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

[Envoy CDX]

But truck haulage of pretty much everything we need to live on IS totally dependent on fossil fuels.

Electrified rail is the answer to that and more coordinated local distribution, we dont really take any of it that seriouesly, and you can then see the eco warriers out complaining about whatever new alternative there is.

Even moving haulage to existing rail and having trucks traveling shorter distances would have a massive impact. When you consider what a diesel shunter can shift at once compared to a single truck.

[Robsey]

A very minor job today.

Intermittent Dash Cam...

I was driving home yesterday, and realised that my dash-cam was not working.
Normally caused by the cig-lighter connector being a poor fit in the socket (charge socket with a spring-loaded cap in this car).

No amount of fiddling and repositioning the connector would put the red led on...

A quick split of the connector casing found that the negative pole wire had fallen off the internal pcb.
Not sure how that happens in an enclosed plastic body.

So - last night I made up a double 'Y' splitter for the charge socket.
The 'V' of the splitters linking the socket to it's original body loom connector pin.
The tails of the splitters soldered directly to the dash-cam's cig-lighter plug's circuit board.
All external metal parts removed - for obvious reasons.



Turn the ignition key to the on position and the dash-cam sprang into life.



Two birds with one stone.
Sorted a crap intermittent cig-lighter connection,
And managed to lose the ugly cig-lighter connector by stowing it under the centre console next to the base of the gear selector lever.

Probably 30 minutes work all in, including making the splitter loom from scratch.

[Robsey]

As a true Vauxhall, the Vectra is demanding attention.
Despite no warning from the garage in April (MOT and service),
A week ago I started to get an intermittent grinding noise from the rear brakes.
And then yesterday the brake pad warning light came on.
So I ordered rear disks and pads yesterday.

This morning, without any other warning, the front nearside brakes started grating very loud.

I have now had to order new discs and pads for the front too.
Couldn't really afford the £100 price tag...
but it is, what it is
It would have been about £88 if I had bought front and rears at the same time - d'oh!!

I am hoping that they will all arrive tomorrow, ready for my next trip to the unit on Thursday.

Hopefully get it all done and dusted.

[vexorg]

Just looking at the dash cam, why do manufacturers not put power points at the mirror and in the corner of the dash. They must know there's a demand for it since many people have cameras, phones, satnavs all on the windscreen.

[Envoy CDX]

As a true Vauxhall, the Vectra is demanding attention.
Despite no warning from the garage in April (MOT and service),
A week ago I started to get an intermittent grinding noise from the rear brakes.
And then yesterday the brake pad warning light came on.
So I ordered rear disks and pads yesterday.

This morning, without any other warning, the front nearside brakes started grating very loud.

I have now had to order new discs and pads for the front too.
Couldn't really afford the £100 price tag...
but it is, what it is
It would have been about £88 if I had bought front and rears at the same time - d'oh!!

I am hoping that they will all arrive tomorrow, ready for my next trip to the unit on Thursday.

Hopefully get it all done and dusted.

Ouch, not fun. but needs must

[Robsey]

Wow - what a difference four days make.
From nice quiet brakes to heavily scored discs and pads.
The front near-side disc and pad.



And the slightly better near-side rear.



The Vectra put up a good fight, but Troy was able to prevail.

The use of two different size E bolt heads for the caliper carriers, hex socket screws on the front discs and spline / torx bolts on the rear discs all added to the challenge.

Access to the carrier bolts on the rear brakes made worse by the presence of the handbrake mechanism and the road springs.



The drive home at 1:00 am was blissfully quiet.
The pad warning light is still on, but that is because the clip-in sensor on the nearside front brake pad got worn down by the disc.

Either a new sensor wire, or simply snip the wire off.
The pads will probably outlast the car I would think.

Strange thing - on the offside rear handbrake mechanism, there was a sticker saying "remanufactured item" - strange, as that part has never been changed since the car left the factory.

Huge thanks to Troy for doing the work for me.
I think he likes these one-night only jobs.

I just helped where I could - but probably got in the way as usual.

[Envoy CDX]

Nicely done, and nice to see the little jobs making a huge difference.

[Robsey]

Cars always know when to throw a little spanner into the works.
Our tired old vectra is no different.
We are due to go to Nottingham next weekend - not a huge distance... probably about 60 miles each way.

Anyway, in readiness, knowing that payday is still a week away, the car demanded attention - again.
They say things come in threes and this was true here.

We still have the disc pad wear warning flagging up, as I have not replaced / shorted-out the pad wear sensor yet.
I know we are good for at least 20k miles, so not including that in my list of three.

So here goes..
1 -
Not sure if anyone else drives a "modern" Vauxhall, but on our car, if you have the front wipers going and then select reverse gear, the rear wiper starts going intermittently.
Anyway - the other morning I was de-icing the windscreen, and was just wiping the melting ice from the screen.
Without a second thought, I put the car into reverse to back out from it's parking space...
"Thunk!!"
Bugger - the rear wiper had fired up, but the rear arm was still frozen to the glass.
The rear wiper arm snapped off completely from the mounting. They are only made from plastic... bugger!!

2 - halfway round the M60 and my screen wash runs out.
Bugger again. Managed to get to work safely despite the glass looking like something out of desert storm.

3 - just for completeness, the front low beam died.
Great!!

So on to today...

After getting back from errands today,
I put in what little screen wash fluid that I had.
Hopefully it will last until payday next week.

The bulb was also a free fix - I have a spare set of Depo Angel Eye headlamps for the Vectra. Given to me by a friend on the Vectra forum about 5 years ago.
Lucky for me, he left in the H7 bulbs.
Expecting to have to remove the air cleaner assembly, I was surprised to find that I could access the bulb without more dismantling than opening the bonnet, peeling off a rubber cover and twisting out the bulb holder.
The down-side is that the wife wants the Angel Eye headlamps fitting in the spring.

That just leaves the rear wiper arm, which is due to arrive on Monday.

With the bright sunshine today, it was quite nice working outdoors, so I even cleaned the interior,
Then washed and squeegeed the windows - inside and out.
(I did check the spelling of squeegee - lol).

[Envoy CDX]

Great stuff Rob. Little wins are good.

[Robsey]

Oh lordy - the Vectra is poorly.

Apparently I do not drive the car briskly enough.

The car bombed out at it's MOT.



Most is a cheap and easy fix, but excessive smoke.
Not so easy.

My engine is smoking far too much, which infers either an induction air restriction or an injector fault. Excessive fueling.
Chances are the intake manifold is clogged up with soot.

The usual cure is an intake cleaner treatment...
But on my car this is very risky as it makes the engine rev very quickly, which would potentially be fatal for our very tired rattley dual mass flywheel.

That and an Italian tune-up... again something else to antagonise the flywheel.

Hmm - troubled times ahead.

No word from the garage tonight....
Doesn't bode well.

[3cav3]

The only other suggestions apart from what you've said is to try running through the test without an air filter also if the injectors come out of the head without a fight you could try putting them in an ultrasound cleaner, of course this could make them worse if the carbon is holding them together.
A firm ive used in the past if you can spare the car for a few days is to try googling Diesel Bob. Great service and a great Price.

[Robsey]

The safest way is to completely remove the inlet manifold to clean the soot out of the channels.

And like you say - get the injectors cleaned and serviced.

Alas time and finances are not on my side.

Hmm - a trip to the garage in the morning, beckons...
Only 2 miles walk into the next town...

Personally, I blame the swirl valves. They can cause all sorts of trouble on these crappy Fiat / Alfa diesel engines.

[ilovedmymantas]

Would using redex in the tank instead of the intake be a gentler option for your weak point, the flywheel?

[Envoy CDX]

Aw damn man, never rains but it pours.
That clutch has been a bain for a while now. One to discuss with Troy perhaps?

[Robsey]

I had an epiphany late last night... 10:40pm after sitting for hours feeling sorry for myself.

"Smokey engine...
Intake side of things..."
Then it came to me - "those flaming swirl flaps on fhe intake manifold."
I know I mentioned them in my previous post, buf it hadn't really sunk-in.

The swirl flaps have not worked for many years.
The last time I tried to fix them, the car smoked like a trooper and ran like a bag of nails. So I re-disconnected them and realigned them for minimum flow restriction.
Less restriction resulted in fewer running problems and less smoke.
------------
It is possible to buy replacement inlet manifolds complete with uprated swirl flaps.

Probably a ball ache to replace, but it may well cure all ills.
Hmmm -definitely need to speak to the garage.

[Robsey]

As for speaking to Troy.
It is a lot of work to do the intake and the flywheel.
Probably about seven hours.

I have no doubt that Troy is good enough for the job, but workshop space and other cars in the way mean it would not be easy or safe to do for a few months.

Suspension parts - easy enough.
Geabox out is a much bigger, and heavier job.

UPDATE -
I spoke to the garage.
The manifold is so badly blocked, that it didn't suck in the cleaner spray.

He will try the swirl flaps later.
More to follow............

[Envoy CDX]

Well fingers crossed the swirl flaps cures the smoking issues, least that gets rid of one thing, and hopefully gives you a smidge of economy back.

[Robsey]

I am picking the car up tomorrow lunch.

Three of the four flaps were seized solid.
Only No2 was movable.
No 3 is linked to a control module, so held in place by the controller.
That leaves 1 and 4.

I will be praying for nice weather on Sunday, so that I can remove the throttle-body and manually clean out the inlet manifold.
The inlet manifold is well known for getting heavily clogged and sooted-up...
With 184,000 miles on the clock, I expect some serious clogging and furring up.

Hopefully that is enough to reduce the smoking.
That, and I will need to learn to drive more aggressively.
(To reduce soot build up).

It is strange how driving normally can be detrimental for a car.

[Envoy CDX]

All the eco stuff from what I understand on diesels is what kills them. You're getting some good mileage out of the old girls hopefully it's fixable without too much effort and / or cost.

[3cav3]

The majority of the problems with my mk5 Astra van is almost certainly caused by just tootiling along country lanes. Give me the good old days anytime when diesels just had a mechanical fuel pump, and once burnt it left straight up the exhaust pipe. I'm sure a lot of this modern emissions crap is good in theory but in real world conditions are they any better.?
Also I'm sure Robsey will agree, the guy who first invented the DMF should have the lot rammed up his backside, as far as I can ascertain their only purpose in life is to cost motorists money when they fail!

[Robsey]

Oh dear, we have turned into a cynical bunch.

I believe brakes on modern vehicles is the same.
The mother in law has a 2007 Antara.
She is a very typical senior female driver - she pootles about and therefore the brakes are not hammered.
Last time the car was serviced and MOT'd, she was told that she doesn't use the brakes enough, and this affected the friction quality of the pads - I assume they never got warm enough.

Modern cars - especially those with 16-valve engines need to be revved a lot more than their older 8-valve counterparts.

I more or less drive the wife's Vectra-C diesel in the same rev ranges as I would for the petrol Cavalier.

The price of fuel and "that flywheel" mean that I drive in a manner that can be described as making progress but in a relaxed manner.
I drive at (or a tad above) the speed limits for the roads that I use.
No crazy speeding, but I rarely drop far below the speed limit either - traffic permitting.
The only time the car gets a work out, is when accelerating to join a motorway. But even then, anyone who uses the M60 in Manchester knows that you spend 90% of your journey under 40 mph during normal commute periods... which is between 6:45am to 10:00am, and between 3:30pm and 7:00pm.

Therefore the car probably only gets a blast four times a week when I leave the M60 at Denton Island to join the M67 east-bound - to go home.
All of a 1/8 mile run until I hit motorway speed. Then it is a sedate cruise again.

Looking to the future, would I buy another diesel.?
Well it is more fuel efficient and cheaper to service in my experience.
But they are filthy, smelly things.

It has done us well for all this time with only being off the road for lest than a month in total for all those years.

I cannot say that for the Cavalier which has been off the road for about a year due to breakdowns and repairs. (excluding it's current 3 yr sorn period)

The Vectra is 18 years old today!!
1st Reg'n date 31st March 2005.

I think I need to treat it to some injector cleaner for it's birthday - lol.

[Robsey]

As for the flywheel milarkey...

I believe the dual mass is to make the transfer of power from the engine gentler and smoother during gear changes - in the same manner as cush-drives on a motorcycle.

The 'M' series gearboxes are not the most robust.
But then many 6-speed boxes are a lot more fragile than their 5 speed cousins.
I recall an ex-colleague's Peugeot 406 (?) completely killing it's 6th gear, and him having to wait for months for Peugeot to get the necessary parts to be able to fix it under warranty.

Ours is the M40 box, which so far has been quite bullet proof.
This cannot be said for the Astra's M32 box, which is a very good box, plagued by one very weak bearing, that can render the box scrap when it fails.

In essence, both the emissions changes and the dual mass flywheel are good ideas in theory - but how often does practice match theory?

And - manufacturers don't really want your car to last more than ten years - so anything beyond that can be considered 'living on borrowed time'.

[chrisp]

"Therefore the car probably only gets a blast four times a week when I leave the M60 at Denton Island to join the M67 east-bound - to go home.
All of a 1/8 mile run until I hit motorway speed. Then it is a sedate cruise again."

Ah yes, the M67, optimistically signposted to Sheffield and the first time you use it you naively think it goes all the way!
Instead it peters out after about 3 miles and dumps you into the nightmare traffic of Mottram, Hadfield and Glossop. Quite often the traffic is solid from the east side of Glossop (where the Snake Pass starts) right back to the M67 and can take up to an hour to get through.
I have the "pleasure" of using this road quite regularly when I visit my daughter in Sheffield.
The Snake Pass is also collapsing and down to one lane in several places.
The really ought to be better road connections between Manchester and Sheffield - two major northern cities.

[Robsey]

Fortunately I mainly use the Woodhead Pass when I venture towards the M1.
Normally a 1 hour jaunt to Meadowhall... not been there for years.

But for me, I only go from Denton Island to the Hyde turn off - just 2 miles.

For totally useless info,
It was on the west-bound Hattersley / Mottram M67 entry slip that my Cavalier first ran successfully on cruise control.
It was 9pm on a Sunday, so not subject to the usual grid-lock

----------------------------

UPDATE - The Vectra is now home.
I guess I will be busy this weekend

[vexorg]

Quite often a "spirited" drive can clearout smokey issues on diesels.