Hi, I'm a bit of a newbie. Not really a car expert but know enough to know my Astra isn't running right at the minute.
I seem to be allsorts of problems with the thing at the moment and when I've taken it to the garage, they hook it up to the computer and tell me it's alright, it doesn't have anything wrong with it.
It seems to have an intermittent sluggishness problem. The fuel gauge seems to stick every now and then so I have to guess how much is in there. My fuel economy seems to have plummeted too. My radio seems to be possessed and have a mind of it's own. When it's cold, and I've been driving my car for a while, when I finally stop my fan is on for quite some time and there's a smell - bit like clutch burning. Running temperature is generally just above half way on the gauge as a norm.
A while ago, my engine management light came on, and I had a problem when I was slowing down to pull up and park, it would labour, oil light would flash, and then rev itself a bit or cut out. (Oil levels are fine) But just before I dropped it in garage it stopped doing this and hasn't since.
Now, like I say, I'm not the most technical of people, but surely this is all wrong and there is something up with the thing - even if some teenager in an overall says computer says no.
Any advice?
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 12/01/2008 at 17:19
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could your brakes be binding ?
can you push the car (in neutral and handbrake off :-) ) - or will it freewheel easily ?
I'm thinking that the burning smell could be brake pads and your sluggishness and fuel economy could be the result.
Nothing would show up on the computer.
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Thanks for the help - it's back in tomorrow to get looked at so I'll get them to check that out for me.
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Astra Woman
There's rather a lot of different petrol and diesel engines fitted in any Astra - and there were two different models [Astra-F and Astra-G] made in '98. [It was the change-year; is yours the old model or the new?]
Knowing the size; number of valves; type-code and fuel of the engine would help enormously when advising. A failed coolant temp sensor [for the engine management; not the gauge] would cause a lot of those symptoms on certain engines. Is the radio the factory-fit one; or has it been changed?
If the engine management light had been on; the spotty oik should have been able to read the recorded fault-code that caused it - assuming that the garage actually had basic code-reading equipment. [On yours - that can be as basic as a paper-clip!]
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Its the Astra-G, and it's a 1.4 petrol engine.
Radio is the original one but it has been taken out and put back by the previous owner.
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Astra Woman
An '98 Astra-G on an S-plate should have the X14XE engine. That's one of those that suffer from coolant temp sensor problems. If you can find a competant garage with suitable live-data reading equipment; [that's most of them now] they'll be able to compare the actual engine temp to the one that the sensor is sending the ECU.
Although there hundreds of other possibilities, that would be the closest fit with most of your described symptoms. [The burning smell is indeed very likely to be caused by seized front brake calipers.]
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