Marc, has it got an indicator on top of the battery? If so what colour is it displaying?
Although they're not always 100% accurate, if it's a bright green colour, then the battery is still healthy. Can't recall all the different colours at the moment (they should be mentioned in the handbook), but I know that if it's black, that means the battery is flat.
My dad's 51 reg Astra battery was almost flat earlier in the year, (lots of short start stop trips didn't help). Indicator was showing black. After an overnight charge it changed to bright green and has stayed that way ever since.
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>>Although they're not always 100% accurate, if it's a bright green colour, then the battery is still healthy.
My Vectra needs a 500-1000 mile run to turn bright green. Been like that from acquisition at 6 months old, too.
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My Vectra needs a 500-1000 mile run to turn bright green. Been like that from acquisition at 6 months old too.
Sounds like somebody lifts the bonnet an awful lot.
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My Vectra needs a 500-1000 mile run
Do you often drive these distances without a break?
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>>Do you often drive these distances without a break?
Not very often, which is why the green light is seldom on. Do you never? And who said anything about no breaks; the car needs petrol...
Usually a weekend round trip from London to Manchester and back again will do it, 400 miles, but not necessarily. One leg of the journey is insufficient.
The Alps - 750 miles, does turn it green.
Is it really unreasonable to lift the bonnet every thousand miles or so???
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When a battery is close to the end of its life it will only hold a very small fraction of its original capacity, but it is usually enough to start the car. However if it is left for a period of time, that small amount of charge will be lost due to alarm etc taking a bit of current, hence the flat battery. A courtesy light left on overnight could also flatten it, but would be of no consequence for a new battery. Many years ago I measured the capacity of an old battery from my Fiesta which was on its last legs. It came out as 4Ah ( originally 35Ah) , but it would still start the car! Therefore I would say get a new one.
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A courtesy light left on overnight could also flatten it
Fortunately the Vectra-C interior, boot, and glovebox light automatically turn themselves off after 5 to 10 mins to prevent the battery for being drained.
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Thanks for all the replies everyone.
Battery is a sealed maintenance free type. Connections are factory tight and covered in dealer white spray grease.
It's a Vauxhall brand battery and does have an inspection hole. It's sort of greenish - certainly not bright green though. My battery test meter still shows the battery as good - 24 hours after the charge. The alternator appears to be working correctly also according to the tester.
Incidentally when I put the battery on trickle charge yesterday it started right from the outset at a low rate (surprising given that duff batteries normally recharge initially at a high rate and then reduce gradually)
Think I'm going to take my chances for a few days and see how it goes.
Dave - as a Vauxhall owner, do you have any experience of these "GO" batteres that Vauxhall now sell instead of AC Delco?
Thanks
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At the very first sign of any slowness from the starter, when your battery is a few years old, don't hesitate, and just put a new one on there. Yes, there are other faults which occur with charging and starting systems, but, more often than not a new battery is the right call. It's simply not worth messing about with.
We bought, and I fitted a new Vauxhall battery for our 53 reg Astra the other week for under £50. Vauxhall batteries are very good quality, and good value for money, they've always lasted for 5 years or more on the Vauxhalls I/we have owned since the 1980s.
Now, where's the little card with the radio code on...
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NC - Was the new battery you bought one of these "GO" ones? If so did the rating match the original?
Reason I ask is that my original Vauxhall battery is 66AH. My main dealer said that the correct "GO" battery for a 2.0T Vectra is 55AH - quite cheap at £39+VAT but I'm not sure about 'downsizing' so to speak.
He can supply a 66AH but then the price leaps to £61+VAT.
To confuse matters more my local motor factors are saying my car needs a 60AH Energizer.
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>>NC - Was the new battery you bought one of these "GO" ones? If so did the rating match the original?
The original battery was branded Opel, and the replacement was branded GM. Looking at the detail of the battery case, they are the same battery, and are very similar to the AC Delco, and the GO batteries, but, as it's a few years since I fitted a GO battery (to our mkIII Astra, about 5 years ago), I can't be sure they are exactly the same.
I can't say much about the GO battery, because we sold that Astra about a year after the battery was fitted, and I don't know how it lasted.
My feeling is that they're all the same battery, as they all share design similarities, but with different stickers on the top, but, I can't be sure.
I wouldn't hesitate about buying and fitting the larger battery. In the past, I have usually bought the largest battery that will physically fit in the tray.
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Dave - as a Vauxhall owner do you have any experience of these "GO" batteres that Vauxhall now sell instead of AC Delco?
IIRC, they are still made by AC Delco but are re-branded with the GO name on them. I think they even come with a 3 yr guarantee.
Also see if you can find someone in Vauxhall's trade club, who'll get it at a discounted price.
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I tend to buy my bangernomics Vauxhalls at around 100K/10years, usually with FSH, and they've generally had a battery change at about 7years, usually a proper GM one.
On my current lovely green Vectra B CDX some cheapskate has replaced the original (70Ah ish) battery with one meant for the base model (55Ah ish); but it still starts fine, even at -2C after #1 son has left the courtesy light on for 24 hours.
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Think I'm going to take my chances for a few days and see how it goes.
Well obviously the sensible thing to do is to replace it as it is on its way out, but if you don't intend to lay the car up for four days at a time again then it will probably survive the winter out.
As an example, my van at work curently has a battery that is on its last legs too. It is in pretty much daily use and whilst it is like that it will start everytime. If it is left for a couple or three days idle without being touched then it gets to the point where the battery looses just enough charge for it not to turn over. But this rarely happens so is not much of an issue. At the moment it won't get replaced until it really does fail totally, why bother when it is still doing the job okay, especially in the current financial climate.
Oh and for anyone thinking that it is going to leave me stranded it won't - it is used as a commercial vehicle service van and as such there are a pair of huge commercial batteries with jump leads in the back capable of jump starting anything that is either 12v or 24v.
Edited by Simon on 11/12/2008 at 19:48
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If its parked within reach of a socket consider an Optimiser type charger.
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>>I tend to buy my bangernomics Vauxhalls at around 100K/10years
I cannot believe people who choose to drive Vauxhalls. If you're paying £750 for a 10 year 100k car, why not buy an Audi, or a Honda, or a Nissan, or a Subaru, or.....
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I cannot believe people who choose to drive Vauxhalls. If you're paying £750 for a 10 year 100k car why not buy an Audi or a Honda or a Nissan or a Subaru or.....
Ignoring the fact that there's nothing wrong with Vauxhalls, have you seen what people ask for 10 year old, 100,000 mile Audis and VWs? Having bought a few VWs myself, and having bought Audis with/for friends, many sellers of these cars seem to significantly over value them.
We have an amusing case in our family at the moment. The seller of a 100,000 mile, X-reg Golf diesel refuses to accept that it is worth a penny less than £4,000. It's not sold (of course), but is a genuinely nice example and has had plenty of interest, and offers around the low £3k's which he has turned down.
I told him he might as well keep using it, as it's going to sit in his garden until long after the battery and tyres go flat. He's doesn't want to hear it.
People selling old Vauxhalls and Fords tend on the whole to be more realistic.
Cheers
DP
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I cannot believe people who choose to drive Vauxhalls. If you're paying £750 for a 10 year 100k car why not buy an Audi or a Honda or a Nissan or a Subaru or.....
Of course, everyone knows Vauxhalls are hopeless for high miles and have scarce expensive parts. NOT.
I wouldnt like to run any of the brands you name in to old age/high mileage. Really I wouldnt.
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I cannot believe people who choose to drive Vauxhalls. If you're paying £750 for a 10 year 100k car why not buy an Audi or a Honda or a Nissan or a Subaru or.....
Depends what your strategy is, surely.
If you plan to do no more than TLC to the car, replenishing vital fluids and a few crucial maintenance items like brake pads, buy whatever brand you like and scrap it when it stops.
However if you plan to prolong its life by getting a spanner out and fixing anything that can be fixed cheaply to keep the car going, then you need access to cheap parts. Where will you get cheap parts for a Subaru?
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I cannot believe people who choose to drive Vauxhalls. If you're paying £750 for a 10 year 100k car why not buy an Audi or a Honda or a Nissan or a Subaru or.....
Because they choose to. I wouldn't be seen dead in any of the above - particularly a Nissan!
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>>I tend to buy my bangernomics Vauxhalls at around 100K/10years I cannot believe people who choose to drive Vauxhalls. If you're paying £750 for a 10 year 100k car why not buy an Audi or a Honda or a Nissan or a Subaru or.....
I was born & bred in Luton, it's in the blood.;-)
Other posters have already pointed out higher initial purchase cost and parts prices (by and large)
I like my bangers big, the Omega is a good size, the Vectra B a bit small. 3 kids across the back seat of an Audi A4 or even A6 would be a little tight, for example.
A much wider choice of Omegas than Toyota Camry or Nissan QX, and no estate option.
Better the devil you know.
Good economy for the size of car.
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>>Ignoring the fact that there's nothing wrong with Vauxhalls
If only it were true then I'd agree with you. They're not a pleasure to own.
I've had quite a range of bangers over the years, and far and away the most expensive has been the newest and best maintained - my current Vectra which I inherited from my father who had had it since 6 months old, put 30k mostly motorway miles on it in 5 years, FSH. It has been a permanent money pit: new cylinder head, new alternator, new cambelt tensioners, exhaust. It runs slightly under par and nobody knows why - about 10 possible reasons, garage recommendation is to run it until it fails.
Why anybody who enjoys motoring would want to run one is beyond me. (I do as I'm too stingy to change it and nobody would give me "sensible" money for it the way it runs.) The extra £300 a similar-aged Audi would cost would be money so well spent...
Edited by Mapmaker on 14/12/2008 at 12:58
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>>They're not a pleasure to own.
Your *one* might not be, but the Vauxhall's I've had have been OK. None has needed any serious or expensive work.
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I wouldn't have owned and driven Vauxhall's for the last 18 yrs if I didn't like them.
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I've only ever owned one Vauxhall - an original 96 Vectra which I had brand new when they first came out.
2.5 V6 SRi. One of the nastiest cars I've ever been unfortunate enough to own. Drove it home from picking it up at the dealers and parked it on the driveway only to find the door machanism was broken and the door wouldn't shut. Had to be towed back to the dealer with a loading strap tied around the foor posts to keep it shut.
When it was returned two weeks later I had a myriad of faults. Airbag light. Misfire. Dodgy clutch. I was actually over the moon when at 4,000 miles it was written off.
Never touched one since but the opinions of several Friends with later model Vauxhalls reinforce the notion that they've not improved much.
In terms of mainstream marques, I'd take a Ford over a Vauxhall any day of the week.
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>>Your *one* might not be, but the Vauxhall's I've had have been OK.
I fully accept it's a sample of one. It's just the endless list of completely unconnected faults that suggest poor build quality. My car is pretty low mileage, it's been our family since it was 6 months old and it has had a cossetted life. There's nothing on this list that suggests "Friday car", more "Friday Manufacturer". I've owned and hated it for nearly 4 years, now.
the cambelt tensioner - a known common fault; poor engineering - saving £3 by making it from plastic not metal.
the alternator - as the garage said when it failed at 50k miles "it should have done a bit better than that, but what do you expect from a non-Bosch alternator"
the cylinder head - failure of a 5p (if that) plastic flap necessitated replacement of the entire head.
the misfiring - a whole host of known problems related to the fact that Ecotec engines coke up, meaning that the fault is undiagnosable without considerable expense, plus other possible, common faults.
A battery that takes (and has always taken) a 500 mile trip in order for the indicator to go green.
There's some sort of brace in the roof, the other side of the headlining, that has come detached; a common and known problem, on some cars it apparently causes enless rattling, apparently I'm lucky that it doesn't.
A valve on the hydraulic system that is known to fail to work in extreme cold and does.
Headlights that dim/brighten according to engine revs, as MichaelR once wrote "as if it's powered by two 1.5V batteries"
And there's just something strange about a car where it is so easy to spin the front wheels when setting off from a junction. I've never managed that on any other car - and this is the 1.8 (and it's not because there's no rubber!) - and my friends who drive it have exactly the same problem.
That's a whole load of significant issues which make for a hugely unsatisfactory car. Would I buy another GM car? Very unlikely. My father had 3 Cavaliers and an Omega and 2/3 Vectras; my brother is on his 3rd or 4th Astra. It's the only car I've ever owned that has ever required expenditure on non-disposable parts (rubber, brakes and exhausts). Actually, that's not true, my Renault 21 required endless electrical bits; as people at the time said "told you so!" would I ever buy another Renault? NEVER.
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>>Would I buy another GM car? Very unlikely. My father had 3 Cavaliers and an >>Omega and 2/3 Vectras; my brother is on his 3rd or 4th Astra.
I'm guessing that either they loved 'em or else had no choice?
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What old Audi could I buy that would give me the passenger and luggage space of an omega? An A8 ? eeeekkk.
my last omega cost me a grand total of 17p per mile over 2 years / 60,000 miles.
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my current Vectra [...] has been a permanent money pit: new cylinder head new alternator new cambelt tensioners exhaust. It runs slightly under par and nobody knows why
Good evidence to "bangernomics" people - one of the reasons to avoid buying an old car is that it's had to have a lot of work done, especially engine-wise.
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Do you mean avoid an old car thats had engine work or just avoid old cars.
I think its beyond doubt and has been done to death that bangernomics does work. Else why do it?
In my experience it has not been cheaper to get a newer car than an older one. Newer are usually "better" so to speak but never cheaper.
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