r/Vauxhall

So, I bought a car from a dealer about a month and a half ago.
Upon inspecting and test driving the car, didn’t notice any issues with the AC.

When I got the car I noticed the AC was not blowing cold air, but fairly hot air. Like, not boiling hot but definitely not cold. And because it’s been so hot lately in the UK, I’d end up with sweat patches all over my clothing if I didn’t open my windows too. After a while I just stopped putting the AC on.

Messaged the car dealer about it, who advised ‘it just needs a re-gas’. I then took it to a garage and paid for a regas - which wasn’t cheap at £129. Got the car back and AC was really nice and cold, happy days… but then about 4 days later noticed it was back to blowing hot air again…

I phoned the garage again and asked if they could take a look at it again. They did, and confirmed they did another inspection including a dye test and nothing came up. They put some more gas in it, and then I got cold air again and the AC was working as it should.

Fast forward about 3 days again, and guess what? The AC has stopped being cold again. The garage advised me that if it did happen again, I’d need to go and get a nitrogen test. However that’s going to be PRICEY - £130 for the test itself and then more expenses for whatever needs fixing.

So, I have some questions which I am thinking I may be able to get some help on from folks here:
a) Am I doing something wrong here? I’m pressing the AC and recirculation button, turning both dials to cold and maximum fan, and no cold air.
b) Is the AC in these cars just like that? As in, it’s not actually cold and a warm-ish temperature is normal (doubt it)
c) What is it likely to be, if the dye test came back fine? How do I get cold AC again?
d) Am I within my rights to go back to the dealer? He literally advised ‘all it needs is a regas’ - it’s been regassed twice and still issues.

Any help would be so appreciated!!!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some clarification about the recommended timing belt replacement interval for my 2012 Opel Astra J 1.7 CDTI 110 hp (engine code A17DTJ).

The car’s timing belt kit, including the water pump, was replaced in 2019 at around 97,000 km. The car now has 197,000 km, so the belt has covered about 100,000 km and has been fitted for around 7 years.

I found different information regarding the official replacement interval:

150,000 km / 72 months (6 years) according to the ECOService maintenance information for 2011–2012.

Other websites mention 150,000 km / 120 months (10 years).

Does anyone have access to the official Opel service/maintenance schedule for the A17DTJ that can confirm which interval is correct?

Would you replace the timing belt now, given that it is 7 years old and has done around 100,000 km?

Thanks!

Hello, I have a 2015 Vauxhall Mokka, my clutch feels sticky when I first lift it off the floor. It's before it reaches biting point and it drives well. What could this be?

Hi

First time poster here. Not much of a mechanic head but I’m learning as I go!

I have just purchased a 2014 Mokka 1.6L for an absolute bargain of a manager from my workplace - biggest known issue is it has an oil leak. I believe it may be from the rocker cover as it’s only over one side and isn’t severe however I want to sort it out.

I topped up 1L of oil just to drive it to an accessible space for the tow truck to pick up and drop off to my location (so I don’t damage the engine driving it home) due to the leak.
I noticed when I started the engine, after a minute or two I get a very little amount of smoke which smells like burning oil. Is this normal?

Notable things are: head gasket is fine, oil and coolant aren’t creamy whatsoever, as they should be. So I can assume it’s not the gasket?

Also do you think in your professional opinion if I buy a replacement rocker cover with the seal new bolts - will potentially fix the issue before I take it to the garage to get a further look?

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to diagnose a strange cold-start issue on my 2011 Opel Astra J 1.6 petrol, A16XER, 115 hp.

The problem only happens after the car has been sitting for around 7–8 hours or overnight.

The engine starts normally and will idle on its own, but if I lightly press the accelerator during the first 10–15 seconds, it feels like the engine is choking/bogging down, almost as if the mixture is too rich.

If I simply let it idle for 10–15 seconds, after that it responds to the throttle perfectly normally. The problem does not return for the rest of the day unless the car sits for many hours again.

There are no DTCs / no Check Engine light.
Some live-data observations:

• Cold start begins in Open Loop
• Coolant and intake air temperature readings look reasonable
• Fuel pressure while running is around 400 kPa / 4 bar
• MAP at warm idle is around 29–31 kPa
• MAF at idle is around 3–4 g/s
• LTFT at idle is usually around -9% to -11%
• STFT at warm idle is also sometimes slightly negative
• At around 2500 rpm, LTFT improves significantly to roughly -4 to -5%, with STFT around +1 to +3%
• During normal driving the fuel trims are generally much closer to 0

EVAP purge system:
I completely isolated the EVAP line by plugging the intake manifold connection during a cold start. The symptom was exactly the same, so the purge valve/EVAP system seems unlikely.

MAF:
I also tried a cold start with the MAF disconnected. It did not appear to solve the problem.

Hello, I have been having issues with my Corsa SE 2010 AC. I refilled the gas last summer, which lasted a few months. When the heat approached in May my AC was blowing warm air 🙃 10 days ago I took it to a mechanic to check what is going on. I explained the situation, but I think they didn’t really care. They started to refill the gas, to which I said that this is not what I want. I want them to check where the leak is, because the gas is almost gone, so where is it? They tried telling me that the machine doesn’t detect any leaks so I should be fine, but I reminded them that I shouldn’t have to refill it every few months so there is definitely a leak. Anyway, after a bit of back and forth they put ink in the gas.
Today, I took it back to the shop, he checked with his UV light and said my condenser is leaking and it will be 300£ to fix. I asked him to show me, but he kinda avoided my request 😂Is this a fair price? And I already paid 50£ for a refill, which now it looks like it needs to be drained and fixed. I am a bit confused.

Hi all, I had a situation with my 2000’s fiat punto and would like to know if anyone has a clue on what might have happened.

So mid journey the velocity box stopped working, it got stuck in 1. I drove about 1/2 km like this and was then able to make it work again, but after that the engine started loosing strength until it died. I tried turning it on again and it would start but not enough to turn the car on. The oil and battery lights were on. After many attempts I was able to get it to work and move to a parking lot. I left the car there for 30 min, then came back to call the insurance. I thought about turning it on again just to see and… I was working apparently fine…

My question is: what might have happened? Could it happen again? Should I call insurance even though the car looks fine now?

Recently there are always oil stains in the front part of the car but I took it to be seen and nothing wrong was detected. They also filled the oil tank. That was 2 months ago.

Thanks for any insight!!

Hello, sorry if this is a stupid question, first time replacing radio unit on my Corsa D 2006 1.2. Currently it has CD30 MP3 with GID display (bigger one). I bought a new unit with CarPlay because I had enough of FM transmitter terrible quality. My question is will I be able to switch back to my original radio unit if this carplay disappoints me without an issue? Won’t it require security code? Previous owner failed to provide me with CarPass card and having no security code might be problematic if it requires me to input it.

Recently bought this big rig, 109k miles, seems like it’s pretty solid so far? Just curious is there anything I should look out for or be wary of?

I have a 2018 reg vauxhall Corsa 62,000 miles and recently the traction control light will come on along with "service ESC" after I've driven on the motorway for about 20-30 mins. Sometimes accompanied by flashing engine light which will flash for a few seconds and then go away. When I turn the engine off and back on all warnings have gone away.

Took it to two garages and they can't find any error codes.

They've told me to come back when the warnings are on permanent so they can test but this doesn't feel like a safe or sustainable solution to me!

It was serviced a couple months ago and only thing they found was the rear suspension slight leak which they advised to repair in next few months - any idea with this might be related to the warnings? Or what these could be - I asked them about spark plugs etc and they said unlikely but these have never been replaced so I kind of disagree...?

I'm reluctant to spend money replacing random things without a clear diagnostic as I might just get rid of the car and replace as has brought me nothing but anxiety ever since I bought it.

Hi everyone. When I go above 5,500 RPM, I lose a lot of power. At 6,000 RPM, it feels like i hit the limiter . Does anyone know what could be causing this?