Help with understanding what's going on with new car...

uncle_rufus · 27 Jul 2015 at 09:19

Hey all,

Foreword - I know close to nothing about cars; I drive one and know roughly the basic names for a few of the parts but that's it (the wheels are the bits that touch the road, right?)

So anyway, picked up an Astra J last week (new-ish, 62 plate with ~30k on the clock) straight from a dealer. Was away visiting family over the weekend so had a chance to give it a decent test at speed etc... As ever I noticed a few things which I'm not sure about; which brings us to now:

1. Most concerning - once you get up to higher speeds there's a pretty distinct spinning high-pitched whine - it sounded to us like it was coming from the rear wheel area. I couldn't manage to pin down exactly what was causing it; at one point I thought maybe it was worse when turning the wheel to the left, but I'm not so sure about that - and possibly it goes away when you tap the brakes but comes back again. It didn't do it constantly either - seemed like it would do it for 10 minutes or so and then it could be hours before it did it again.

Someone mentioned it could be a wheel-balancing issue? I did also notice when on slower roads the steering appears to be pulling ever-so-slightly to the left as well; not enough to feel like you're really fighting against it constantly but if you test it letting go of the wheel there's a slight drift there...

2. First car I've owned with cruise-control... had a bit of test and it seemed to work fine; set it at ~70-80 and could feel it was working as it was supposed to. However a while later I tried to turn it on again and it just didn't seem to want to work... the dash light was indicating that it was active, but then when I let go of the gas I could feel that the car was slowing down and then the light would go off again. I don't think I was hitting the brake by accident or anything so I'm a bit confused there -> does the cruise-control "remember" the speed you set it at previously or something and I've somehow got it set to something silly?

3. The stereo is super loud... too loud... the radio as always is louder than everything else, and with that even volume 1 is ridiculously loud. I can't seem to find much in the way of options via the controls on the console, just an EQ and a few very basic volume settings (one of which is the "minimum startup volume" which can't seem to go lower than 13 - which will blow your ears off if it's the radio)... Does anybody know if/how I can access some sort of advanced settings? I'm sure I must be missing something because equally I can't change the temperature readout to Celcius instead of Farenheit either

Contemplating taking it to the independent garage I normally use and just asking them to take a good look at it all, but any tips/advice would be appreciated as well

Redgie · 27 Jul 2015 at 09:27

Regarding the cruise control, most models have two buttons once enabled; set and reset. Reset will take you back to your previously set cruising speed, set will set your current speed as the cruising speed. Could this have anything to do with it based on how you remember using it?

B@Th*nG · 27 Jul 2015 at 09:29

1. take it back to the dealer, part of what you've paid for is them covering any faults. Get them to look at it.

2 & 3. read the manual

B@

swain90 · 27 Jul 2015 at 09:31

Try this for changing the temp to Celcius http://www.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_change_Fahrenheit_to_celsius_on_dashboard_of_a_astra there seems to be a couple of YouTube videos too.

uncle_rufus · 27 Jul 2015 at 09:53

Redgie said:
Regarding the cruise control, most models have two buttons once enabled; set and reset. Reset will take you back to your previously set cruising speed, set will set your current speed as the cruising speed. Could this have anything to do with it based on how you remember using it?

Yeah I think you push the little scroll-wheel thing up for "reset" and down for "set", as far as I can remember I was pressing it down everytime... Will have a play about with it when I get another chance - thanks

B@Th*nG said:
1. take it back to the dealer, part of what you've paid for is them covering any faults. Get them to look at it.

I suppose, but as soon as you put the money down they just couldn't care less about any form of customer service... As an example when we test drove the car the front-tyres looked pretty squishy; we pointed it out and they said not to worry they just needed pumping up. I said as we were travelling a long journey just after picking up the car I wanted to be sure there weren't any problems/punctures etc. and they said "don't worry we take safety very seriously etc. we'll make sure the tyres are fine"...

Turn up to collect the car and the tyres were exactly the same, maybe even slightly flatter. Called them out on it - "Did they actually look at the tyres at all, surely they would have pumped them up as part of the 'full service' they apparently did?"... They said they "must have just forgotten"... I'm sure :rolleyes:

.... (we made them pump them up and said we'd be back in the morning if there was any sign they had flattened overnight)

In my opinion they have done absolutely nothing since we first saw the car... they've printed off a couple of bits of paper that say the car has been serviced and MOT'd but they haven't checked a single thing on it. Hence why I'm thinking of just taking it to a proper garage who I trust -> if they find a bunch of stuff which any sensible mechanic would have checked as part of a service I won't be happy

B@Th*nG said:
2 & 3. read the manual

lol - deserved this

- will do

swain90 said:
Try this for changing the temp to Celcius http://www.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_change_Fahrenheit_to_celsius_on_dashboard_of_a_astra there seems to be a couple of YouTube videos too.

Thanks, will take a look (and read the manual!)

Hades · 27 Jul 2015 at 10:17

The wheel whine could be a mutlitude of issues but hte first that come to mind are a wheel bearing (usually whines) and a sticky brake caliper (goes away when you tap the brake). Definitely take it back to the dealer to investigate.

Antony101 · 27 Jul 2015 at 12:55

I had issues with the Cruise Control in my 61 Corsa just not working sometimes. It would also turn itself off sometimes. Ended up being an issue with a clutch sensor.

Jonnycoupe · 27 Jul 2015 at 13:15

Res - Resume. Not reset.

uncle_rufus · 27 Jul 2015 at 13:23

Hades said:
The wheel whine could be a mutlitude of issues but hte first that come to mind are a wheel bearing (usually whines) and a sticky brake caliper (goes away when you tap the brake). Definitely take it back to the dealer to investigate.

Is it going to be something they can easily test though? It doesn't seem to really happen when you're not going fast and even then it's not all the time...

Antony101 said:
I had issues with the Cruise Control in my 61 Corsa just not working sometimes. It would also turn itself off sometimes. Ended up being an issue with a clutch sensor.

Hmm... I'll pay attention to it more next time and see if I can narrow down what I might be doing wrong - thanks

Jonnycoupe said:
Res - Resume. Not reset.

Ah of course - that makes a lot more sense!

Hades · 27 Jul 2015 at 13:32

uncle_rufus said:
Is it going to be something they can easily test though? It doesn't seem to really happen when you're not going fast and even then it's not all the time...

A wheel bearing can sometimes be checked by getting the car up on ramps or stands and seeing if there is more movement on one side than on the other. I guess you'd then need to remove the wheel to check the caliper.

It's just easier to take it back to the dealer ands have them check it.

iaind · 27 Jul 2015 at 13:36

I dont know about vauxhall but most cars I've driven wont remember the last speed after the car has been turned off, sometimes even if the function has been turned off. It sounds like the illumination is when the system is enabled but doesnt necessarily mean that it's active.

So generally it's a case of

- Turn the system on, light on dash comes on. This can be left on permanently if you want
- Hit set (often this button is shared with the up option but some have a set button) to memorize the speed and maintain a cruise. Some cars will change the colour of the light on the dash to indicate that it's active, but not all
- If you brake, dip the clutch or press resume it cancels the cruise. Press resume to resume the cruising speed
- If you press/hold up/down it will increase or decrease the cruising speed
- If the car is turned off, you need to set the speed again

On the whining noise, take it back. They have a responsibility to fix it, regardless of how little they seem to care. Keep taking it back until it's fixed.

uncle_rufus · 27 Jul 2015 at 13:57

iaind said:
I dont know about vauxhall but most cars I've driven wont remember the last speed after the car has been turned off, sometimes even if the function has been turned off. It sounds like the illumination is when the system is enabled but doesnt necessarily mean that it's active.

So generally it's a case of

- Turn the system on, light on dash comes on. This can be left on permanently if you want
- Hit set (often this button is shared with the up option but some have a set button) to memorize the speed and maintain a cruise. Some cars will change the colour of the light on the dash to indicate that it's active, but not all
- If you brake, dip the clutch or press resume it cancels the cruise. Press resume to resume the cruising speed
- If you press/hold up/down it will increase or decrease the cruising speed
- If the car is turned off, you need to set the speed again

Sounds about right with my understanding of how it works - in our case the dash lights up with a white indicator when you press the "cruise command" button and then when you press "set" or "resume" it turns green... What was happening to me the other day is after it turned green I would release the gas pedal and it wouldn't maintain the speed I was at, eventually the light turned back from green to white and then turned off. Perhaps I was accidentally resting my foot on the clutch or something and it ended up turning it off. Cheers for the explanation

Hades said:
A wheel bearing can sometimes be checked by getting the car up on ramps or stands and seeing if there is more movement on one side than on the other. I guess you'd then need to remove the wheel to check the caliper.

It's just easier to take it back to the dealer ands have them check it.

iaind said:
On the whining noise, take it back. They have a responsibility to fix it, regardless of how little they seem to care. Keep taking it back until it's fixed.

Yeah I guess I'll have to, annoying as it is...

GinG · 27 Jul 2015 at 14:09

Regarding the whine on the rear, have you inspected the Flux Capacitor for any leaks in the boot?

The cruise control sounds a wierd one, it may be that you just need to read the instructions as if it was working then it wasn't it could be driver error rather than a problem with the system.

uncle_rufus · 27 Jul 2015 at 14:19

GinG said:
Regarding the whine on the rear, have you inspected the Flux Capacitor for any leaks in the boot?

I'm not sure I'll check when I.... waaaaaaaaaiitttt a second :rolleyes:

GinG said:
The cruise control sounds a wierd one, it may be that you just need to read the instructions as if it was working then it wasn't it could be driver error rather than a problem with the system.

I'm pretty positive this is the case already, but wasn't too sure what exactly I was doing wrong

GinG · 27 Jul 2015 at 14:36

uncle_rufus said:
I'm not sure I'll check when I.... waaaaaaaaaiitttt a second

I'm pretty positive this is the case already, but wasn't too sure what exactly I was doing wrong

Antony101 · 28 Jul 2015 at 00:02

uncle_rufus said:
Hmm... I'll pay attention to it more next time and see if I can narrow down what I might be doing wrong - thanks

If it's the same issue you'll be doing nothing wrong, when I had the problem a sensor in the clutch was reporting that the clutch was being pressed when it wasn't, causing the cruise control to be disabled.

theone8181 · 28 Jul 2015 at 07:30

If its a diesel and a non sporty version of the car with high profile tyres they can look a bit bulgy. Your car may pull to the left due to the camber of the road, some roads are much more curved than others.

uncle_rufus · 28 Jul 2015 at 07:50

Antony101 said:
If it's the same issue you'll be doing nothing wrong, when I had the problem a sensor in the clutch was reporting that the clutch was being pressed when it wasn't, causing the cruise control to be disabled.

Possible, I'll try to test it out when I next get the chance (though it did work fine the first time I tried it so I'm still suspecting it's my mistake)

theone8181 said:
If its a diesel and a non sporty version of the car with high profile tyres they can look a bit bulgy. Your car may pull to the left due to the camber of the road, some roads are much more curved than others.

It's petrol 1.6 not sport version or anything like that. The profile of the road did occur to me but I tried it on several different flat-looking sections of road and in a car park and found the same thing - it's not pulling massively but just a little

I called up the local garage who we've used for years and they said for ~£20 they can give it a good looking over and specifically check everything they would expect any half-decent garage to have done when doing a service or similar... So we'll see

if it turns out Vauxhall literally didn't bother to check even the most basic of safety things I'll be back down there with the evidence and see what I can get out of them

uncle_rufus · 31 Jul 2015 at 22:45

Well I know we all like a good resolution story on here, so here's an update:

The trusted garage pretty much said this:
* Definitely not been fully serviced as we were told it was, it's obvious that none of the filter compartments had been touched recently
* Oil was pretty clean, but no new oil filter, air filter was "serviceable" but barely
* Brake fluid not topped up
* Tyres not in good condition, especially the front ones; if they were doing an MOT on it they would have advised us to replace all 4 before this winter

And the best thing of all - there was a nail in one of the front tyres!!! (Yes I suppose there's a slim chance that happened after we picked up the car but given how flat the tyres looked at the dealership I'm betting that isn't the case)

Suffice to say we weren't too pleased, so we headed off back to the Vauxhall dealership with the garages report in hand and gave them an absolute blasting about it. Amazing to see them lose their cool as other customers in the showroom were clearly looking on; we were a little melodramatic for good measure; "So you LIED to us?!" "You didn't just LIE you also ENDANGERED OUR LIVES" etc. and you could feel them switch to a sort of "get them outta here, now!" mentality (it was glorious)

We said we want a full set of new tyres and filters and we'll leave it at that... But they wouldn't agree to any specific resolution, just that they'd take the car overnight and have another look at it (of course)... had to give us the manager's car as they didn't have any courtesy cars to hand too...

Then today when they phoned they said they'd replaced the front 2 tyres only, plus the brake pads, and the air filter... I told them that wasn't good enough and argued it out, eventually got put through to some kind of high-up manager who seemingly had no knowledge of the situation - once I explained he immediately agreed and we've now got 4 new tyres, new air + oil filter and new brake pads...

Well anyway there we go... cheers for the advice above again

TL;DR Car had problems; kicked up a stink; got a bunch of stuff out of them

p1RATE · 1 Aug 2015 at 04:36

It sounds like you did well there. Better than most that moan about issues like this and do nothing but post on the internet about it!

Glad to see its resolved