[msg]

Thanks Redman, yes I made a good choice with this garage, which i have known to exist since 70s, run by a family who also employ a few other mechanics and it is only a two bay very small garage, as they are a very small business, they also sell parts and oils and filters, i never felt confident enough to use them before, but as it happens I was doing a renovation job nearby so I enquired if they would be able to swap my steering rack on my Astra, and how soon and how much and if they had done similar work on an Astra, and of course I have passed this garage many times and they are always busy with BMWs, Mercs, Toyotas, Honda, Ford etc etc. So an Astra would be no more complicated for them.

Looking at my faulty power rack, it seems it had been tampered with by someone before, there was a 1/4 diameter hole made by a hot rod melting the cream coloured plastic cap which houses the torque sensor, why on earth would someone poke a hole through it with a hot object such as a soldering iron tip, and it was then sealed with a dollop of black silicone, I opened the 3 start screws and found it was full of oil, I have yet to figure out how to take it apart to see what may have gone wrong, or how it is constructed, just for my own interest. So my faulty rack seemed having been tampered, as well as it may already have been replaced by previous owner with another used rack, as its condition seemed older than the one I got from eBay which was a lot cleaner and shinier.

 

[Valer]

The plot thickens :shock:

 

[msg]

shame I can't post pictures as my Photobucket account has reached its free limit. I can't even delete some unwanted photos as I must first pay to get in.

Would have been nice to show some photos.

 

[Redman]

shame I can't post pictures as my Photobucket account has reached its free limit. I can't even delete some unwanted photos as I must first pay to get in.

Would have been nice to show some photos.

If you have taken pics on your phone you can add them from your gallery.

 

[msg]

Not quite sure how to !

With Photobucket you would upload a picture and then copy the url and paste link in a forum post. With a mobile phone camera you have a gallery and share it with WhatsApp, messages, email, so on, but not sure if I will need to download AstraKforum App on my mobile phone to share , sorry i don't know the exact procedure.

I use my laptop for visiting these forums, I do not use the phone , screen too small for me.

 

[Redman]

I have never done it from my laptop, but providing your pics are on your computer you should be able to do it.

On this thread select in order

Quick reply
Full Editor & Preview (highlighted blue)
Attachments (highlighted blue)
Add Files (highlighted blue)
My files icon
Images icon
Gallery

Should be similar on a PC I presume.

 

[Shaky]

I use my laptop for visiting these forums, I do not use the phone , screen too small for me.

Same here msg, I hate using a tiny screen to browse so my laptop gets used for anything online. What I tend to do is send myself an email with the pictures off my phone, open them on my lappie then use that to upload the pics as an attachment. It is pretty easy to get them on here if you do it that way, as Redman has described. The only difference (on W10 anyway) is that after you select add files, a popup appears that has a "show all files" button. When you click that, explorer will open and allow you to browse to the file/s that you want to upload.

 

[Kosymodo]

This is a truly inspirational thread - in so much as it inspires me to use an indy in future, rather than just being guided down the stealer route. I've only recently got my K (1.4 SRi Nav) and was contemplating the stealer route for any future LSPI avoidance reasons, but your thread is making me think again!

 

[msg]

Thanks Redman and shaky, yes I can see how to do it now, I will give it a shot later.

And as for kosymodo, yes the dealers are stealers, the fact they even told me that my new steering rack will need programming, No it did not require such programming, Most independent garages have latest snap on diagnostic equipment and if need be they can programe it for you, when I showed interst in Mokka brand new car, asked them trade in price for mine, they were offering only £2K for a 2017 Astra, that is insanity, and insulting.

 

[Pompeydave]

Thanks Redman and shaky, yes I can see how to do it now, I will give it a shot later.

And as for kosymodo, yes the dealers are stealers, the fact they even told me that my new steering rack will need programming, No it did not require such programming, Most independent garages have latest snap on diagnostic equipment and if need be they can programe it for you, when I showed interst in Mokka brand new car, asked them trade in price for mine, they were offering only £2K for a 2017 Astra, that is insanity, and insulting.

2k !!! That's disgusting , maybe for a 2012-13 Astra but not a 2017 one. Obviously not interested in your car.

 

[msg]

Here is a picture of the hole that appears to have been made by someone trying to curb some noise issue coming from turning the steering wheel, I did describe this noise as friction noise when a steel shaft is turned through a tight rubber bush,

this may have been an attempt by someone before I bought this car, they poked a red hot rod through this cap and possibly poured some oil through it and then sealed the hole with a dollop of black silicone
which means the car was having some issues with its power steering rack. (Stupidity at its best)

 

[msg]

in contrast this is the ivory colour cap through which the steering shaft pokes out, and torque sensor is housed underneath it, it was full of oil partially contaminated.

 

[Redman]

I see you got the hang of it then, adding pictures.

Unbelievable what people will attempt to do on things. It was possibly done to quieten it down for your viewing and test drive. I just couldn't sell something which has a compromise to peoples safety. I would have to sell it "as is", faulty.

You had any feedback from your case number with vauxhall, regarding clutch pedal?

You are aware of the need to use the correct oil on these engines I take it ( Dexos1 Generation 2 5W-30) , a MUST.

 

[msg]

Yes thanks Redman managed to post pictures though they look big, secondly, I am aware of Dexos oil as a must, not sure why, but learned of it since joining here, so far my oil life display says my oil is around 70% good, it looks pretty dark to me though, not yellowish with tinge of brown but it seems much darker. I will most probably get it changed sooner, but then how do I reset the percentage life to 100% when I have changed it, I could order this oil from Motor factors like Autovaux. along with the filters. thanks

 

[msg]

Overall, I am highly pleased with the car, despite the clutch packing up within 2 or 3 miles of picking it up from the seller, but it was terrible crawling traffic, and for the sake of a clutch problem I did not want to lose this car which otherwise looked immaculate and almost like new, packed with all the features, at the time I thought clutch cannot be a big issue to sort out, thinking slave cylinder problem who can't resolve it but sadly I learned later on that it uses concentric slave cylinder, which means removal of complete gear box!

So far it packed two time, I am now more wise about when it is likely to pack, when using clutch pedal too much in heavy crawling traffic, so i now avoid leaving my foot on the pedal and stop in neutral,
steering rack was the major issue as I was made to believe it would require programming and cost quite a bit .

I got the car for £5,500, paid a guy to take me to Birmingham £150 including petrol and refreshments, and have spent a total of £350.00 on the power steering, this includes Dealer rip off diagnostic fees of £99.00, two trips to the dealer in a cab, had replaced all 4 tyres with brand new, cheap brand, but good traction, so overall I got this car for £6200.00, which I think is a fantastic bargain. When the car was on a ramp with its power steering being changed, I gad a good look all around from underneath, all seems perfect and no sign of any damage, none what so ever including at the rear, as it was rear ended but sustained damage to rear bumper only. this car has definitely put me off from driving my Calibra, last time I drove my Cally I realised comparatively 1.4 Astra Turbo was nearly equal in performance, probably even more quicker, and similar top speed quoted for both, Cally is a 2.0lEcotec, and the brakes or stopping power seems terrible in comparison. Astra has very responsive braking power.

Roller testing of brakes during an MOT cannot truly give you an accurate picture of braking efficiency as a real road test, as they used to do it one time back in the 70s with a decelerator meter

 

[Redman]

Have you got the steering wheel controls?
Two methods for oil reset % indicator shown depending on trim

 

[msg]

Well done mate, many thanks for this , so as soon as I get its oil changed and replace filters, I will get this sorted out, thanks again.

 

[Randy Rhino]

Its not going good for me, two major problems, Clutch and now Power steering failure .
I bought this car less than 3 weeks ago, 2017, from a private seller, so not under any warranty, I am still having issues with its clutch pedal loosing pressure, biting point moves far too close to floor, and on one occasion the car was in gear and brakes on, engine stalled as the loss of pressure engaged the drive. The pedal starts to feels very light when this issue is about to happen. twice it packed up completely, but I was able to pump it up and down a few times to get going, so did not need towing away.

Today I took the car out, everything was ok until I parked up in a shopping car park, came back started engine and tried to manoeuvre out of parking and the steering wheel could not be steered! It was rock hard, I needed strength from both hands to turn little at a time, when I checked the dashboard there was a message saying Power Steering failure or some words to that effect, and a red Warning saying Drive with Caution! I have driven cars with power steering failures, but never seen a steering wheel as hard as on this. It requires mighty strength to steer even when the car is rolling.

There was no way I could have manoeuvred the car suddenly if there was an emergency to avoid a collision! It is one disaster after another, such a nice car otherwise but shocked how it is ridden with mechanical problems. Astra K s seems they are plagued with clutch/brakes and power steering problems. Not just Diesel manual but even my 1.4 petrol Turbo is behaving the same, it would would it not as clutch hydraulic operation would be same for both diesel and petrol, as well as brakes would also be the same, along with Power steering, these components have little to do with engine type, so Vauxhalls better sort mine out under recall before i take them to trading standards.

I tried to see if there were any fault codes stored in the system, OBDII hand held code reader, but no codes were stored, yet steering was still unresponsive, i also tried to switch on and off ignition several times even in that car park, it did not reset power steering problem.

Next I check continuity on all its fuses , all were intact, I pushed back all relays in case any had popped out lose, a couple of them were not fully pushed in well, but they were not out by far.

Tried again, and the Power steering warning came on dash board , so still the same, rock hard, then I was going to attempt to bring the car closer to home, so just as I started to pull out suddenly the power assistance came back, so now this is worrying thing as this failure could happen again and it would be worst if it happens whilst you are driving fast on winding road.

The problem with your clutch should be covered by a recall. Contact a main dealer and they should sort it for free. That's what happened to mine earlier in the year. Clutch kept getting stuck down. It's a known fault.