Car Faults - What should I do?

colino

Nope, the mechanism is sticking and the safety switch is preventing it closing. Using the key in the lock for total closure is overriding that.

ilikewatch

colino wrote: »

Nope, the mechanism is sticking and the safety switch is preventing it closing. Using the key in the lock for total closure is overriding that.

Fair enough - it's a long time since I've had anything to do with a Corsa, though similair intermittent problems in an Astra and a Focus were both down to corrosion in the switch caused by water ingress.

Strider590

Beautiful-Moose wrote: »

Strider590 - The faults happened in the order I wrote them down. 1st the dashboard/handbrake sign. It 1st did it 6 - 9 months ago on 1 car journey then hasn't done it again until Sunday morning. The sunroof issue happened this time last week as did the car alarm issue.

Well, the dashboard thing has been going for too long to be the battery, so that sounds like the fault mentioned above.

BUT, let me explain about car alarms.
It detects doors opening, it detects using ultrasonic sensors and it detects tampering. If your car battery is in poor condition, there's a very good chance the alarm will detect a lower than normal voltage and go nuts.

I'm not saying it's the battery, im not saying it could be the alternator (but it's possible), but a battery fault can cause some really weird stuff to happen.

I'll explain my thought process......
Chances are it's on it's 2nd battery (last around 4-5 years) and about due a new one, so for peace of mind (if nothing else) it's probably worth changing before next winter anyway.

Beautiful-Moose

Ok so my safest and best bet is to get it into a garage and let them sort out the problems I have all in one go?

Strider590

^^ List all as separate faults, order by approximate date, don't elaborate too much and don't do this:

"I was driving home and I saw a duck crossing the road, when it got hit by lightening as I tried to avoid it and then 7 miles down the road a squirrel jumped out of a tree and landed on my car, suddenly 2 minutes later the radio gradually stopped working and the kids were really upset and screaming because they couldn't listen to music in the car" = Radio broken

Ok, slight exaggeration there

I once witness someone explaining a fault on their car at my local garage, half way through the guy starts rambling on about a golf match he'd been playing and how the fault appeared after the match (as if that's even slightly relevant), he went into all the details, by the end I was convinced his car was broken because of a bunker of the 9th.

:rotfl:

colino

As above. If you are getting someone else to repair it, even if you have to write it down to focus, don't presume anything, explain what is wrong and when it happens, but don't make helpful suggestions.

You wait until your selling a car and the lady owner (driven it for three years) when asked where her trade-in was parked and what it was (to asses it), replies, "I don't know, my husband attends to it, it's a blue one".

vikingaero

3. Car alarm. If it is the standard Vauxhall alarm with battery back up then what happens is the cells in the battery back up age and lose voltage. The alarm thinks that someone is attempting a theft through current drain. Probably £150 to replace through an independent garage. Not worth buying a secondhand part because the cells in those will be knackered too.

Retrogamer

As mentioned already the dash board cluster is a common problem on the earlier Corsa C and the solution is to remove it and pack something around the plug to ensure it's wedged in place.

If you done it yourself the cost is next to nothing in materials but for a garage price it would depend how long they quote and their labour charges per hour.

If the car alarm going off randomly becomes too much of a nuisance to bear then on the older Corsa B you could disable the alarm by locking the doors via the pin on the drivers door rather than a fob or key.