Northpole's Vectra C SXI

[northpole]

today I tried to lock the car with the key-fob, it refused to do so... SO i ended up fixing the button on the inside the of the key-fob... nothing to difficult but you can get a repair kit of eBay for a few quid.. I ordered it a while ago but was to lazy to actually solder the button in question in place..I super-glued it and it worked for almost 6 months but I had to make sure the solder pins were connecting to the last bit of solder left on the board... I bought a soldering kit (got one somewhere, but with the last move i did 2 years ago, i couldn't find it so never bothered until today) at "the range" for 10 pounds as it was the cheapest that came with a stand and a de-solder pump

I took the key apart checked if the connector pins were still fine, and they were, so pulled out my fresh soldering iron and soldering flux and soldered them down it only took 2 minutes of which 1 whole minute was spend splitting the key and the fob and taking the board out of the fob. Soldered it tested it and i now have a perfectly fine working key...

funnily enough it now opens and locks the car from a bigger distance.. i call that a result

[northpole]

I swapped the coolant expansion tanks lid for a new one... yes it was leaking coolant from the top and it was annoying me as for one it made me think there was something building up pressure (worse case headgasket) but i couldn't find any evidence of it being caused by all the usual suspects.. so i took the car for a drive last Monday after i wiped the traces of coolant away... i found the source being the lid as it was only overflowing from the top of the expansion tank also no traces of oil in the nice pink coolant. so i ordered a new one of Autovax, and it came yesterday. haven't driven it yet but i'm quite sure this will be the end to the coolant coming out of the top of the expansion tank, the rest of the coolant circuit was flushed when I changed the thermostat a few weeks ago.

[northpole]

So today i finally received the roof aerial gasket and the wiper linkage repair kit... the gasket was easy to put on, just remove all traces of the old one than stretch the new gasket a bit and it pops into place.. 2 minutes in total and it looks so much better (apart from it actually forming a waterproof seal) than the wiper linkage repair clips.... long story short, was looking on eBay to get them in the UK they ask 5 pounds per clip, so kept looking found a seller in China that sells you a set of 10 for the total amount of 1 pound including free shipping... so that is what i bought, now if i had a facelift model i would have to replace the linkage arms but the pre-facelift can be fitted with these clips... takes about 10 minutes to clip them on while the whole linkage system is still on the car.... just make sure that before you clip them on you still have the tie wrap around the linkage arms as you need to put quite some weight behind the clips to get them on... I only did one but it took me about 10 minutes most of that was finding the right angle.. once i had that it was push, push a little harder, remove needle nose pliers, move them to the back and push some more, wait for the click from the clip and your done...

But i was lazy and left the tie wrap in place... it doesn't cause a problem and if the clip ever goes it won't stop wiping the windows especially not when it is raining (because that always happens when you are driving in the rain) win win in my book.

[northpole]

I got sick and tired of the oem gearstick gaitor looking all messed up I replaced it today with a nice new real leather replacement from... China! It costed a lot less as it was just the leather gaitor, no frame no bezel... only mistake the sides weren't cut in the right spot for the frame so i made my own... now it looks like it should've been from the start.. nice black and actually gives the car a younger look inside... I might just go further with all of this and fin a re-skin kit for the steering wheel last time i looked for one i couldn't find it for the vectra... so maybe after a few years they started doing them, i know they do them for the vw golfs.. it is a long shot... if not i will just have to go and ask my local car upholstery specialist to do the steeringwheel for me.. but i'm quite sure he'll ask to much.

[northpole]

Well no need for it as i found what i was looking for... not only did i find a gearknob re-skin leather bit i also found the one for the steeringwheel ... just means I'll have to wait and get the SRI type steeringwheel .. the one with the build in thumb rests... So i'm now hunting for an sri steeringwheel with push buttons instead of scrollers.. although i'm quite sure i can swap the lot over i'm not convinced it'll work that easy... don't know if the airbags are the same etc.. and to be fair since my car is a pre-facelift it probably means changing the CIM and do the mind boggling TID to GID conversion while i'm at it... and i'm not willing to do that since i don't run an OEM radio...

for those who are interested in where i found the stuff... Aliexpress look for LQTENLEO vectra genuine steeringwheel cover (actually just click on the link, you can't go wrong for 17 pounds hey)

[northpole]

I just went out and riveted the bumper guide on my preface... we all know they are pop riveted in place... so when i just bought the car I noticed the bumper guide was broken i bought a set replaced it and drilled out the old one and had to look for my rivet gun... couldn't find it (this was a good old 3 years ago) yesterday I looked at the bumper and had enough of that bumper not sitting in it's place (you could just about see it sticking out) so i pulled out the shed and found my rivet gun got the right size rivets and replaced the screws i used as a temporary solution... the bumper is now sitting in it's place as it should have been when i changed it... apparently the little movement the rivets provide help lock the top of the bumper in it's place.. but hey it's a result. should've done this way sooner...

[northpole]

So the gearknob re-skin kit arrived and i've got it on... for everyone with a pre-facelift, the quality is outstanding and the fit is perfect... i could've glued it a bit better but other than that it looks brand new... leaves the steeringwheel.... to be sorted at a later date because i got a nice surprise from the car.... water pump gave up, and it is the bearing as the car doesn't leak any coolant when not running... nly when the car is idling or driving will the coolant level drop... I went out to inspect it and found the OS of the engine wet with coolant... so i ordered a new one to swap it out asap... but will be in store after 15:00 today... lovely car always something unexpected when you think it is all sorted

[northpole]

So after 15:00 I started with the waterpump... finished at 18:00 there is more though.... Found a broken cv boot on the OS driveshaft, and the oilcooler seems to be a source of an oil leak.... need to wash it to make sure... what did I say earlier???? Surprise!

[northpole]

And today I finally did the cv boot on the OS driveshaft... it took me all day... but it is done... I did find some oil today... but it is clear not black.... the only oil I can think of is brake fluid but that isn't low or anything like that... so will continue to look for the source.

[northpole]

Yesterday I decided to replace the worn looking inner cv boot on the NS drive shaft took me a lot less time did it in aboit 3 hours and that was with me collecting my tools from the shed, do the job, and cleaning up and putting my tools back in the shed.

Anyway found that the baljoint on the NS needs replacing so will be going to the scrappy tomorrow for a good 2nd hand replacement.

The reason why I am doing all these little things now is because my MOT is in January next year and around that time the weather is that bad I usually get the garages to do the jobs... but that is expensive and not really my way of doing things.

I didn't take any pictures as it is a dirty job and I had grease on my hands.