Northpole's Vectra C SXI

**NeilGo** · 30th January 2023, 18:31

It's on odd one but the cold light of day or should that be the warm breeze of a summer evening

will allow you to properly investigate. Full service sounds good

**northpole** · 31st January 2023, 12:50

Originally Posted by NeilGo

It's on odd one but the cold light of day or should that be the warm breeze of a summer evening

will allow you to properly investigate. Full service sounds good

I still.have no clue as.to how it actually came off...the big torque gun with 800nm of torque put it back in like it was nothing... my 350nm torque wrench and me where struggling to get even the first part in... meaning both collars of the rubber are intact and protruding way past the metal bit it should go through.

As I said I couldn't find the cause for it, no damage on the ns wheel or tire to indicate it was forced out to have this happen... all the other arms and bushes are in very good condition and all in their place... and no there is no damage to the shockabsorber either

It's a head scratcher! But it's fine now so come better weather I'll service it and check if there is an indication somewhere on the bottom as to why it happened. I'm replace the rear springs for new ones so I'll be taking half of it off anyway. So might aswell check if I can find the cause of it.

**northpole** · 9th April 2023, 07:53

I fitted new oem sport springs in the rear yesterday... I did remove the shockabsorber to check why it came off but there was no reason to be found... i can only imagine it came off because it wasn't bolted in tight enough.. and come to think of it, when I replaced all the shock absorbers I did have someone doing that side... while I did the rest as he was that slow... so let's put it to faulty fitment and vibrations helped the bolt to work it self free...

that said it took me way to long to do just the rear springs, but that was partly because I was working alone and did a proper investigation on the NS to find any reason for that bottom bolt of the shockabsorber to come out by itself... but hey ho, the old springs where fine by the way they just started to go rusty again, and I had enough of that crusty looking mess since the fronts still look like new. But I noticed the rear wheels gets way dirtier than the front ones during bad weather must have something to do with the airflow under the car.

**northpole** · 14th April 2023, 07:26

car drives like a new one again think me changing the rear springs was for the better the clearly were past their best.... that said, yesterday morning i needed to run to the shop quick, started the car started first turn off the key, drove off, got to the shop parked up, did the shopping in about 5 minutes, jumped in the car to drive off... and the ****** didn't want to start. Had to ask someone to be so kind to give me a jump start ( i always have jump cables in the car) now here is the stupid bit... ( mind you this was at 7:00 am)

cable on, starts straight up first turn off the key! I've had this before and that was when the battery started to go bad... nothing wrong with this one! it holds a charge, the eye is green (was green when i was trying to start it of the key) and even pulling the ecu and abs connectors off to reseat them didn't make a blind difference.

when i got home i let the car run for half an hour... has been fine all day starting immediately on the first turn of the key, so readout the ecu to check but only had throttle position error ( yeah i tried to give it some extra fuel in the hope it would start, but it was a historical one from 07:06 am that day)... looks like I'll be cleaning the ground points and the battery poles just to make sure this doesn't happen again.

**horaa** · 14th April 2023, 13:52

Had battery with magic eye, then went for varta without the eye, now the signumareasa came with a 2 month old battery that have an eye. It's always green. From past experience the eye is not something that i trust.

**northpole** · 15th April 2023, 15:30

I do trust this one as it changes colour when it starts to go bad.. unlike most ones this is one hell of an expensive battery and it is made for leisure vehicles...meaning it has loads of CCA, and has a really high AMP output... much more than the car would ever need.. but my ICE install benefits from the extra power.

And again it wasn't the battery or the fact that the car didn't get enough juice to start it... the car was just having a moment of insanity... I cleaned the battery poles and the ground points car has been sound.

**NeilGo** · 15th April 2023, 20:36

Nothing worse than the worry of not knowing if your car will start after visiting shops/filling station, etc. I've had two cars that have done this - a 2006 Astra - ended up needing a new CIM. And my Senator - never found the fault but a neat solution of a 'start' button inside the car. Essentially a wire connected from the starter motor to the batter via a relay/fuse then connected to 'starter' button. Starts every time!

**northpole** · 16th April 2023, 07:42

@NeilGo that is a good idea but nope not doing it... I actually think I found part of the problem yesterday... I run a tuning box that taps into the pedal position sensor wire... on the engine side the wire that connects to the box had rubbed it's way through (all my mistake as i didn't look at the wires when i hid the box under the engine cover) anyway a quick solder, some isolation tape, rerouting of the wires and the problem is gone. no more wrong pedal position DTC's and the car starts up immediately now...

**NeilGo** · 16th April 2023, 18:33

Result!

**northpole** · 17th April 2023, 08:00

Originally Posted by NeilGo

Result!

yes I was quite happy to see that the ecu didn't just have a hiccup that day. that said the car has been pretty reliable and apart from the DTI tractor noise(which is more prominent because i removed the under engine cover, half of it was damaged anyway) it's a pretty comfortable, quiet ride.. especially if you take in account that the car is 20 years old already...