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« on: 04 November 2011, 23:34:29 »
Ay Up lads!
I need your help with my manual W reg, 2.2 CD Omega. I posted my first ever message in 2008 when I‘d already been suffering for 3 yrs with cold start engine problems. Well, I’ve still got that same problem but, it’s now so unbelievably bad. I wish the damn thing would just conk out then I could get it fixed but, it’s one of the reasons why I love Vauxhall’s……it just keeps on bloody going. I’ll briefly go through the problem (as I’ve got a new problem that‘s causing me more concern, hence the reason for this new post) - The engine lacks power during cold morning start ups, winter time only, it splutters & chugs down the road, putting foot down on the gas seems to make it fight back with kangaroo jumps - its been in the garage x 3, on 3 consecutive winters, 3 diagnostic tunings & the mechanic can't find anything wrong with it. I know different but, no matter how I try to explain this to the garage - I’m just a female imagining it - yeh right! like I’ve got loads of cash to squander on unnecessary garage charges….if I had then I would be driving a Monaro VXR!!!!
It packed in on me 2009, cost around £285 for garage repairs, I said to the mechanic “could the cause of this, be the problem I’ve been going on about for 4yrs?” He told me it could - he’d found loads of shit (sorry can I say that) in the bottom of the petrol tank - flakes of paint, he said??? that had got into the engine, spark plugs changed, air filter (even though I get it serviced yearly), a couple of other things I can’t remember now. It ran brilliantly for 2 dys then, the problem was back so, I’ve assumed the breakdown was a totally separate problem to my on-going one. Since then, things have deteriorated over a further 2yrs, the winter cold start problems went to, all year round problems - every time I start up & even if the car has been standing idle for more than an hour, upon restart, it chugs down the road until the engine is warm, then it works normally. I can feel the hesitation when trying to accelerate, like a dragging back, no power under my foot. But, worse than that - I now cannot start the engine & just drive off…..not a chance in hell!! It refuses to move, it wont go, put your foot down & try but, it moves slightly, chugs, splutters & stops - it doesn’t cut out, it just stops - foot down hard on the gas, the car seems to fight back by jerking back/forth & it always wins. To overcome this, I start my day going to work by letting the engine warm up. At first this was for a couple of mins, then 5 mins, then 10 mins, it still struggles but, at least it drives. I found if I try to be clever & drive it after a couple mins instead of the current 10 min wait then, the engine management light comes on & will stay on until I stop, if the engine is warm enough upon restart, no engine management light & it doesn’t come back on if, in continuous use. I have to go through this process when going home from work. I watch as my colleagues get in their little farty Punto’s, clit’s, Megane’s & Fiesta’s they start their cars & drive off, they‘re all probably sat at home watch TV & I‘m still on the car park waiting for my engine to warm up before my Omega will drive me home. Ohhh how the mighty have fallen!!!
Also, if I get on the motorway, put my foot down as soon as I reach about 50 mph, I can feel the accelerator loosing power & slowing down. No, I haven’t had it back in the garage, I can’t afford it, I don’t know what is wrong with it. It might be on its last legs - 120,000 on the clock but, high mileage on a Vauxhall has never worried me, they’re work-horses. I once had a Cavalier that had done 170,000 the engine was still brilliant, I got rid of it because it was a rust bucket!! I had a Carlton 2.2 CDI that had done 135,000 it never failed me & I traded it in to get my first Omega.
I can’t afford to get another car not unless I’m forced to & you must all know how difficult it is to find a used, petrol, MANUAL Omega, they’re rare. Loads of automatics going that I could’ve afforded but, I don’t want a bloody automatic….why would anyone who isn’t a long distance lorry driver want to drive an automatic….it takes all the piggin fun out of driving!!
Yesterday, whilst sat in my car, on the works car park waiting for the engine to warm up!! I noticed the steering wheel made a clicking sound, when I turned it, the noise is just a short click, as if something is snapping off inside the steering wheel. Now this really worries me as I’ve never had this problem before on any of the 13 cars I’ve owned. It did it about 5 or so more times, whilst driving around corners. Today, its become more frequent, every time I go around corners, at one point it clicked then, I lost steering free play for a couple seconds, the steering seemed to be rigid, similar to loss of power steering & I thought it was going to give up on me. Apologises for being illiterate in “car terminology”. Any idea’s or help lads would be greatly appreciated apart from the obvious….get rid of it! But, if in your experience, you know better - that it is on its way out - then I would rather you tell me to start looking for another Omega. Thank you.
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