Vauxhall Astra 1.6 2005 reg engine problems

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Can't even get the cover off so far lol.

What is the ] shaped thing on the passenger side of the engine in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fev7zF4S9Q0 ?

How do I remove it or work around it? Wasn't expecting to see that there from the other clip I looked at and it's getting in the way, was expecting just a plug thing (which seems to be in the middle and under the ] shaped thing).

Don't want to disconnect anything I can't easily put back together.

Thanks for any help guys :).

That's exactly the same engine (Z16XEP) as mine. That is a conduit and has cables running through it. You don't need to remove it. Just unclip the harness from the coilpack. You don't need to remove anything else. The cover should come off easily enough. I started at the right hand side on mine and it came off easily. The video that Dogbreath posted is one to watch if in doubt.

The garage is having a laugh. You can get a genuine Delphi coilpack and a set of plugs for less than £100 and should'nt take more than 30mins to fit yourself. They are correct about not driving it though.
 
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Mine did this and the cat had imploded

Great hope I haven't lost the cat too, anyway for me to know if it's likely done damage there?

Video helps, and going to give it another go at swapping spark plugs to test that tonight once the engine has cooled (since I don't know what I can and can't touch without burning myself :p, so playing it safe).

If I manage that I'll then see about buying a delphi coilpack + spark plug pack and replacing them myself if I can find them at a decent price. Otherwise I'm going to have to with with a garage, probably the independent but I don't know which parts they would use.

Not going to be driving it, already got myself a weekly bus pass :p.
 
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Where abouts are you? If you're not too far from me I'd happily give you a hand. If you take it to a garage they'll charge you the sun and moon to read the same codes you already have. However those codes are generally used as one piece of the puzzle and a starting point to properly diagnose the problem. Garages will generally use oem parts or aftermarket oem quality parts. Of course if you take it to vauxhall they'll use original parts and give you the mortgage application form to go with it.
 
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Well had another go, but couldn't get the cable / wiring attachment off the coil pack.

To top it off I've noticed another issue, drivers door hinge is rusting and sort of jerking a bit.

The car also has a jammed boot and rear washers not working (been like that for a while). As it goes on due to age and low value of car it probably isn't worth paying for repairs when there may be other issues.

Since it is also due a service and this may flag up more issues, I think I'm likely just to start looking for a new car, so there may be a spec me a car thread soon :p.

But thanks for the help you guys have given to me :).
 
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If you hear the water pump when you use the rear screen wash it's a easy fix. Mine does it all the time if i don't use the rear wash. It's just clogged up. You need a needle or pin and stick it in the hole and wriggle it around while someone is pushing the rear wash stalk. It will be some gunk in there.

The loom on the coilpack is held on by a little clip that you just need to push in and then you can pull it off.
 
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So guys, I got a couple of quotes today for a part exchange (£1600) and from webuyanycar (£1350).

Do these seem like a decent amount for my 2005 1.6 Astra Club?

Issues with the car include engine management light, jammed boot (new lock I'm guessing), rear washer doesn't work, due a service, MOT coming up and whatever else gets flagged up at a service / MOT that I don't know about so other wear and tear I guess that has occurred in the almost 2 years since the last service.

I'm tempted to go with one of the above quotes and not have the hassle / uncertainty of the repairs and the cost of it, but wanted to check to see if they seem decent offers worth seriously considering.
 
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The part-ex doesn't sound too terrible, but of course you only get that if you buy a (probably overpriced) car from the dealer.

The list of faults seems pretty trivial, why not get a quote to fix the issues from an independent garage before potentially spending a lot of extra money?

WBAC only give you an initial quote which can be reduced when the car gets inspected.
 
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Well had another go, but couldn't get the cable / wiring attachment off the coil pack.

To top it off I've noticed another issue, drivers door hinge is rusting and sort of jerking a bit.

The car also has a jammed boot and rear washers not working (been like that for a while). As it goes on due to age and low value of car it probably isn't worth paying for repairs when there may be other issues.

Since it is also due a service and this may flag up more issues, I think I'm likely just to start looking for a new car, so there may be a spec me a car thread soon :p.

But thanks for the help you guys have given to me :).

VX plug connectors always seem to be stupidly tight. You need to push it in to the socket, then push the little tab in, then hook a small screwdriver under the other end of the tab and lift it over the retaining lug. It's taken you longer to read this than it will to do the job. Once the misfire goes, so will the EML.

Door hinge? Oil the hinges, spray some grease on the retaining strap.

Rear washer? As explained above, stick a pin in it.

Jammed rear hatch? Drop the back seats, take the plastic cover of the hatch and trip the lock with a screwdriver. Does anything move with the central locking? Does anything move when you try and operate the opening button? Most locks can be fixed with oil and movement, once it's moving, keep spraying it, keep opening and closing the lock (not the whole hatch, just the lock)

Throwing a car away for pennies when the problem list can be fixed in under two hours could earn you a chinese burn.

Where are you based?
 
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I'm in Northern Ireland, as for the WBAC quote they've already looked it over that's what I should actually get for it if not another £50-60 quid.

I've tried the pin thing on the rear washer jet before and the front washers work, maybe there's a separate pump for the rear (think some garage may have told me this, maybe I'm just getting confused).

As for the boot I did ask a Vauxhall about this ages ago when it first happened and it sounded like it could easily cost me £100+ to fix for the labour and new lock assuming it wasn't some wiring issue (they said similiar about having to check the pipes for the rear washer), since I could live without them I didn't bother. I couldn't hear or notice any movement at the boot when using the central locking.

The door hinge, is more than just a bit rusty it looks like it needs tightened as it moves when the door is opened closed, possibly easy to sort if you have the tools and can just tighten it.

The engine thing while if it is as minor as coilpack / spark plugs wouldn't be too bad, it's the risk that I'm concerned about of a bigger expense if it isn't the simple fix and on an old car I was thinking of changing anyway (or possibly keeping 1 more year if the engine problem didn't come up if it passed the MOT without problems).

Since it hasn't been serviced in nearly 2 years I am concerned there may be other wear and tear replacement needed, no real reason to suspect there is but I guess brake pads etc could need done for all I know. Indeed 2 years ago Vauxhall said it needed new tie-rods or something which would have cost £200-250 if I recall correctly if not more (think they lied / exaggerated, as it passed 2 mots since :p).

Guess I'm trying to persuade myself I should get rid here :p, and wondering what sort of value the car has, Parkers seems to suggest £1600 - £2700 (private poor to franchised dealer) for my car, but with a about 20k miles more than my car has so maybe that makes a difference. Given the £200 (spark plugs / coilpack / service) at best and probably more like £400-500 + worth of work needing done I think £1400 - £1600 for the car may be just about ok.
 
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I'm in Northern Ireland, as for the WBAC quote they've already looked it over that's what I should actually get for it if not another £50-60 quid.

I've tried the pin thing on the rear washer jet before and the front washers work, maybe there's a separate pump for the rear (think some garage may have told me this, maybe I'm just getting confused).

As for the boot I did ask a Vauxhall about this ages ago when it first happened and it sounded like it could easily cost me £100+ to fix for the labour and new lock assuming it wasn't some wiring issue (they said similiar about having to check the pipes for the rear washer), since I could live without them I didn't bother. I couldn't hear or notice any movement at the boot when using the central locking.

The door hinge, is more than just a bit rusty it looks like it needs tightened as it moves when the door is opened closed, possibly easy to sort if you have the tools and can just tighten it.

The engine thing while if it is as minor as coilpack / spark plugs wouldn't be too bad, it's the risk that I'm concerned about of a bigger expense if it isn't the simple fix and on an old car I was thinking of changing anyway (or possibly keeping 1 more year if the engine problem didn't come up if it passed the MOT without problems).

Since it hasn't been serviced in nearly 2 years I am concerned there may be other wear and tear replacement needed, no real reason to suspect there is but I guess brake pads etc could need done for all I know. Indeed 2 years ago Vauxhall said it needed new tie-rods or something which would have cost £200-250 if I recall correctly if not more (think they lied / exaggerated, as it passed 2 mots since :p).

Guess I'm trying to persuade myself I should get rid here :p, and wondering what sort of value the car has, Parkers seems to suggest £1600 - £2700 (private poor to franchised dealer) for my car, but with a about 20k miles more than my car has so maybe that makes a difference. Given the £200 (spark plugs / coilpack / service) at best and probably more like £400-500 + worth of work needing done I think £1400 - £1600 for the car may be just about ok.

Asking a main dealer ANYTHING about you car will give you a bill for hundreds, ask BMW owners about their pollen filters....

2005 should make yours a late astra g? If it is, there is only one motor, it just has two outputs. The motor just runs outputs to a idfferent depending one which way it spins. Do the pin thing and it should sort it. Failing that the pipe has fallen off inside the rear hatch panel and it's been dumping the washer water over the locking mech, causing the lock problem.

The bits for a service should cost you less than £100 (considering you're going to change the plugs with the coil pack)

I'll say it again, stop taking it to the dealer to get fleeced.

If want to throw away a car because you want an ungrade, do it, stop making excuses and do it.
 
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It's an early model Astra H, even the independent I went to was quoting £100 + vat for service and £60 for the coilpack (pretty sure without labour), £30 quid to diagnose. Hadn't asked about the boot, rear washer, door there, but I could easily see it being £400 + quid.

If I'm wrong in this and looking at garages that charge too much please let me know, I've always wanted to find a good independent that had good service and prices. To be honest I'd rather keep the car for at least another year, I'm just wary of a relatively big repair bill for what I know and possible more for what I don't.

That said I've looked on Autotrader and it seems cars similiar to mine sell for £2000-£3000 with higher mileage, so maybe I am undervaluing the car.
 
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You're letting the prices thrown at you scare you off the car.

You can get a service kit from ebay for around 50 quid, probably cheaper if you consider you're going to get the coilpack with plugs so you won't need a second set of them. So 100 - 130 for all the bits, maximum. That's the misfire sorted and the service done.

Buy yourself an opcom, amazing piece of tech. Plug it into a netbook/laptop and you can read all your system data, error codes, test componants, the works. And it costs around twenty quid, cheaper than a single visit to a workshop to read your codes.
 
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If you sell a cheap car to buy a cheap older car all you do is buy someone else's problems unless you get lucky.

There is a point at which you have to accept better the devil you know and just pay the money to keep it going. Mine has now hit that point as parts reach end of life.

On that age astra even s/h engines and gearboxes aren't that bad £££ should either of those fail.
 
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Hmm maybe I'll try and find another garage. Won't be doing it myself that's for sure, don't have any experience car mechanics etc.

In any case I'll be doing something by Saturday.
 
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Don't be afraid to do it yourself, you've already moved spark plugs and had a go at the connector on the coilpack, that's the most complex part of the entire job.

Don't go thinking "argh, I'll break it, I don't know what I'm doing!", this stuff is blindingly easy. Have a hunt on youtube, there are always guides for this sort of stuff on different cars.

Plugs? Coilpack off, undo plug, remove, insert new plug, tighten up, repeat. Done.
Oil filter? Undo top of oil filter housing, pull filter element out, put new element in, fit new o-rings to oil filter lid, refit lid. Done.
Oil? Place bowl under car, undo drain plug, drink cup of coffee (or something else to kill 15 minutes while the last of the oil drips out), refit drain plug. Done.
Air filter? Unclip top of airbox, remove old filter, fit new filter, refit lid of airbox, do up clips. Done.

That's the basic engine care covered, any of that sound complex?
 
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Complex enough for me, never mind getting the right parts etc.

I didn't actually get to the spark plugs as I couldn't get the wiring harness off the coilpack and didn't want to push harder as it felt like it could break something, so I'm rather hopeless mechanically :p.
 
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If I were to get another car a budget of about 5k + whatever I get for the current car.

What's a good hourly wage labour rate for mechanics?

Being quoted about £50-60 quid for an hour, which might just be to look at the faults (boot, washers etc) rather than fix.
 
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