someone by where you live with a 4x4 or transit etc to tow you on a rope for a drink?

[Robsey]

Sadly not - and I have long since mis-laid my tow-pole.

Anyway £70 seems like a 'standard' rate around the Manchester area.
I have a chap coming on a 30 mile round trip for the same price.
The first quote was from a chap with several trucks who is only based one mile from me, so probably less than 6 mile round trip.
Something about him "ruffled my feathers" so I have gone for the other chap.

The car is going into 'my old garage' which is under new management. It should be there by lunchtime today.

Sadly, I will be walking to work tommorow (2 miles away in the other direction),
And catching three buses each way, to the office on Friday (13 miles each way). - that will be a very long day...

UPDATE - And the car has gone on his merry way.
I nipped out to get the money out from the bottom shop, because everyone trusts "cash in hand".

And was able to see the mess the car had left behind the other night.





Not sure if the sand and rain makes it look worse.

Could have been much worse, we were on the motorway 20 minutes earlier

[Mk3alan]

Sand for grip but it also needs some sort of detergent to break it down.
We're like expectant father's while our cars are away!

Alan

[Robsey]

The car is still in the garage.
New pipes are on back order from Germany for all UK dealers.
There were a few scrappers with the later plastic pipe in place of the braided rubber hose.
But Mark at the garage recommended getting a local hydraulics shop to repair my hose instead.

I was impressed that the owner David had told Mark that I was quite knowledgable about Vauxhalls - praise indeed.

[Envoy CDX]

Sounds like progress, expensive progress but progress none the less. Never know, may feel like a new car depending on how long it's been failing for Rob

[Robsey]

It has definitely been getting worse on consumption.
I thought it may have been tyres or tracking, but who knows.

Normally I would get 47 mpg mixed roads, but recently only getting 42 mpg.

Hopefully the hydraulics people will get it sorted today.
Don't really fancy public transport for any longer than necessary...

[Envoy CDX]

It has definitely been getting worse on consumption.
I thought it may have been tyres or tracking, but who knows.

Normally I would get 47 mpg mixed roads, but recently only getting 42 mpg.

Hopefully the hydraulics people will get it sorted today.
Don't really fancy public transport for any longer than necessary...

Does anyone?

[Robsey]

Hydraulics people was a no go...
Mark didn't feel satisfied about how they planned to repair the pipe.

Despite Pentagon Vauxhall dealers in Oldham reporting none in stock, I have ordered one from AutoVaux / GPS.
Lets hope they do have one - they quite often say they have stock when they don't.
Otherwise I am stuck...

[Envoy CDX]

Joys, hopefully something crops up Rob. What's the part number?

[Robsey]

Whoop whoop.

Part number 13181980 -
AutoVaux report that they have sourced the part and it will arrive at the garage on Tuesday.
And it still works out £20 cheaper than all of the ebay sellers.
That includes UPS next working day delivery.

[Robsey]

Got the battle wagon back yesterday.
An expense I could do without so soon after Christmas, but at least we are mobile again.

The garage didn't feel it was a particularly durable looking pipe, and it was a bit of a faff to fit - but I did warn them!! - lol

I am just happy to have the comfort of a car that I can have as warm as I want. Not sat on buses for two hours with the windows open for dispersing Covid virus spores.
And a three mile (1 hour) walk at the end of the day.

It might be just a bland looking Vectra-C, but it is a warm comfy Vectra-C.
And two extra hours in bed again
Bliss.

I think it deserves some long overdue TLC, rather than my usual use and abuse...
You don't know what you have taken for granted, until you have spent half of a cold frosty morning on cold draughty public transport.

[iangsi]

There's always a price to pay for our creature comforts.

[Robsey]

Yes indeed. I suppose at 17 years old, it is bound to start needing some money spending on it.

At least it is done now.

Looks like someone has been here.



Hmm - new fuel feed pipe
Being OCD, I had to move that rubber bump sleeve along towards the filter, so that the hose would clip into it's saddle.



And here we go, nice and clean again.





Could do with a thorough T-Cut when the weather improves.
Whole car is covered in tiny black gritty specs.
And the wheels need a proper clean too.

It was spitting when I washed the car, but lashed it down when I had finished.

[Envoy CDX]

Urgh tcutting... I'll lend you my buffer next time we catch up just for the love of whatever is holy or something smiles upon this post do not tcut it.
But seriously, glad you have the blue bus back

[Robsey]

Not even T-Cut for metallics?

I suspect G3 cutting paste would be better.
I do have a 12volt powered buffer... just never used it - lol

[vexorg]

The preface vectra c is so ugly that you could go over that area with a good claw hammer and it would still look no worse.

[Robsey]

Oh David...

You do like your provocative comments.

There are much uglier cars, and it is all a matter of taste.
I prefer it to the facelift version any day.
Just like all manufacturers Vauxhall created some ugly ducklings.
The Agila for example.
Ford had their Ka
Nissan had their Juke
And as for the Fiat Multipla... eesh!!

In it's defence, the Vectra has a huge load space and is very comfy.
I do admit though, that it is a very poorly designed car, with road springs made from coltsfoot rock, an over complicated CAN network system, and a really crappy Fiat / Alfa Romeo 1.9 diesel lump with dodgy swirl valve linkage and sticky egr valve.

[chrisp]

"I am just happy to have the comfort of a car that I can have as warm as I want. Not sat on buses for two hours with the windows open for dispersing Covid virus spores.
And a three mile (1 hour) walk at the end of the day."
I absolutely agree - but our esteemed government keeps telling us that the only way Joe Public should be getting around is by walking, cycling or public transport so as to "save the planet" - and they are trying to make that more of a reality by making it increasingly difficult and costly to own cars.

[Envoy CDX]

The preface vectra c is so ugly that you could go over that area with a good claw hammer and it would still look no worse.

[Robsey]

The preface vectra c is so ugly that you could go over that area with a good claw hammer and it would still look no worse.

Don't worry Gary,
David said exactly the same thing on OpComusers last year.

To be honest, I haven't found any of the Vauxhalls after 1997 to be particularly good looking or inviting.

I like the Cavalier mk2, mk3 and Omega-B but not much else.
The Vectra-C was / is a pretty good car for it's era.
I do not see any of the current Vauxhall models floating my boat.

[3cav3]

Pleased you've got it back. There always comes a point when you have to decide to bail out of a car, due to continous costs, however its not always easy of you've become sentimental attached to it. Still over the 17 years you've had it, I bet the full spend has been realitively little per year. I wonder if you'll own it for as long as your cavalier?

[Envoy CDX]

The preface vectra c is so ugly that you could go over that area with a good claw hammer and it would still look no worse.

Don't worry Gary,
David said exactly the same thing on OpComusers last year.

To be honest, I haven't found any of the Vauxhalls after 1997 to be particularly good looking or inviting.

I like the Cavalier mk2, mk3 and Omega-B but not much else.
The Vectra-C was / is a pretty good car for it's era.
I do not see any of the current Vauxhall models floating my boat.

Not worried, to be honest, the Vectra B is growing on me as they grow rarer. That said, there isn't a modern car on the road that has perked my interest. The C is still too new for me

[Robsey]

As for current cars...
They are all "much of a muchness", plastic boxes with iPad displays glued onto a bland dash panel and an electric motor in the mix.

Cars have lost their character and indeviduality.

And when "they" have force-fed us all with clean-air-zones, frequent fuel pipe changes, increased fuel costs and price hikes in VED...
it all becomes academic as it simply will not be finacially viable to run a real car in future.

But then that is a whole new topic for the rumour-mongers, conspiracy theorists and doom and gloomers.

On a side note...
When we bought our dirty diesel, it was on the back of a campaign by the government extolling the virtues of the better mpg and reliability of the diesel engine over petrol.
Amazing how the diesel is now the evil cousin in the room.
How times change.

Be interesting to see how we will be able to generate enough electricity to run millions of electric cars in 15 years.
And that is if you live near enough to your car to have a charge point. I live some 30 ft from our cars, with a public footpath in-between.

Perhaps I won't need to worry as I will have retired and be using ring n ride no doubt - lol