AndyR

Hi there djpk, I have 2 mk4 Astra G's sitting here. One is a 1.6 twinport 8v, and the other is a 1.6 16 v twincam auto. Which engine are you running in your Astra H ? If it's the same as one of mine, i could have a look and try to see where it is supposed to be connected for you. I will be looking anyway, just incase it is a generic connection on the astra model. Hope i can be of help, and welcome to the forum. Regards Andy.

Can anyone give me an idea on how to remove heater controls in my astra g. Fan only works on 4, and the switches below are only working if you move the area control one. Had enough of getting ears blasted off just to clear the screen. Thanks in advance. Andy. R.

I will get some pics of the pair, but other than one having had its wheels painted black, I can't see any differences. They both could do with a good wash, as living in the countryside means lots of farm vehicles leaving loads of mud on the road. I have found a slightly annoying problem that I need advice on how to fix. The bulb behind the temp gauge isn't working, and the blower for the heater only works when turned to 4. 1 through to 3 does not start the blower, but 4 is full bore and blows your hat off. Heater works well with giving out heat, but it would be nice to have a steady blow rather than a full on gale force. I was wondering if this could be a fuse. Wife thought the car had a serious problem the other night, hadn't put it into park after turning engine off, and couldn't get key out of ignition. Then realized what she'd done, dropped into park, and out came the key. It is a great car to drive, and have done about 300 miles in just over a week, college trips, hospital trips, and xmas shopping trips.

Well I've done it now. My Astra G mk4, was starting to sound quite rattly, and although with advice from this forum, it seemed to be getting worse. My main concern was what would happen if the wife was out driving and it died completely? So I heard that a nurse at our local doctors surgery was wanting to sell her husbands car due to his deteriorating health. The wife and i went and had a look, and after a test drive money was exchanged, and we came away with another Astra G mk4. It's 6 months older than our original car, has 204,000 miles on the clock, and full service history from new. It also turned out to be the same colour, silver. The only differences between the two cars are that the new one is a 1.6 16v auto ecotech, and the old car was a 1.6 8v manual. We were a bit dubious about being auto, but it is a great car to drive. I have run some injection cleaner through her as she'd been stood for about a month and seemed a bit spluttery on low speeds (30-40 mph). But she's had a good run up to Norwich and back yesterday and today, and seems a lot better. You are all probably wondering on how much this wonderful beast cost me.............. Well the princely sum of....................£250.00, with 6 months mot too. Bargain or what. Seemed rude not to. Now every body is happy.

Well i got to do the oil change and flush through today. Although the oil did come out very black, it wasn't as cruddy as i expected. The flush came out a bit cruddy, but didn't seem too bad either. Unfortunately it hasn't cured the rattling from top end. It is not as bad, but is still there, and noticeable when sitting in traffic.Does this mean that i am going to have to delve deeper to fix? or would an oil additive help? Remember my dad using STP Oil treatment in an old Cortina he had years ago. That quietened it down. Apart from that it is going well, and has a trip of about 130 miles to do tomorrow ( Monday). Have now got to buy a new drivers side door mirror though, thanks to some stupid old woman that shouldn't be driving.

Brother in law managed to disable it somehow. But electrics were messed up anyway. Satnav would kick in when you didn't need it, and other problems would come and go. He got rid of it in the end. Now drives a 16 plate Astra 1.6 Sensible man..

Thanks for the info Trevor. I will be looking at doing this, it would be worth it for the old girl. There's still many miles in her yet, and I'd like to hopefully have those worry free. Thanks again, and I'll let you know how things progress. Regards, Andy.

That sounds like fun with your radio. My brother in law had a Nissan primera estate, and when you turned left the volume went up, but it would never come down low when you turned right at straightened up. Fun on roundabouts.

Thanks Trevor. That certainly is better news than I was expecting. Going to get oil and filter tomorrow, and hopefully, if weather allows, change at weekend. Will also see about can cover gasket. Its had a tiny oil leak since I've had it, but never been able to find it. Oil wasn't noticeably going down, so I just kept a vigilante eye open. What would you recommend to use for the flush through?? And yes I will keep you in the loop. Regards Andy.

Hello folks, My 03 Astra G has started to sound quite tappy on start up. Sounds like all tappets are loose. Once she has warmed up, it quietens down, but there is still a little tapping sound . I've been told that i need to change the oil again, otherwise i could cause the cam buckets to fail. I have noticed that the spark plug nearest the coil pack is getting oily, is this a major problem, or an easy fix?? Engine has now done 114,000+ miles, and is the 1.6 twinport. regards Andy.

I would certainly be interested in seeing some parts lists too. Need shocks and front wishbones as a starter. Will also be looking for some decals as well, but they're not as important at the moment.

Thanks for the info Trevor, I guess i'm going to have to get the overalls out and go scrabbling underneath to see what i can find. The garage that mot'd it earlier this year said that i have to remove the inner wheel arch to get to it. I am so hoping not. I also saw a video of the battery being removed to get to top up the box. Again i am so hoping this isn't on my car. I will post how i get on, once I've had a look about. Thanks again. Andy.

Hi, can anybody tell me where to find the filling point on the astra g 1.6 gearbox. I've been told there are about 3 different gearboxes fitted, and i don't have a clue which one i have. All i know is its a 5 speed, and its getting a bit stiff going into gear when you first start up. I have found that if i dip the clutch and go through the gears, including reverse, it frees up a bit quicker. Iam hoping its just in need of either a top up, or draining out and fresh putting in. Do you have to change gearbox oil like you do the engine oil? regards Andy.

Hi Trevor. Yes I'm so glad it was a simple fix. I had visions of oil pump dying. I'm going to give it a month and change the oil and filter again, just to make sure its all cleaned through. The suns come out so time to sort out previous owners scrapes, and one of my own(oopsy). Thanks for all your advice. Regards Andy.

Hi Lee, welcome to the forum. I've been on here for little over a year now, and everyone has been absolutely brilliant in helping me sort out problems that I've been finding with my 03 Astra. Hope you have many happy years of motoring in your Insignia. Regards Andy.

YAY!!!!! I finally managed to get the astra serviced at last. How it ran so smoothly i will never know. The spark plugs were finger tight, the air filter didn't look like it had been replaced for years. And as for the oil filter, well i'm sure it was wound on with one of those strap tools to remove oil filters, by heck was that tight. I had to be brutal and stick a screwdriver through the old one to wind it off. New plugs fitted and tightened up, nice clean air filter to help her breath better, and lovely clean oil and filter. On the plus side, it has cured the flashing oil light on the dash, obviously letting me know to change the oil, (thankyou vauxhall). And Trevor i did check to see what the old oil smelt like. It just had a slight burnt smell to it, no smell of petrol. Did seem a little thicker than i imagined. The old spark plugs had double electrodes, where the new ones were single, would this make any difference regarding performance? Andy.

Mmmm, cracked alloys, I can verify that one. Please make sure that if you get secondhand to check they've not been welded. My Astra had a welded alloy on when i bought the car. After a couple of months I noticed it was cracking near the bolt holes. That wheel was removed and scrapped. Replacement found on ebay for £15.

Hi there, if it's anything like the astra g, then there is 3 bolts on the front cross member, under bonnet, a couple of self tappers in each wheel arch. And possibly 3 plugs holding the dust guard in place underneath. Hope we've been helpful.

Hello from norfolk. Whilst out and about today collecting children from a scout camp 50 miles away, i noticed that after engine was up to running temp, the oil light would flicker when i stopped at a junction or traffic lights. If i tickled the throttle, it would go out, and once moving at normal speeds it stayed out. Since being home for a few hours, i went and checked oil level. It is spot on. Does anyone have any ideas as to the cause? Will be doing an oil and filter change tomorrow as its due a change. Regards and Thanks in advance. Andy.

it was certainly a large bill at the end of it, as the van broke down just across the border into Germany loaded with aid for a Romanian orphanage. The van was trailered back to the UK, then the local garage, where it stayed for a couple of months trying to find the problem. ECU checked, immobilizer checked, fuel pump and timing all checked before finding out that it was due to having 1 injector replaced in Germany rather than the full set. So after all that and then finding the mot had expired whilst sat in the garage, so that added onto the bill, my brother-in-law was up to about £8,000. He reckoned at the time that it was the most expensive shed he'd ever bought.

Hi Barry850. Hope you have better luck with changing injectors than my brother-in-law did with his transit. He had one die on him, and had to replace all four as it wouldn't recognise the new one on its own. Regards Andy.

import

Hi Lill, I would imagine any motor spares shop would be able to get the part you need. I don't know part numbers, but describing what you need and vehicle registration would give them a good idea of the right part. I had a toyota townace people carrier a few years back that kept throwing the power steering belt off, and i feel your pain driving without power steering. Hope I've been of some help, and hope you get sorted soon.

That is so true siggyv6cdti. I intend over the year to do quite a few jobs that are age related, i.e front wishbones, rear shocks, and possibly an exhaust system. Although the exhaust is not as essential as the rest of the list. I've also got to stretch the front bumper cross member back to its original position, as previous owner gave something a bit of a firm nudge.

i was using an online mpg calculator. you put in how many miles, price per litre, and how much in pounds you spent. Mine was £20.00 @ 118.9 per litre and 239 miles. It came back with the calculation of 64.6 mpg. Loving it. And its due a service.. Never thought I'd ever be in the 60+ mpg bracket. I used to be happy with 39 mpg in my old diesel townace.