Petrol Astra with intercooler?
Discussion
I know very little about cars but need some advice. Hopefully I’ve put this in the right place and haven’t said something stupid.
Purchased a 2010 Astra 1.6 Sri automatic a few months ago. It went to a garage the other day as it has transmission oil in the coolant. Oil cooler we all thought until the garage contacted me to come look at the car.
It has the wrong rad pack on it and a ‘blanked off intercooler’ that shouldn’t be there. All I know about the car prior to getting it is that it has had a recon gearbox in it.
Any ideas on why these parts could be there, what would the intercooler be doing? Could it have the wrong gearbox in and all this be added to make it work? (Garage mentioned this, or a possible head on hit and a bodge job)
As it stands no local garage will quote on it or touch it because of these incorrect parts, they don’t want to get involved as they don’t know what else they will uncover along the way.
Any advice appreciated!
Purchased a 2010 Astra 1.6 Sri automatic a few months ago. It went to a garage the other day as it has transmission oil in the coolant. Oil cooler we all thought until the garage contacted me to come look at the car.
It has the wrong rad pack on it and a ‘blanked off intercooler’ that shouldn’t be there. All I know about the car prior to getting it is that it has had a recon gearbox in it.
Any ideas on why these parts could be there, what would the intercooler be doing? Could it have the wrong gearbox in and all this be added to make it work? (Garage mentioned this, or a possible head on hit and a bodge job)
As it stands no local garage will quote on it or touch it because of these incorrect parts, they don’t want to get involved as they don’t know what else they will uncover along the way.
Any advice appreciated!
Strange situation, can you confirm the original issue was engine oil in the coolant? If we ignore the intercooler being there for a sec, need to confirm if this is caused by a faulty oil/coolant exchanger or worse a head gasket failure, did the garage do a sniff test on the coolant?
Regarding the blanked off intercooler, are we sure it was a intercooler and not a oil cooler, air con cooler or transmission cooler? Vauxhall did a turbo (with intercooler and 180hp) and non-turbo version (without intercooler) of the 1.6 SRI, the diesels would have also originally had an intercooler, is it possible when they swapped the gearbox they swapped the whole engine and box for a non turbo one when the car originally was a turbo? Can you confirm in the cars logbook, manual or makers sticker if it was a 180 turbo (and petrol!) from new? Worth checking the engine number matches if you can find it or post a pic of the engine and we will soon tell you if it has a turbo strapped to the front or back of it.
Regarding the blanked off intercooler, are we sure it was a intercooler and not a oil cooler, air con cooler or transmission cooler? Vauxhall did a turbo (with intercooler and 180hp) and non-turbo version (without intercooler) of the 1.6 SRI, the diesels would have also originally had an intercooler, is it possible when they swapped the gearbox they swapped the whole engine and box for a non turbo one when the car originally was a turbo? Can you confirm in the cars logbook, manual or makers sticker if it was a 180 turbo (and petrol!) from new? Worth checking the engine number matches if you can find it or post a pic of the engine and we will soon tell you if it has a turbo strapped to the front or back of it.
Edited by davebem on Wednesday 28th November 21:55
No official diagnosis on what the oil in the coolant is because nobody wants to work on/get involved with the car. A sniff test and a pressure test was done and results came back fine however I was advised it could be false readings due to the contaminated coolant. The engine oil has been checked and looks fine, no discolouring, no mayo and no oil loss there. No smoke from the exhaust and no other HG warning signs and neither garage it has been to think it is the HG. (Though I am aware it still could be, would it not be odd on a 2010 car with 50k miles? could the wrong rad pack on it be a cause of possible HG failure?)
I was advised and have researched myself that these cars and the cruze in australia and wherever else they were sold have had problems with the gaskets in the oil coolers failing causing oil to mix with coolant, the symptoms I am seeing seem to match with that. I was expecting to get a quote on fixing the oil cooler and flushing everything out but that didn't happen.
The garage got the car up on the ramp and two mechanics pointed out the intercooler, they were not confused and were certain it was an intercooler and it should not be there as my car does not have and has never had a turbo. I assume they would know the difference between an intercooler and an oil cooler. They also stated if they ordered a rad pack for my car it would be completely different to the one that is currently fitted because the one on there is the wrong one and they don't think a new one would fit due to how much has been altered to get the wrong one to fit.
Logbook states it's a petrol Astra SRI Auto, 1598 CC with a max net power of 85 - if I am looking in the right place?
I was advised and have researched myself that these cars and the cruze in australia and wherever else they were sold have had problems with the gaskets in the oil coolers failing causing oil to mix with coolant, the symptoms I am seeing seem to match with that. I was expecting to get a quote on fixing the oil cooler and flushing everything out but that didn't happen.
The garage got the car up on the ramp and two mechanics pointed out the intercooler, they were not confused and were certain it was an intercooler and it should not be there as my car does not have and has never had a turbo. I assume they would know the difference between an intercooler and an oil cooler. They also stated if they ordered a rad pack for my car it would be completely different to the one that is currently fitted because the one on there is the wrong one and they don't think a new one would fit due to how much has been altered to get the wrong one to fit.
Logbook states it's a petrol Astra SRI Auto, 1598 CC with a max net power of 85 - if I am looking in the right place?
Ok so its a normal non turbo SRI. Maybe its had a bump on the front or serious animal strike and they fitted the rad pack from a turbo car they got from a breakers yard or wrong part ordered (confused it with the 180hp version). On some cars it sits in between the main radiator and air con rad and maybe they were too lazy to remove it and see if the air con rad still fitted. Hopefully you can find a garage that ignores this, and looks at the oil/coolant exchanger (or whatever is causing the oil contamination) which should be a simple issue to resolve.
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