AndyR

Hi Cliff, Did you manage to sort out the cabby roof problems? I see from previous posts that it was being a bit of a mare. Hope all has gone well. Regards Andy

Here's hoping. I am now replacing parts that are wearing out due to age. Callipers, suspension parts. It is a great car though. Have you any pics of your GTC?

Welcome to the forum. Hope you are having happy motoring with your Zafira. What Vauxhalls have you had in the past?

Hi Crutch, I see you have the Astra H , are these plastic bungs on the Astra G as well? I have not had this problem yet, so a tip like this one is valuable knowledge to pass on to other owners. Regards Andy.

Hi Spaghetti. Welcome to the forum, it sounds like you have a lot of car for a reasonable price. It may be 10 years old, but serviced regularly it should last a few years yet. I have a 52 Astra G, which although has had 4 owners before myself, it was the same family, and any work needed was done. I am keeping up on servicing and general maintenance, and hopefully it will see me in good stead for some time to come. Regards Andy.

Well after travelling some 192 miles, and using about £20 worth of petrol. Checked the fuel economy with the online calculator. It has worked it out that I got 54.5mpg, and used 16 litres of fuel at a cost of £5.68 a gallon. It also worked out that it was costing me about 10.4p per mile. Now I can live with that sort of economy. I was so impressed, that the car got a birthday, cleaned and polished inside and out.

Hi Tony, and welcome to the forum. If you have any questions regarding your Zafira , feel free to post them on the forum page regarding anything vauxhall . There will bound to be someone that could offer assistance. Regards Andy.

Hi Chris, Yes I do like the Astra G, it's ideal for me and the family. The site I use for working out mpg is a basic calculator. All you do is fill in the boxes and hit calculate. All you need is how much a litre, how much you spent, and how many miles you've done. www.terrycassell.com How did you get on with your road trip? no problems I hope. Regards Andy.

Well I finally get to give the car a good run tomorrow, as daughter is back at college. I did get the engine light turned off, but it came back again after a short trip. Turns out that I need to have a chat with the EGR valve. This is going to get a clean out tomorrow after the college trip, and then I can see how it goes on the afternoon pick up. A good 50 mile round trip should hopefully sort it. I can also check if the mpg has improved.

And there are a lot of them about. And I have noticed that Vauxhall have used the same parts on other models too. The old motto of "Don't fix what ain't broken" comes to mind.

I had a spare set inthe garage that I'd had sitting for a while, so I put those in with the new caliper. I was more worried that with all that heat, that it could have warped the disc. But it seems ok. I might invest in new discs in the summer.

Oh I wouldn't say you were nagging Trevor. . Although there are times when I need a push. But yes, payday will be a R/H caliper ordered and then fitted. With all the paperwork that came with the car, and checking back on all its previous mot's. There is no sign of calipers being replaced. So they could well be original. If that's the case, they've done well, and now need replacing.

Hi Dave, using the power of google, I have found that the cut off switch is located under the instrument panel to the right of the transmission hump. If it is not , then it can either be behind , or below the glovebox, or behind the side panel next to the drivers door. Hope this helps. Regards Andy.

Yes definitely an eye opening weekend. I must have caught it just in time, as the fluid still had some viscosity in it. I did change the fluid once I'd replaced the calliper. And it was a great improvement. What really annoyed me at the time, was the fact that I could drive it on to the trailer, and drive it off when we got home. But for safety reasons couldn't drive home. But its sorted now, so all good. And yes it was for the best, as you just don't know what could've happened. I am going to be investing in a new calliper for the other side next pay day. That way I know that it is not going to have a repeat performance. I have a new flexi hose sitting here waiting.

Oh and how!!! It still unlocks on the key and it starts and runs, so it's just a minor detail.

Hi Dave, must be the time for flexi's to go. I have just replaced mine, Astra G, I did go through eBay, and paid £26 free delivery. If you put in Astra j front flexi exhaust, it should give you a list of sellers and pictures of the pipe. Some seem to charge more than others. If you are doing it on a budget, then you can find the price to suit. Mine came from the midlands to Norfolk in about 4 days. I went to allcars-online, their phone number is 01214 462660. They use allcars-online on eBay, but they answer the phone as A to Z AUTOPARTS MIDLANDS LTD. I phoned them just to confirm that it would fit my car, and they were very helpful. Hope this of help. Regards Andy,

Update on calliper change. All sorted this morning. I was quite surprised not to lose hardly any fluid during the swap out. Dragged one of my daughters away from their computer to help blead up the brakes, and now have a car that stops safely without trying to catch fire. Always a bonus when things go so easily. Now enjoying a beer in celebration.

Had an eventful end to the week. Drove in to town to get some shopping and bits for car. Came out of car shop heading to supermarket, when people start waving and flashing their lights at me pointing to the front of the car. As soon as I stopped, the front caliper poured with smoke. So managed to get off the main road to find that caliper had seized on. So phone call to brother in law and car trailored home. Managed to free off caliper, and get working again. Mainly as a temporary measure because of needing the car. Ordered new caliper from ebay, and it arrived this morning, so tomorrow is the day for fitting, I was going to replace the flexy hoses anyway, so I'm doing caliper as well.

Have the same problem with my Astra key, caught the battery carriage when changing battery, now got to get soldering iron out. But it does still work ok with the key in the door lock.

Also there are 2 lambda sensors on the astra. One is inthe top of the catalytic converter, and the other is just after the flexi bit. So hoping they'll talk to each other and the ECU, and start playing nicely for me.

Hi Trevor, whilst under the car doing exhaust, I looked to see where the sump for gearbox was. Can't seem to see an actual sump like on the engine. Am I looking in the wrong place, or just being a bit blind. Looks somewhat sealed.

I am hoping that it will be what the cause of the engine light staying on. Just need to talk to the brother in law to get his obd and clear out the fault codes.

Well it has been blowing from the flexi for quite a while. Bought new part, and after it turned up, we got a deluge of snow. Now the sun was out today, so up on ramps and swapped out old for new. Sounds a lot quieter now.

Bournemouth is quite a nice place with what I can remember. Not been since I was a teenager. I wonder if that's why the isle of wight is so called. As it blocks your snow. Stayed on the isle of wight 18 years ago.

Hi there. Vauxhall recommend changing about every 60,000 or 10 years. So it could have been already changed. But if you don't have any service history, I would be tempted to get it changed in the near future. That way you know its been done, and then you can keep your own record of due dates for future replacement. Regards Andy. .