[Valer]

I wouldn't worry about other drivers so much,sitting at the lights with the clutch down doesn't show much mechanical sympathy,
you're just increasing wear on the CSC and pressure plate and loading up the end pressure on the crankshaft,
with the crank end float issues some of these engines are experiencing i'd recommend using the clutch just when necessary.
Even if you go flying off from the lights it's a pound to a penny the someone a couple of cars back will be sat there texting completely unaware the lights have even changed

 

[msg]

I also spoke to Vauxhall Customer care and spoke to them , they gave me a case No and asked me to take it to my nearest vaux dealer. This is regarding the clutch.

They checked my reg number and said that my car was not under any recall.

By the way the Vaux dealer was able to pull out the rest of the history on this car, at 31,000 miles it had new pistons, rings, con rods, big end bearings, this means the car had suffered from a LSPI,

I am aware of this issue so I was told by Redman not to push too hard in high gears at low speed.

 

[Redman]

I come out of gear, handbrake on at lights so as not to put extra wear and tear on mechanical parts. I normally watch the lights start to change
on the traffic lights having right of way and then put my car in gear to be off at my traffic lights change.

What mileage is the car at now?

 

[msg]

Yes Redman, I do the same at traffic lights, out of gear when you know there are 3 phases one for pedestrians, so yes, I am always ready to go the second the lights are green, some drives go asleep at the lights, lol, I have seen many who miss out on green and when lights change to red they start moving!

Yes the car has done 48,000 miles, I spoke to the seller regarding the power steering, he has agreed to get his mechanic to fit me the rack I ordered from eBay, but i will have to drive all the way to Birmingham, on the day he can organise his mechanic. I will be supervising the work as I am also interested what went wrong, and yes I have got a strong feeling that it may just be the corroded connectors.

 

[msg]

Another informative video on changing an electric steering racks, (Ford) No Programming Required on this Ford. (I anticipate same with my Astra Which is very reassuring)
Can fast forward to 13.00 where engine is started and no more steering warning.

 

[msg]

UPDATE

I managed to get a used Electric Power Steering from eBay seller, cost £50.00, shipping £20.00 Bloody brilliant, came complete with cable harnesses, and connectors, so I managed to pre-test it by connecting it to car wiring, the 10 way connector, the two big wires, red and thec black, and fired up the engine, and tried rotating the steering shaft with a grip wrench, and it turns beautifully from lock to lock, no noise, and you can feel the assist, as it is not under any load, so the assist is light, but you can tell it is assisting, without connections connected the grip wrench is harder to turn. So well pleased that before money is spent on replacing it only to find it doesn't work, it can be a disaster, all that labour can go down a pan.

Another thing I noticed the 10 way connector has to be connected otherwise the engine will not start, it would be same as you have not pressed the clutch pedal. This is regardless of power Red and Black leads connected or not.

Checked the dashboard, all power steering warnings gone, no new warnings or any other issues came up except Bonnet Open message.

So now it is only a matter of booking it with a garage. and I will post back here if all goes finally well.

 

[Valer]

Looking good then 👍

 

[Redman]

Good so far, are you not taking up the offer from the previous owner?

 

[msg]

No, I am not but he offered to get it fixed if I could find a used rack, but it meant driving all the way to Birmingham. I have arranged with a local garage who does my MOTs , he gave me a figure of £110.00 labour, I told him it is roughly 4 to 5 hours work, There is no way I am offering him £110.00, I offered him at least £150.00 or even £200, as long as he does a good job, with me supervising all the work for my own peace of mind.

 

[Redman]

No, I am not but he offered to get it fixed if I could find a used rack, but it meant driving all the way to Birmingham. I have arranged with a local garage who does my MOTs , he gave me a figure of £110.00 labour, I told him it is roughly 4 to 5 hours work, There is no way I am offering him £110.00, I offered him at least £150.00 or even £200, as long as he does a good job, with me supervising all the work for my own peace of mind.

Enough said.

 

[msg]

Unfortunately when I searched for any past comments on "Power Steering fail" on these Forums, it yielded no results, but by chance I googled today and came up with this title "Power steering faults"

This thread from 2016 covers good bit of information too. https://www.astrakforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=1316

 

[Redman]

Unfortunately when I searched for any past comments on "Power Steering fail" on these Forums, it yielded no results, but by chance I googled today and came up with this title "Power steering faults"

This thread from 2016 covers good bit of information too. https://www.astrakforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=1316

I referred you to that thread in the first post I put on your thread
You losing sleep over this or do you work nights?, 3,16 am!

 

[msg]

My apologies Redman, seriously I missed that link out, thinking it was something or a reference to your post. That is why I wrote "this thread from 2016......" a pointer to click but I assumed that was something else, had you said check this thread, then I would not have missed it out, sorry not all of us think along the same lines, and yes I am a ;late person, goes to bed between 3 and 4 am.

 

[Redman]

My apologies for not making it clearer to you.

 

[msg]

No worries (son) or mate, and don't forget young man, I am sixty what seven! So I am not as sharp as i once was.....😃

 

[Redman]

No worries (son) or mate, and don't forget young man, I am sixty what seven! So I am not as sharp as i once was.....😃

I am no young man myself, in fact 57 years young today. You're doing a good job so far getting your car's faults sorted and importantly feeding back on your thread. It all helps other users now or at a later date should it happen to their car.

 

[msg]

LATEST UPDATE:

Took my car to a local garage, replaced the power steering with one I purchased from eBay for £50 from a 2016 Astra, started work on the car at 10.30am, job completed by 1.00pm, (2.5Hrs ) Didn't need to disconnect exhaust or any thing apart from lowering the subframe a bit from the rear side, all went smoothly, reconnected the battery and all works well, No programming required, except because the battery was disconnected, had to open and close all 4 windows, as instructed on the central display, all is working very well.
Garage Labour £140.00 I was over the moon so I tipped them £30.00 , Never again I would need to go to dealers, you don't need to. Support your local businesses, they do not rip us off like dealers do.
Bear in mind it is Sunday today, no rip off rates for Sunday either!

I got the old rack back, will be opening the torque sensor to see what may have gone wrong with it. The mechanic who did the job had all the right tools and equipment and ramps and support jack for the sub frame

ONLY REGRET:

yes I regret that I even bothered to take my car to Vauxhall dealers to have the problem diagnosed, they charged £99.00 but I had to leave the car with them and take a taxi home, and then later on after pay taxi fare again to go and collect it, so I wasted £!30 for absolutely worthless job. Plus the time I lost in taking the car and back and forth.

 

[Pompeydave]

No worries (son) or mate, and don't forget young man, I am sixty what seven! So I am not as sharp as i once was.....😃

Big respect for you msg , to take on that job and complete it is superb AND the money you saved by not getting VX to do it.
Just proves anything is possible and you don't have to get conned into going to main dealer every time.

 

[Boroboy]

LATEST UPDATE:

Took my car to a local garage, replaced the power steering with one I purchased from eBay for £50 from a 2016 Astra, started work on the car at 10.30am, job completed by 1.00pm, (2.5Hrs ) Didn't need to disconnect exhaust or any thing apart from lowering the subframe a bit from the rear side, all went smoothly, reconnected the battery and all works well, No programming required, except because the battery was disconnected, had to open and close all 4 windows, as instructed on the central display, all is working very well.
Garage Labour £140.00 I was over the moon so I tipped them £30.00 , Never again I would need to go to dealers, you don't need to. Support your local businesses, they do not rip us off like dealers do.
Bear in mind it is Sunday today, no rip off rates for Sunday either!

I got the old rack back, will be opening the torque sensor to see what may have gone wrong with it. The mechanic who did the job had all the right tools and equipment and ramps and support jack for the sub frame

ONLY REGRET:

yes I regret that I even bothered to take my car to Vauxhall dealers to have the problem diagnosed, they charged £99.00 but I had to leave the car with them and take a taxi home, and then later on after pay taxi fare again to go and collect it, so I wasted £!30 for absolutely worthless job. Plus the time I lost in taking the car and back and forth.

Sounds like you've saved yourself a lot of money there. So that's good news. It's never nice going to dealers when you are spending your own money. In your case though it certainly could have been a lot worse.

 

[Redman]

That is a a good end result for you msg. You have yourself a good mechanic there, not only job done on a Sunday but on a bank holiday weekend and he was willing to have you present.