Dicky

Buggar Alex the stealers have won again! It's my own fault for being lazy and not wanting to wait to have it fixed and not doing it myself. Tell the truth I've been buried into the manual all tonight and am kicking myself for not diagnosing the problem myself and fixing it. Never again, but unfortunately we pay for our mistakes. I'm off to kick F--k out the dog now!

No I'm not paying them £600 of my little friends to drill out the sheared bolt. But I am going to get the dealership who sheared it in the first place to sort it out for free. It was fine when I gave them the new plugs to fit. I'm only paying for a new set of plugs and a coil pack which is expensive enough.

Thanks for the offer young man. Unfortunately being an oldie I've lost all the enthusiasm I used to have when I was younger and just can't get motivated these days unless it's absolutely straight forward. Ho hum, the joys of being an old fart Shame you not in my neck of the woods, i could have sorted it for you for just the price of a coil pack if that what was needed, the insert should be easy to remove and it would just take a suitably shaped nut epoxied in to complete, but not really necessary as the the coil pack would stay put anyway. As for user names, i started out on car forums years ago and because the swear filter wouldn't let me use Tricky-Dicky which is actually what i am called (Richard) in reality, i went with Tricky-Ricky which was the nearest option, so i have just stuck with it.

That's Stealers for you! By the way the service manager told me they charge different Hourley rates depending on how old the car is. Since mine is 10 yrs old the rate would be £48/hr, newer cars can go up to £65/ hr They seem to charge what they like. If they have to hang a sign over the coffee machine to say it's broken they put the hrly rate up by £10 You shouldn't be saying Give me a break more like Give me a Job. ha ha That's 12,5 hours to drill out the sheared bolt..... :scare: Give me a break...!!!

That's Stealers for you! By the way the service manager told me they charge different Hourley rates depending on how old the car is. Since mine is 10 yrs old the rate would be £48/hr, newer cars can go up to £65/ hr They seem to charge what they like. If they have to hang a sign over the coffee machine to say it's broken they put the hrly rate up by £10

Thanks Tricky-Ricky for your input. Unfortunately it's to late as I've instructed the stealer to go ahead and replace the coil pack. You could be right that the bolt has been over tightened and I'm hopping my original stealer will cough up for the bolt replacement ( not sure if they'll go for the new coil pack, but nothing ventured .... I was hopping I could come up with some link between the coil pack failing and the seared bolt. By the way your username has given me an idea....how does a Tricky Dicky sound! I don't want to steal your thunder but it does have a certain ring to it ha ha

On Wed I noticed the engine seemed to be miss firing on one cylinder. Couldn't get it into my usual stealer so put it into another one who rang me later in the day to ask me to pop along to take a look at what they'd found. The mis fire was associated with cylinder 6 coil pack and they had found one it's securing bolts had been sheared off when the last set of plugs were fitted by my usual stealer ( quick deviation...in 2011 got my usual stealer to fit a set of Iridium plugs I'd bought. They had only done about 15k mls but looked in a terrible condition so will not be fitting them again) anyway who ever did the job had stuck a lump of foam rubber on top of the coil pack and some how managed to clamp it under an associated bracket to keep it in but kept stum about it. I rang my usual stealer to complain and will be taking it in next week for them to look at it. As it happens a new coil pack costs £110 ( which I will be attempting to get refunded by my usual stealer) so the full job to fit new plugs and one coil pack £340 ish. The new stealer also quoted me over £600 to drill out the seared bolt. I know these coil packs have a transistor switching the primary of a small transformer and was wondering if anyone knew if these coils need to have both securing bolts fitted, possible to earth different parts of the internal circuitry ? ? It just seems a bit coincidental that the faulty coil pack is the one with the seared off fixing bolt!

It's hardly on show at any time so no one's going to see it so fill your boots and have it as like it!

Just to wrap this one up. After more excuses from him and threats of IAEA reports and court action from me he finally agreed to fit a refurbished crank along with new shells etc. Collected the car this morning and asked to see my original crank and the shells which he showed me. I also asked for a copy of the invoice he received from the replacement crank supplier which he also provided. I rang the company up to confirm what had been supplied and everything appeared to check out ok. Had a run around and no oil leaks as yet, yipeeeee. Hope that's the end of it now and feel a bit sorry for the guy as he's a hard worker who I believe had been caught out by his incompetent mechanic. If only he'd been straight with me from the start rather than the bullshit stories he and his son gave to fob me off, things may have been different. Hey ho

Couldn't care less what others think .......we like them and that's what's important. I would probably hate the cars they drive!

Cheers young man. In fact I looked at that one this morning. I need to check the suggested local garage because it carries the name of an infamous family in my neck of the woods, not sure if their related and would hate to put it in then receive a ransom note to get it back. Ha ha

PS Can anyone recommend a reliable company in the Newcastle/ Sunderland area?

My front tyres are showing signs of uneven wear even though my current stealer was supposed to have done this a few months ago. Are there any special equipment requirements when it comes to wheel alignment on the Z. When I first got the car I had feathering problems and the stealer I bought it from had to send it out to some other place who had laser tracking.

Thanks Jez, but I also spoke with an RAC engineer, two main dealer workshop foreman, an IAEA engineer and none thought the lip seal would cut into the crank nor did Vauxhall have any TSB's to suggest there has ever been an issue with oil seals cutting into the crank cause oil leaks. Anyway he never once suggested the problem was with the original seal only his replacement which had operated for way less miles. It's difficult to assess the wear in your picture Jez but mine looked like a more precise cut rather than a smooth ridge and several thou deep. I didn't mention it above but on the second occasion of stripping down to check the leak he didn't replace the leaking oil seal, he just covered the internal and external faces of the seal with sealant. Why would you do that. He must have noticed the groove and tried to bodge it, otherwise he would have hit me with the problem then. None of it adds up! Below are two statements taken from an article I read on how seals work.(by the way I meant the groove was around the circumference not the diameter in my rant above). AND ENGLAND ARE OUT OF THE WORLD CUP AGAIN AS WELL. Does god care about me at all! HOW DOES THE SEAL WORK? The automotive radial lip seal works by creating a thin layer of oil between the sealing lip and shaft journal. Capillary action causes the oil to seep between the lip and the shaft, which results in the oil lifting the sealing lip clear of the shaft. This thin layer is retained, and prevents leakage of the oil past the sealing lip. It is important to ensure that the seal is fitted square in the housing and perpendicular to the shaft and that end float and radial shaft run out is not excessive. LUBRICATION The sealing lip of the oil seal should never be in contact with the shaft. If this were the case, the seal would wear out in a matter of hours, therefore precaution must be taken that the seal is correctly lubricated prior to fitting. If this lubrication is not present, burning of the seal lip can occur, which could lead ultimately to seal failure.

This was such a precise cut in the crank it could only have been made by the spring and it was the seal he had fitted that he was blaming not the original seal. I would expect the viton to wear considerably faster than hardened steel or cast iron if that's what the cranks made of. If your right and some wear does take place it must be very very marginal and after a couple of hundred thousand miles or so. In fact I've read how seals are supposed to work. If I understand correctly the viton doesn't even touch the shaft because of capillary action of the oil which causes the lip to lift slightly on a cushion of oil and that's presumably one of the reasons the spring is fitted.

It's Bloody frightening isn't it!

Ha ha ha ha, good in

This guy is so stupid that before getting his brain into gear he told me the seal I was looking at was the one fitted by the sacked mechanic. Incidentally it was covered in sealant, internal and external surfaces. I asked him, why would you strip the car down again on the second occasion and not fit a new seal if that's where the leak was. Why would you just squirt loads of sealant at if you didn't already know what the fault was and were trying to bodge it up in the hope it would last for a while then you could blame something else. What troubles me though is how many poor people get fooled by such lies and just pay up!

Anyone know if my 2004 GT has a pollen filter fitted and if so where it's located. Can't seem to find any reference in the manual?

This is a little long winded but you'll get a laugh. Had an oil leak on my wife's Zafira. Took it to my local garage who said it was coming from the crank shaft oil seal. It was a big job, gear box out, steering bits disconnected, clutch out etc etc. They did the work, I paid the bill. A few days later it was still dropping oil so took it back. The owner rang a day or so later saying he'd finished, I asked what the problem was, he said bad workmanship and he'd sacked the mechanic who did it. A few days later it was still dropping oil. Booked it in again and after the full day the owners son called to say it was finished. This is where it gets really unbelievable. The son said the oil loss was because the air intake wasn't on correctly (it was as I had fitted it just a day earlier and was certain it was on correctly) this caused the engine to run rich causing additional pressure in the oil system and pushing oil past the seal. ha ha ha ha Next day oil was still dripping (of course it was) so took it back and told the son I wasn't a complete dope so to do the job again and get it right. Two days later the owner rang in the morning saying the seal had scratched the seal housing and how this was a common problem on Vauxhalls. I went down to the garage to look at it and the seal had no metal showing anywhere, in fact it had a rubberised coating. I told him to take the seal out and check the crank for damage in case his sacked moron had used a hammer and screwdriver to remove the original seal. An hour later he rang again, to say the crank was damaged, so down I went again. The end boss of the crank over which the seal fits and against which the seal lip acts had a perfectly concentric groove in the metal all around its diameter right where the rubber (viton) of the seal sits. Get ready cos his next statement is being entered into the forums "MOST PATHETIC BULLSHIT STATEMENT" competition. What's caused that I asked ? " the groove's been caused by the rubber lip seal" WHAT! you mean the rubber has cut through hardened steel? " Yes I've seen it before and my mate who works for Vauxhall says it's a common fault" Is that so I said. So nearly all the Vauxhalls in the world are dropping oil right now because of rubber seals cutting into the steel, is that what your telling me"? Yes he said. F--K off I said, are you for real! Isn't it more likely that the seals been fitted incorrectly exposing the st st spring located directly behind the lip seal to the crank face. In fact I took the spring off the seal and it matched perfectly the radius of the groove. No he insisted the rubber lip has caused the groove. F--k off I said. Anyway the the argument carried on into the next day when I told him unless he replaced the crank I would hire a low loader, take it to a main dealer for their report and would get an IAEA engineer as well to produce a report I could use in court. He rang today still insisting it was the seal that caused the damage but he was going to fit a reconditioned crank but expected a contribution from me. F--k off I told him, this is all down to you otherwise hire yourself a brain dead legal team cos no one with a brain would represent him. I also told him I wanted a copy of all invoices and all data relating to the crank replacement so I can check it all out with his suppliers. Anyone been offered a better lame excuse ???

It's probably been posted before but just in case anyone gets the same problem. Central locking and alarm arming from the key fob went off today for no apparent reason. Pressing the lock/unlock had no affect. Worked ok when using the key though, apart from the alarm going off when I unlocked it again though. Anyway fitted new battery to the key fob but still the same. The fix was to disconnect the battery negative for a minute then it worked ok. Hope it helps someone

Puncture fixed and cost £10, no attempts to sell new tyres and no probs at all. Will stick with these guys as they seemed up front. I had picked up a wood screw which looked remarkable like the ones I'd recently been using to hang up some items in my garage. It couldn't have been me who left it lying around and must have been the wife or the dog, he's a little tinker is that dog

Sounds to me as though the heat is exceeding either the motor or it's control devices max operating temp limit. More likely to be any solid state control device in the circuit. The motor is more robust and I wouldn't have thought that sort of temp would affect it operation. It could also be mechanical due to expansion. I've got no idea what's involved in the window control circuitry nor in the mechanical mechanism but I'm sure UK temperatures shouldn't be a problem. Not much help I know but I am aware of the effects of temperature on electronic circuitry.

Had a look at Dynaplug on their website and youtube also read some reviews on Amazon. It looks like a solution but Im always a bit sceptical about these quick fix or easy to use things you see on tele shopping or at exhibitions. It may well work but I think I would only use it as a get me home solution. I would always be worried about driving a performance car with this type of tyre repair. Thanks for the input thoughTinyflier

Thanks guys, that side wall issue raised by AndyG8nby is the one I recall hearing in the past to get you to fit a new tyre. It's a bugger that you can't trust anybody these days (or is it just me getting old nd nattery)