Hi all,
A question to those of you in the trade. Has anyone ever changed the large donut rubber bushes for the rear suspension in an Omega saloon.
I think mine need doing and would appreciate some feedback as to how difficult a job this is - not for me to do - but to estimate what a garage would charge. Obviously I'll geta Vauxhall dealer price - but at labour rates over £50 per hour I want to shop around a bit.
In anticipation.
Robert
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I had to change them because they were failed on my MOT. I did the job myself on the drive with the aid of a small trolley jack, a couple of axle stands, hefty screw driver used to lever the bushes out of their housings, along by hammer to provide the necessary encouragement. The most difficult part of the job was lining up the support plates on re assembly as the whole of the rear suspension is free to move.
The Haynes manual does recommend the use of pullers to remove the old bushes and to refit the new ones. To fit the new ones I lubricated them with washing up liquid and applied a bit of pressure to get them started, then use the trolley jack with a plate to force them fully home.
Total time to do both sides was 2.5 hrs. Most of that was spent wrestling the suspension to line up the bottom mounting plates.
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Robert (hope this reaches you..)
Have just found the site and found your posting from July on freezing doors. And you think you had problems. The following is absolutely true.
I live in the Highlands of Scotland and returned from a weekend in London to my Car, parked in Kingussie Railway station car park at about 20:00 one night. The car was covered (I mean covered) in ice some 2-3 mm thick. Presumably it had been raining then the temperature dropped. My Omega is an old ex-Police MV6, "P" reg, Dec 1996, 202,500 miles, just run in. It has no "remote" (blip) locking. The drivers door lock was frozen (I could only get the key in about 1/4 inch).
Can't get at the de-icer (in locked and frozen up boot), no electric hairdryer or fan heater for several hundred yards, no lighting. There is only one option, risky at that. Pee on the lock. It helps if you are male...(I am).
You must be carefull as
a) If it fails the AA have to de-ice a lock full of frozen pee (uggghhhh..)
b) You must be careful not to touch bare metal/ice with "exposed flesh" (Think about it)
- but I took a deep breath, waited for everyone else in the car park to leave (I did not want the conversation..) then peed on the lock with the key pressed gently too it. Bingo! In she goes, lock opens!
But the drivers door don't open - the door (presumably rubber seals) is frozen solid. The only door that would open was the rear passenger door, boot also frozen solid.
So, in I climb, clamber into front, heave in luggage, start engine.
Now the windsreen is also frozen. I scraped as much as I could and off I set.
It took 20 miles down moonlit frozen (snow, ice) roads before the windscreen unfroze. It took 40 miles before the side windows de-froze & I could open a window.
Yours aye....
WD40 into the lock 3 days in a row seems to have cured it.. I'll find out next winter....
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