Lord Sterling's fleet of failure - Small win

[loserone]

Only if it's 13 pin.  7 pin not testable

[Split_Pin]

Good news on the test pass chap!

[Bren]

Check battery. Failing battery causes all sorts of shenanigans on vectras. Coil springs are a service part on these.

[beko1987]

Amys Zafira did 3 of its springs at the last mot, must be the heavy car plonked on vectra running gear/shit springs/fucked roads

Luckily the rears are quite easy. Fronts are a twat though (without a fully stocked workshop to assist) 

[Lord Sterling]

Despite being an SRi, for whatever reason, Vauxhall decided NOT to reward the potential owners of the Vectra SRi with extras such as rear electric windows, map lights and sunglasses holders. In fact this is probably a couple of rungs higher than the absolute poverty-spec. So up in the roof you got this:

Courtesy lights that only work with an open door and a BIG GREY blanking plate, just to let you know that you hadn't quite made it in life or that your a tight-fisted git.

My experience* with Vauxhalls taught me that some Vectras came with a sun-glasses holder and map lights. 

ANYHOW. A couple of weeks back when I had a job etc... I went and bought myself a sunglasses holder/map lights panel from eBay. After some messing about with DHL, because: DHL, I finally received the overly packed panel (it had bubble wrap that could almost run the length of my car)

Today, after helping with a local collection I changed over the panels hoping that the Vauxhall wouldn't repeat its; 'nope, soz, you can't do that' action like my last attempt at doing stuff. In fact, it was surprisingly easy.

Old:

New:

Lever out old panel and disconnect:

Connect and test new panel. Job done:

(RayBan) Sunglasses status; IN

Map lights don't work but then the courtesy lights only work when opening the door. The fuses are fine but the roof loom could be fried (a "common problem" apparently) looked Ok to me but then again, what do I know. 

I also managed to temporarily solve the lack of aux in the car with this Bluetooth player a mate gave me:

I can now listen to tunes off my phone. Sound is very good, better than I would have expected but there can be missing bits when a song changes over or an instruction from Google Maps tells you something. It isn't great but its better than what was.

L8ERZ

[Matty]

Ohhh didn't know they existed. Brilliant, I'm getting one of them! How do they work?

[Mrcento]

I heard someone say that gen of vauxhall, SRi started to mean "Stuff removed inside".

They're generally fairly well specced anyway regardless, but have costs cut in really bizarre areas.

[Lord Sterling]

On 10/26/2019 at 7:57 PM, Matty said:

Ohhh didn't know they existed. Brilliant, I'm getting one of them! How do they work?

Sod knows. They just seem to work 'magically' as far as I am concerned or something to do with matching the radio frequencies; 

Fit bluetooth player in cigarette lighter plug, put in a random frequency (i.e. 107.8 fm) in Bluetooth player (it may already be pre-selected and make sure its an unused radio frequency), switch stereo on, match radio frequency (i.e 107.8 fm) to Bluetooth player, switch phone Bluetooth connectivity on and connect to player and then hey presto, sound from your phone/bluetooth player will play through your car. Not great but a lot better than switching CDs or wishing you could hear a tune on your phone through the car speakers.

[Matty]

Cheers mo. Going to have a look for one now!

[Lord Sterling]

Lets face it, cars just aren't as easy as they once were (as if I can talk, I'm not even a "home mechanic") 

The Vectra has problems with the climate control blower. It works but only on setting 4, and even then it needs a minor whack on the side on the centre console to get the blower actually working. 

I got bored of this mainly because various members of my family found it hilarious  that I had to hit the side of the centre console to make the fan work and it was beginning to be tiring. So I decided to see if I could drop the heater blower and get the bearings lubed up as this usually resolves any bearing problems in the heater blower.

Glove box got taken out as did whatever trim was in the way. All was fairly easy until I got to the heater blower. Seat back and laying the passenger footwell to underside of the in some contortionist-type position I managed to find and undo 4 of the 8 torx bolts, I just couldn't find the others.

Then I found a couple of torx screws that were facing upwards rather downwards. This made the job even more awkward I literally couldn't get the screw driver in, even when I managed to, I couldn't turn the screw drivers because if the ancillaries in the way behind the dash. 

For some reason I'd decided to check the blower motor was working. On setting 4 it worked (with a bit of a minor whack directly on the blower motor) then after it worked faultlessly (but still only on setting 4) 

At least I can have some warmth during winter driving without employing the 'whack to make it work' mode.

I managed to also get the boot lights working. So some victory.

[bezzabsa]

On 10/19/2019 at 12:21 PM, beko1987 said:

Amys Zafira did 3 of its springs at the last mot, must be the heavy car plonked on vectra running gear/shit springs/fucked roads

Luckily the rears are quite easy. Fronts are a twat though (without a fully stocked workshop to assist) 

Based on tha Astra

[beko1987]

2 hours ago, bezzabsa said:

Based on tha Astra

Now you mention it your right! Meriva is corsa, Zafira is astra! No wonder they shit springs and bushes every 10 minutes! 

[red5]

4 hours ago, bezzabsa said:

Based on tha Astra

Astra G Estate if it's a Zafira A

Hence the G in the VIN.

 

/pedant/accurate depending on viewpoint

[Lord Sterling]

***? BOOOORING UPDATE ALERT ?***

Last week, having got a new job and was newly paid. I decided to jump on a B.I.N on eBay for a rear load cover;

Floor mats were chucked in for an extra few quid, why not? ? The chap was only in Brierley Hill so I went yesterday to pick up the load cover. The chap was all over my car. He seemed to be like an older version of me. He loved Vectra C estates and loved them to have all OEM extras. He told me about his old Vectra C estate that suffered a catastrophic engine failure and was massively reluctant to get rid. But "wife" pressures meant it had to go. Plus he couldn't find a low mileage engine. Only after he got rid did he find a low mileage engine locally. So the load cover and mats were cheap. He tried to sell me a book pack but I already have one.

I also have the boot mat cover and dog guard courtesy of Red5.

Now all it needs are the larger rear headrests. It'll get a winter service too and a new spring before this month is out.

[Lord Sterling]

Some, all or none of you may remember this:

On 10/18/2019 at 6:49 PM, Lord Sterling said:

Since I got my car back there has been a slightly annoying beep when using the indicators. When it hasn't been pouring down I've managed to verify that all of the indicators are in working order, front, rear and sides so I'm not sure why this beeping is occuring;

After watching a video about fitting a tow bar to a Vectra C estate, in a rare fit of enthusiam, I actually left my nice warm flat with food, internet and TV to go out into the dark and rain to poke about in the boot and see if pulling a plug would stop the beeping.

Nope, it didn't, but I did find the source of the beeping which came from unit I'm holding here:

Both boxes above are some sort of electrical management unit for the towbar. It looked like a massive bodge job with a mess of wires all over the place. I didn't fancy pulling at them. However, I was getting nearer to putting an end to this beeping nonesense.

Then, I traced a wire coming out of the management box to a single fuse and pulled it out:

I then tried out the indicators and voila! No more beeping. The fuse may have blown but I can't tell as the housing is opaque but when I put it back in the beeping came back so I've left it off. I tried the lights to check all was working including brake, fog and normal lights. All is good, so a small victory.

It *may* have also had something to do with the alarm randomly going off but thats yet to be proven.

Next on the list;

• Suspension spring

• Service

• Tie up rear brake pipes - I can hear them rattling and its annoying. They have not been routed properly.

[jonny69]

Still reading. Quality updates. 

[320touring]

Is that effectively a telltale sound for the trailer indicators?

 

Good work tracing it back!

[Lord Sterling]

10 hours ago, jonny69 said:

Still reading. Quality updates. 

Cheers!

9 hours ago, 320touring said:

Is that effectively a telltale sound for the trailer indicators?

Good work tracing it back!

It is yep. But I reckon the fuse must have blown making it beep like it had a trailer on the towbar.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Cleaning the contacts in the towing socket might sort it. There could be a short in the socket which is making the black box think a trailer is plugged in

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

[Pat Earrings]

Genuinely pleased you sorted the beeping lol. I could hear it and thought that would annoy the hell out of me! Let me know Mo if you fancy me doing your service for you!

[brownnova]

Because my back up Saab us mainly used for towing I always find it weird when it doesn’t make the beeping sound! 

[Lord Sterling]

Yo.

Last week I found a bolt in my tyre and tyre flat. Had to do something quick as I needed the car so a local tyre place was visited where they had this;

Unfortunately, the customers in front were holding up the fitters and I had less and less time to wait so I jumped back in the car and drove nearer to where I needed to be and found another place to get a tyre fitted there and then.

Bolt;

I mean, really?

£30 later and I had a serviceable tyre. Both rears will be changed in due course subject to me actually finding someone who'll employ me.

Today was more of a productive day, apart from again being rejected for yet another job I'd been interviewed for (?), I visited a scrapyard in Telford where you could surpringly walk in and take bits off just like old scrappies. Most scrappies no longer let you in so this was a nice change:

I wanted a pair of rear headrests as the ones in the Vectra were for a Vectra hatch, the estate had full rear headrests identical to the fronts so I liberated a pair of front headrests from this poor Vectra LS;

I also liberated some bit of trim that were broken/missing on mine from this one:

I also noticed that the pre-facelift Vectra have a bonnet strut keeping all in place whereas the later ones have the old bonnet stay. Might see if I can retrofit one of these:

The rear ashtrays on these Vectras are ones that are continuously broken or missing and this was no exception so a new one was found;

Also bagged a plug-in rear lighter as mine had been modded in some way and the top was awol.

Headrests:

All bits cost me a grand total of £5 which was great as I'd originally purchased a pair of headrests from eBay for £13, but was refunded when the seller admitted they had been thrown away, so a saving of £8 with a few other bits chucked in, the other bits alone would have been about an extra £20 off eBay. I think I'll be more of a frequent visitor to this scrappy from now on.

[chaseracer]

AS mass outing...? 

[Lord Sterling]

3 hours ago, chaseracer said:

AS mass outing...? 

It'll be a bit of a tight squeeze. The scrappy is small and cars are tightly packed in. I'd still love to go again. Might do in the next few days or weeks if I can find anymore missing/broken trim in the Vectra.

[Dan302]

My favourite scrapyard is Eva Bros in Scunthorpe, it's not changed in the 30+ years I've gone there (used to love going there with my dad) I'll get some photos next time I'm there.

[Lord Sterling]

1 hour ago, Dan302 said:

My favourite scrapyard is Eva Bros. In Scunthorpe, it's not changed in the 30 years I've gone there (used to live going there with my dad) I'll get some photos next time I'm there.

Cool. I reckon we need to knock up some sorta list of scrappies in areas which still allow public access. Loads of other nearby scrappies have adopted the 'wait outside' policy. 

[Floatylight]

Cool. I reckon we need to knock up some sorta list of scrappies in areas which still allow public access. Loads of other nearby scrappies have adopted the 'wait outside' policy. 

Brilliant idea!

Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk

[Lord Sterling]

As eluded to in the News 24 thread, the KV6 Sterling had been left in Kidderminster after the new carpark was about to be built.

A couple of weeks ago, the landlord of my mates flat in Kidderminster had been told to get the car removed, I was supposed to remove it last week but couldn't get thing moving.

Last night a couple of mates popped down, I explained that the Rover needed to be moved so off we set.

With a second-hand battery, a can of petrol, a hand-held tyre compressor and some jump leads off we set. The car started with just the jump leads, but I managed to get some petrol dumped into it. We managed to get the car back home.

All of my lick must have been used up yesterday as today, in another strange bit of enthusiasm, I set off down to the car with some car cleaning gear and here is where the problems started;

I have a tiny hand-held hoover which I intended to use to hoover out the interior. I started the car and it started again like a boss, but then it decided to cut out. As it did, the drivers window helpfully went down. No worries! thought I as I retrieved the Vectra from its slumber. 

I connected the jump leads and the Rover tried to cough back into life but it wasn't having any of it. However, as I tried cranking I suddenly saw the Rovers alternator smoking. Uh oh, time to bale on cranking, then suddenly there was no more power. I even tried another set of jump leads but there was nothing. What to do now? My drivers window is down, its a Sunday early afternoon and I doubt anyone is available. 

In the end I trotted off home to retrieve my toolbox and remove the battery from the Vectra. The Vectras' is wide and only just fit in the space. I plugged it all up and rewound the window back up. Battery back in the Vectra and all is now sound and sorted. Except, I didn't get to clean the ungrateful bastard Rover:

It can stay where it is until I get enough arsed again to try and sort it.

[Angrydicky]

That Sterling is Hot with a capital H! Any interior shots so I can perve over that beige leather and wood?

[hairnet]

clean??

fk that mot the fker