Hi, I posted a while ago about my lemon of an Astra - still having problems and waiting for another garage to hook my car up to a computer - hopefully they'll not just turn round and tell me computer says nothing wrong and they don't know what it is. Or just agree with whatever diagnosis I give them from the advice I get on here!
Temperature gauge is now soaring up into red regularly - I'm using water to top up my coolant which is disappearing. My oil is being used up too.
I just wanted to check - am I wasting my time and money getting a garage to check my coolant? Thats what my manual recommends - but as I'm capable of putting oil in my car, I wondered whether there was anything special that needed doing to the coolant other than just the correct amount of antifreeze added - as until my problem is solved its gonna cost me a fortune to get garages to do this for me and I'd much prefer to do myself.
It does mention that its pressurised while running - does this affect anything?
Sorry for being a bit dense when it comes to mechanical things - just trying to keep my pennies for myself not for garages getting money for nothing.
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You did the right thing asking - coolant isn't really interchangeable anymore as there are many types. I had this same problem myself a while back.
Definitely get it from the Vauxhall dealer - a 2 litre bottle for my Peugeot was only a couple of quid and comes ready to use.
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This doesn't sound at all good - coolant usage plus pressure in the system sounds like head gasket failure to me. If the temperature is going into the red then the head is probably warped as well. Budget around 300 quid from a mobile mechanic or 500 quid from a dealer to fix this; unless somone else (hopefully) has a less expensiv esounding daignosis....:-/
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Yup, loss of coolant and oil does look like head-gasket failure. I speak not as a technical expert but as someone who has just had a head gasket replaced (it hurts). It was a ten-hour job, so you'll be lucky to get away for less than £500 I'm afraid, even with an independent mechanic (it's the time that costs, not the parts). The head will need to be skimmed (£80-ish), as any good mechanic will know, and it's worth doing other things at the same time, such as replacing valve-stem seals.
I learned only recently about the specificity of coolant these days (e.g./i.e. use only MB coolant in MB cars). See the thread called Coolant Questions.
I would certainly get the car looked at by a good independent immediately. There's nothing a dealer will do better than an independent mechanic working at half the dealer's hourly rate. There's sure to be an individual mechanic locally with plenty of Astra experience if you ask around a bit (he should be that bit cheaper than a non-dealer garage).
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As basically already said this sounds like a good old fashioned headgasket,you dont say what year/model your astra is so it could be a nice easy repair 8 valve or a protracted job 16 valve.
Also as said depending where you live will determine what you pay .
If you can take advice take the car to a good independant garage and ask them to do a pressure test on the water system this should immediately tell them if the headgasket has gone and at minimul cost, you do not need flashing computers to do this but good old compressed air,they should then be able to give you a good ball park figure including new timing belt (if it has one) oil water antifreeze etc and labour rates to complete it
good luck
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you dont say what year/model your astra is....
From looking up a previous post, it's an Astra-G, 1.4 petrol engine (which I've now added to the subject header, so as to make less vague)
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=39666&...e
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Hi all - just to say the diagnosis was right - head gasket had gone - luckily dealer I bought off fixed under warranty for me - extended warranty was worth £99.99 in retrospect as would have ran out last month and I would've had a hefty bill otherwise!
Who says they're not worth the money!
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Thanks for the update; nice to hear that you didn't have to shell out further £££££s on it :-)
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Nice result then!! It just shows these Warranties can be worth it sometimes.
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Nice result indeed. Better than I've experienced in three warranty-years on different cars. Thanks for reporting back.
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