Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

1

Omega General Help / Re: ABS and TC light on

« on: 05 August 2009, 00:06:21 »

I was thinking along the same lines - how big/costly is the job to change one?

Sorry, don't know, I've never done one. Unless Vauxhall designed the hub assemblies in a particularly bizarre way I wouldn't think it would be too horrendous though.

2

Omega General Help / Re: ABS and TC light on

« on: 04 August 2009, 19:12:41 »

I understand that the spacing between the ABS sensor and the toothed ring which rotates with the wheel is critical - if the wheel bearing is worn badly enough that the wheel is out of alignment then that could be enough to stop the sensor getting a reading from the ring.

3

Omega General Help / Re: ABS and TC light on

« on: 04 August 2009, 18:44:44 »

Which wheel bearing is noisy?  I think the ABS takes the reading for the speedo etc from the NSF wheel, so if it's one of the others then it could be causing an ABS warning without affecting the speedo.

Incidentally, the ABS feeds the vehicle's speed to the speedo, cruise control, range and consumption display, power steering, and for some bizarre reason the sunroof.

4

Omega General Help / Re: Advice on keeping/scrapping mig please...

« on: 04 August 2009, 18:50:03 »

Can anyone tell me - based on the accident I had (high speed kerbing to nearside wheel, car still goes in a straight(ish) line but steering wheel now at an angle and rumbling noise from damaged area) - is it likely to just be a matter of track rods or more serious?

Before you spend time/money on repairs I'd get a bodyshop to look at it - you may have moved the suspension tower on that side or, worse, moved the 'chassis' where the wishbone is attached.  If you have then it's probably killed the car, as the only way to re-align it accurately is on a jig, and you're looking at serious £££ for that. 

5

Omega General Help / Re: had just about enough now, a sad day for my car!

« on: 26 April 2009, 21:02:19 »

LOOK, Why dont you go but a hbv relay and a hbv valve and go to the village idiot mechanic, get him to fit your parts, check for a water leak( surely BMW minis have them) and then drive your car as normal and lose headless chicken mode,,,, Job Done

looks i have upset Mark, sorry mate!
im not running round like a headless chicken now! honest!

i bought some VX Red Coolant today and topped my car up this morning, it had dropped down about quarter of a pint, slightly more, no leaks anywhere..... maybe it was just settling itself from when i done the coolant change yesterday?
also topped up the oil with some 10W 40
put about 3 quarters of a litre in it

i also took some pics of the oil filler and cap, no sludge as you can see
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6414349&l=8784f1c8d8&id=623190360

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6414350&id=623190360

and i also took picture of the dipstick and the oil that's on it, i think this is Normal??  yes it is a bit black, lol
or is this the "gunk" you all mean?

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6414351&id=623190360

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6414353&l=969d144209&id=623190360

Not entirely sure why someone should use only his fourth ever post, and his first since last December, to launch a rather aggressive attack on Wayne based on a post sent nearly three weeks ago when the problem has already been diagnosed, a fix prescribed, any previous tendencies towards headlessness quelled, and everyone has moved on.  :-?

6

Omega General Help / Re: had just about enough now, a sad day for my car!

« on: 09 April 2009, 11:52:21 »

blimey - sounds like you've got religion too..

And lo, it came to pass that there was a blight upon the face of the Earth, and its name was Vauxhall, whose demons spread alarm and despondency among men, saying "Your head gasket has gone, for there is yellow stuff in your red stuff, that's 29 pounds please, thankyou."  Then there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth of one who made music.

But a great light shone forth in the name of OOF, whose ministering angels said "Be not afraid, musicman, for there is no fault with your head gasket.  Put your trust in us and we shall solve your problems", and a great calm fell upon the musician.  The Vauxhall demons, hearing this, were much abashed, saying "Who are these angels, who know so much more of Vauxhalls than we, the anointed ones?"  And they removed their heads from their bottoms and ran off.

Here endeth today's lesson.

 

7

Omega General Help / Re: changing brake pads - tips and advice needed

« on: 12 May 2009, 15:31:58 »

wasnt sure if andy ilsf was replying to me but the first thing I was told on here was to take care when underneath a car. So I went and got my ramps, axle stands and another jack.   When I changed the oil I even bounced on the car as I wasnt taking any chance

A minor point to consider when using jacks and stands is that depending on where you put them the car, or part of it, can still move if the jack slips.  There are two possibilities:

1.  Jack under the suspension, stands under the body:  If the jack slips the wheels will come down as the springs extend. The car won't move, but the suspension will, which could cause injury.

2.  Jack under the body, stands under the suspension:  If the jack slips the car body will drop until the springs have compressed enough to take the weight.  It'll probably only move 2-3 inches, but if you're lying underneath it it could still cause you injury.

The best thing is to jack under the body and put stands under the body, or if you jack under the suspension then when you've put the stands in lower the jack again until the weight is all on the stands.  At least that way you know that the suspension isn't going to move any further.

8

Omega General Help / Re: changing brake pads - tips and advice needed

« on: 10 May 2009, 22:26:47 »

I have read this post with interest as its my next job on both cars I have got one set of pads already although not sure of make and had hoped not to have to change discs. The front looked ok when I had a quick look but never looked at the back I have learnt how to do things to make the car run better, glow plugs etc but making it stop is a bit more important than getting it going!!! If I get that wrong Im not just stuck with out car   So going to get garage to do them. I have been quoted for pads & discs £190, thats just for 1 car.  Is that about right and as I have had some real bad luck with garages how do I know who to trust :-? maybe I should ask the question in general if  anyone can reccomend anyone local to me

Don't be put off servicing your brakes just because of the potential danger if you get it wrong.  Changing brake pads is generally one of the easiest jobs on a modern car. I admit I haven't changed any Omega pads yet, but I've done them on numerous other makes of car and it's pretty easy.

A suggestion - whip your wheels off and post photos of both sides of each disc to this thread.  If we think it's a simple 'pads out, pads in' job we'll tell you and you can do it for yourself, but if it looks like your discs need replacing as well, which could be a bit more than you want to tackle (though even that isn't too much of a job) you can make the decision whether to take it to a garage after all.  You might surprise yourself though - the jobs you did on your engine a week or two ago were probably more complex than changing pads.

Go on, give it a try!  What's the worst that can happen???  

9

Omega General Help / Re: changing brake pads - tips and advice needed

« on: 10 May 2009, 22:12:18 »

You asked for pictures of brake pads ....... the pad shown was what came out the back of my car last year (compared with one of the new pads about to go in.   It had just started metal to metal.

I'm hoping for a pic of SMD's pads so we can match the wear on the pads to the damage on the disc.  If I can get the matching pics I'll have a go at something for the Maintenance section.  Thanks for your pics though - it'll be useful to compare the pics with a brand new pad and with one which is the thickness of a fag paper!  

10

Omega General Help / Re: changing brake pads - tips and advice needed

« on: 10 May 2009, 17:11:49 »

Can't remember which one it was now!        

as you can see ..... there wasn't much left!  

Is that the pad from SMD's motor?  I'm just confused as to why you're posting pictures of his brake pads!   :-?

11

Omega General Help / Re: changing brake pads - tips and advice needed

« on: 10 May 2009, 12:26:33 »

Out of interest, and for the education of any OOFers who read this thread in the future, when you do replace the discs and pads is there any chance you could post pics of the pads back to this thread?  If you could photograph the friction material side and indicate which pad was the inner and which the outer on this wheel we can match the wear/damage on the pads to the rust/damage on the discs and perhaps explain to you (and others) exactly what's happened.

12

Omega General Help / Re: changing brake pads - tips and advice needed

« on: 10 May 2009, 01:13:32 »

EDIT: i assume torquing the wheels is not necessary?

If you've been tinkering with cars for about a hundred years, like some of us on the forum, you'll have a pretty fair idea what "tight enough" feels like (though even we resort to a torque wrench when doing things like tightening head bolts).  As you're taking your first steps in the wonderful world of car repair, though, you won't have that 'feel', so I'd recommend that you buy a torque wrench and go by the numbers.  Otherwise there's a good chance that you'll overtighten or undertighten the bolts.  If you overtighten them it will make it harder for you to get the wheels off (and punctures always happen at night when it's peeing down and you're wearing your best suit and in a hurry to get somewhere!).  It's also theoretically possible that you could overtighten them to the extent that they start to stretch and can break off while you're driving along, but unless you're built like Godzilla or use a scaffolding pole you're unlikely to get them that tight.  If you undertighten them there's a very good chance that they'll come loose again and your wheel can fall off.  

Use a torque wrench - as well as the wheel studs you'll be able to use it on nearly every nut or bolt you take off.  Just about everything on the car has an official torque setting, as calculated by Vauxhall and listed in the various manuals (eg Haynes) so you'll be able to use it on just about every job you do in the future.

13

Omega General Help / Re: changing brake pads - tips and advice needed

« on: 10 May 2009, 00:50:49 »

Is this what they are supposed to look like?

No.

are they buggered?

Yes.



The back of the disc is badly damaged.  The whole of the pad hasn't been pressing against the disc, and this has allowed part of the disc to rust.  It should be shiny almost to the edge of the disc - see the pic of the front of the disc to see what a nice shiny track should look like.  If you put a new pad in that rust will shred the pad where it rubs against it. Your new pads will be damaged quite quickly, and you may get braking problems as well - if the rusty bit grips the pad too hard your brake might grab, causing the car to pull to that side on braking.
 


The front face looks a lot better, but there's still evidence of damage there. If you look at about the 11 o'clock position you'll see a couple of cracks radiating outwards towards the edge of the disc, and another one at about 10 o'clock.  There are also a lot of radial lines visible on the bottom third of the disc.

The inner damage has probably been caused by the pad not being changed in time and so there's not enough of the friction material left on the pad to contact all the disc, or by the caliper not being able to move freely on the sliders (and I'm not getting drawn into the argument about Copper Slip!).  The damage on the outer face is caused by overheating, either because the brakes have been overused due to some 'overenthusiastic' driving, or possibly in this case because the outer face has been doing all the braking because the inner face hasn't been contributing much.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's time to dig even deeper into the pocket and shell out for new discs.  Change both sides, don't try to just change this side if the other side looks okay - it's false economy, and could cause the brakes to work better on one side than the other leading to the car pulling to one side or the other when braking.

14

Omega General Help / Re: injector pump

« on: 20 May 2009, 12:03:27 »

Ali, are you getting another Miggy?  It would be a pity to lose you from this board, your determination to get your hands dirty and learn how to repair your cars has been a delight to see.  You've definitely got the 'bug'!  I love your avatar, btw - I think it sums up your attitude to fixing your car perfectly!  

15

Omega General Help / Re: injector pump

« on: 18 May 2009, 11:48:50 »

There is a Landrover PDF somewhere on the site that includes most engine workshop repair tasks, if you wanted to go down that line

http://images.omegaowners.com/documents/25TD/M51D25_Engine.pdf