Mk1 Vauxhall Astra saloon: fixing and tinkering

I've had my mk1 Astra saloon for a little while, and there are a few niggles which need sorting. Come along for the journey for a grease-tastic time!

Follow me on Twitter: @sionhudson

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[Richard-Bullock]

Me and my OCD are so relieved that you put the window winding handle back the way that Vauxhall intended. I hate, hate, HATE it when a window winding handle is in the wrong position.

[frisco-.]

The problem with the stiffness in 1st gear still existed till the Astra G and Vectra B.
My 2001 Opel Vectra B 1.6 has the F17 gearbox and as long as it's cold the transmission is stiff. Even an oil change didn't change anything.

[badbooks]

Great video, nice to see the Astra getting some TLC before it’s winter sleep

[michaelkeen]

Love your videos, looking forward to the next on one of your fleet. Think the Astra is a superb example of what must be quite a rare car now.

[AndyK.]

They never wanted to go into 1st while on the move. The plastic cap on the gearbox is a breather cap and filler point when unscrewed with socket

[DrEvilsFinger]

Excellent T-shirt and car colour co-ordination.

[Oberon-ucdh]

The problem with the gears might be that the linkage has moved slightly out of alignment, I had 3 Astras that all suffered with stiff gearchanges so I checked the alignment and hey lovely smooth gearchange!!

[lennie]

Plastic parts require a special grease. Try renewing the gearbox oil. Generally downchanging from third to first is not recommended as it puts alot of strain in the synchros and these gearboxes are not renowed for their robust synchros. Chances are that the previous owner had a drving style of changing from third to second and second to while still at some speed. Keep in mind the synchros between first and second are used all the time, so they tend to wear faster than second to third or third to forth. Being gentle (as in not downchanging at fairly high speed) on shifting into second and first will significantly extend the lifespan of the gearbox. In your case changing the oil is probably the way to go and see if that wont help. If not try and look carefully into the gear linkage adjustment to make sure it's as well adjusted as it can be. If that doesn't help you probably will have to either live with the difficulty in changing or replace the synhros.

[stuartsaunders]

I'm glad you removed the mud flaps they are a pet hate for me on any car they ruin the lines of a car and in particular trap road dirt & start rust off. Really liking the video though

[danielwoodward]

It's possible, but obviously not certain that the high tyre pressures were a lazy tyre fitter seating the tyres on the beads and then not bothering to adjust the pressures. No idea if the tyres were fitted recently though so maybe not.

[Cavalier_Steve]

Hi nice video! I need to do some of these jobs on my MK2 Cavalier, see you in the next one. 😊

[danielrussell]

Well done Sion and good to see some great jobs done already on the Astra and I like how you have put your 12 volt socket and made it discreetly installed
The gearboxes are renowned for being like that I remember my much newer Corsa B could be like that in 2nd gear and 1st from new and it never improved really and my dad and brothers who also had many Vauxhalls have had the same even gearbox oil change doesn’t change it much I think some of it is the nature of the gearbox synchromesh is renowned for being weak especially as they get older
Don’t blame you putting her away for the winter to keep her safe it’s going to be a nice car with your treatment looking forward to the next video

[tomfoster]

Great Vlog again! Loving your channel, can't wait to see what's next for you and your fleet. Liked and Subscribed! 🙂

[NeilD]

I remember one of my cars developing rather funky handling years ago, just after i had had an mot carried out at the garage i worked at, always suspected it was the mot tester as he was not very fond of me and hated my car, anyway checked my tyre pressures and found all four had been set at 60psi !!!

[fhwolthuis]

Nice jobs, Sion. I think changing the gearbox oil will do wonders. You can also add some additive to to smoothen the shift.

[iDayno]

My Corsa B is exactly the same with 1st gear, sometimes it will just slot in but most of the time it requires a bit of force, doesn't feel 'right' like you say!

[mrbwa]

That gear change reminds me of my Scion xA. It will not go o to 1st u til to come to a complete stop. If it’s slowly rolling, you can push hard and it’ll force in; at a stop it slides into first easily.

I think the synchro is worn from someone putting it into first while slowing down.

Let me know if you find anything different.

[AndyK.]

I forgot the early ones only had 1 row of fuses. 2nd row for headlights iirc

[dwegmull]

In the shot where you are in the car and the camera is filming the transmission linkage under the hood, I can see some play in the linkage. I don't know if such amount of play is considered excessive or not though.

[virgil]

Hi Sion, just wondering where you sourced the sun visor clip from. I need a passenger side visor post.