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Four years old this week with 42k on the clock. Timing chain about to let go and facing a 975 quid repair bill!! That's before diagnosing the issue surrounding the warning light that keeps coming on!!
Anyone know whether 975 is 'reasonable' in terms of this repair?
You're out of warranty so there's no way I'd be paying a Vauxhall dealer to do this.
To give an idea, the timing belt (plus water pump) was £300 all in from a (non-franchised) specialist for my Passat.
All assumes the car's running normally and it's just replacement time 'cos it's now 4 years old.
Chains cost significanly more than belts, but yes a non fanchised garrage should do it cheepert han that.
Searching around and its a 'common' fault. Even What Car Used car guide says they can break on this engine! obviously didn't know that before I bought it.
I've got a 54 plate 2.0 TDI.
What symptoms do you get with the warning light and what engine? I had "a light" and it was fixed quite easily once we knew what it was.
Its a 2.2 direct petrol auto. I can live with the awful fuel economy as it doesn't do many miles anymore, it just keeps falling apart.
the warning light and timing chain issues are different - they can't fix the warning light because they can't (or refuse) to run the car in case the chain lets go (new engine time!).
The symptoms that i have for the warning light are shuddering and loss of power during and after kick down on the auto box. Light goes out after re-starting the engine - repeat - repeat etc
I already had problems with the auto box as it got stuck in first every time I went up a really steep hill. Had to use the manual over ride to get out of first - went into Vauxhall twice and because no error codes, they refused to accept that there was a problem.
Mine was turbo plumbing.
I'm confused - how do you know a timing chain is about to break?
Presumably it's stretched beyond allowable tolerance.
Because of the god awful racket that it is making and numerous examples of it happening to others with the same symptoms...some of which ended up with a pile of nuts and bolts rather than an engine!
Even my old R reg V6 Vectra would only cost 330 to have its cambelt replaced and that was a pig of a job, so 975 sounds quite extreme.
I would try and find yourself a VX independent rather than a main VX dealer and see what they quote you.
I drew the short straw & had to take an 08 plate Vectra pool car down to Crawley today. The most god awful car I've ever driven. Seats really bad.
As an Alfa Owner of old, might I suggest the best fix for a warning light is a small piece of black tape, applied neatly directly over the light.
It worked for me, although the Alfa 75 I once owned needed a couple of fairly lengthy strips over the "on board computer", unless it was christmas and I was feeling festive. Then I'd hang a fir tree air freshner over the top for that full fairy light experience.
Yup, the 2.2 is known to break chains, know quite a few people this has happened to. 1 mate had a company car and 2 let go before the car was due changing. Next door neighbour managed 2 under warranty before changing to a Honda Cr something
Something to do with the oil pressure and chain tensioner I think. Similar problem to the old Rover 2000s i used to work on in the 70s 🙄
I drew the short straw & had to take an 08 plate Vectra pool car down to Crawley today. The most god awful car I've ever driven. Seats really bad.
How very, very true. My boss at a previous employer had a 1.8L Vectra as a lease car while he made up his mind what to get to replace his Saab Turbo. As quoted, quite possibly the worse car it's been my misfortune to drive, beaten slightly by a Yugo, but that at least had better seats. I used to be wriggling around trying to find a comfortable position within minutes of leaving the carpark, not good when you're faced with a 150mile round trip. Awful, awful car. And a complete slug too. 0-60=calendar month.
The Audi A4 TDi was a [i]much[/i] nicer replacement.
I love mine. Bags of space for the worlds biggest pram, 2 dogs and the missus, not too expensive to run, decent performance. Not the best drive on our wee roads but you can't have it all. It's a car, it takes me places and they all break at some point.
You do see a lot of burnt out vectras.
I like mine but then it's only 2 years old and was a fleet car at the place I work so full service history, I know where it's been (in fact I drove it quite a lot when it was the fleet car anyway).
Seats aren't great but now I'm the only driver I've had a chance to play round with them and get them to a decent position. HUGE car too, can fit loads in.
No option to trade it in and put the money you'd have spent on repairs towards a new car?
[i]Its a 2.2 direct petrol auto. I can live with the awful fuel economy as it doesn't do many miles anymore, it just keeps falling apart.[/i]
I had one as a company car, did 33mpg no matter how hard it was driven.
[i]I already had problems with the auto box as it got stuck in first every time I went up a really steep hill. Had to use the manual over ride to get out of first - went into Vauxhall twice and because no error codes, they refused to accept that there was a problem. [/i]
Strange, as it is a known fault (well was back in 2006) but tbh all you do is 'manual' it out.
I put over 70k on mine in 2 years, probably the cheapest running costs of any car I've had - especially compared to my colleagues Mercs...
Isn't there an auto-tensioner on the chain - is it a service item?
As Takisawa2 said with a few alterations.
I [b]don't mind[/b] mine. Bags of space for the worlds biggest pram, 2 [b] kids and their crap[/b] and the missus [b]and her crap[/b], not too expensive to run, decent performance. Not the best drive on our wee roads but you can't have it all. It's a car, it takes me places and they all break at some point.
Getting 46 mpg round town, more on a run.
Don't know about Vectras, but I just paid about £300 for my Audi A4 timing belt and water pump replacement (not at an Audi garage I hasten to add!).
br - I can get 33mpg on long runs but my working patterns have changed so its mostly used around town - looking at low 20s!!
There are 'known' faults all over this car (with this particular engine) but my local dealer didn't want to know - there was even a Watchdog tv campaign about certain issues - still denied by Vx. The tensioner is not a service item, the car has been serviced according to the book.
it takes me places and they all break at some point
Yeah but (and this may be news to you) usually not after 40k miles 🙂
Vectras usually do though. Nearly as unreliable as those Priuses (Prii?)
We had a 2001 Vectra 2.0DTi. Got it cheap at the time, low miles and in brilliant nick. Did 60,000 miles in it and probably spent £500-600 in repairs other than servicing and consumables in that time (Part of that was a broken front spring, probably caused by driving over too many fields at MTB events that anything else, and I replaced the shocks whilst it was in bits, silly not to....) then sold it to Solamanda off here who, last I heard, had added another 17k and been to the Alps in it.
Yeah, it was a bit of a soggy handler, but as a motorway car it was fantastic. Comfy, tourquey, smooth.
33mpg from a big 2.2l petrol car seems pretty decent to me, as does low 20s round town. It's a bit more than my dad used to get out of a 2.0l Mk2 Ford Granada which has to be a comparably sized car.... 🙂
65,000 on mine. Alternator went at 40,000, 3 road springs failed this winter and a couple of the hoses round the turbo went earlier in the year. One cost £160, the other nowt as they just nipped off the end and shortened it by 20 mm.
Compared to my previous motors (Cirtoen, Fiat, VW) it has been the best. Dull... but the best.
We have a Vectra, it's been awesomely reliable compared to the Micra. It's a bit sluggish though (1.8), and drinks petrol like nobody's business. Still, the husband fits in it, so it's all good.
£300 for timing belt, tensioners and water pump is a reasonable price for most normal cars I'd say. £975 is crazy money IMO.
Main dealer price innit. Once got quoted £360+ VAT (6 hours labour) by FIAT to repair a broken seat tipping mechanism. Local independent fixed it in less than 30 seconds whilst he was doing the service and MOT.
Compared to my previous motors (Cirtoen, Fiat, VW) it has been the best. Dull... but the best.
Sounds shocking to me.
Prius has 70k miles on it, a grand total of nothing at all has gone wrong with it.
Prius has 70k miles on it, a grand total of nothing at all has gone wrong with it.
And if it does, you can take it back to Comet for a repair! 😉
I stuck 55k on a 1990 Fiat Panda and bugger all went wrong with that as well 🙂
Shut it scooter boy.
Got an 08 1.9CDTi estate which we have had from new. Coming up for 80,000 miles and not a single problem yet. Had a company 1.9 CDTi hatch for 3 years before that and no problems at all in its 90,000 miles. Quite economical and pretty cheap to run especially with servicing only being every 20,000 miles. I find it reasonably comfortable as well. Sure, it's not a "drivers" car but it is perfectly acceptable. For those who think it is the worst car to drive I posit that you have never driven many others as I have found plenty of cars that are much worse to drive. Worst car I think I have ever driven is an Avensis. Hideously uncomfortable (like sitting in your grandmas old bouncy sofa), abysmal handling (I've experienced less wallow on a camel) and utterly non existant performance. Truly a dreadful, dreadful car. Seat Leon Cupra was fun to drive but was falling apart after 40,000 miles. Mondeo (new shape) was a nice car but seats were a lot more uncomfortable than the Vectra (seat base was an odd size - couldn't quite get properly comfy on a long journey).
In general I think the Vectra gets a bit of a hard time as it is not that bad a car at all - certainly in my experience.
Failures that I can remember on my ’99 Bravo. Had it from Aug’00 – Feb’08.
Hand brake (twice)
Rear wiper motor (twice)
Alarm and immobilizer
All dashboard electrics (a chip failed. I had to get a new instrument cluster from a breakers yard and have it un-clocked to get the miles right)
Leaking sunroof. Water would come down the inside of the windscreen under breaking when it rained.
Electric heated seats failed.
Central locking seized.
Electric window switch.
Electric window mounting rails came lose causing the window to jam open.
Door handle came off.
Crank shaft sensor
Exhaust mounting bracket detached from the underside of the car causing the exhaust to fall off and be destroyed as it folded up under the car and ended up stuffed in the wheel arch. I went full on Basil Fawlty at that one!
Rear wash wipe hose perished pissing water over the inside of the roof lining.
The VW had an electrical fire and was only really happy when it was running on 3 cylinders.
The Citroen fell to bits.
Compared to this The Mighty Vectra has been a dream.
All that proves HtS is that you are very unlucky! I've never had faults like that even when I was running £300 cars!
Nearly as unreliable as those Priuses (Prii?)
bullshit. Priuses are megareliable.
2.0DTI Vectra on 110k here, its alright to be honest, massive boot, comfy seats.
Radio was a bit rubbish, so that got replaced.
1x spring has broken, the bearings on the front struts failed, and the rear wiper doesn't work.
Most expensive thing to date was the crank pulley dampner letting go.
Intermittent engine light was caused by turbo plumbing, a vacuum hose, cost pence to fix.
It returns 50mpg taking if i keep to 60 on a run (no 6th gear).
On the whole, not a bad car, definitely at home on the motorway.
Priuses are megareliable.
Yeah, most reliable family car a year or tow ago IIRC.
bullshit. Priuses are megareliable.
I know, just messing. Molgrips didn't really bite 🙁
I didn't see it until it was quoted 🙂
The symptoms that i have for the warning light are shuddering and loss of power during and after kick down on the auto box. Light goes out after re-starting the engine - repeat - repeat etc
I had the same problem on my Diesel Honda, traced it to a blocked Fuel filter that starved the fuel rail of Diesel when you needed the boost. Engine went into emergency 'get you home mode' accompanied by a christmas tree of lights. Fixed by a change the filter.
Timing belt is however a bastard. New engine from a scrappy not an option?
Update is that Vx has agreed to pay half the cost of the timing chain replacement. Yet to get to the bottom of the auto box problem but fuel rail error code is coming up.