Car Repair

Medihv

Good day all and thank you in advance for your input.

Frustrating circumstances and keen to here what you think.

Our family car which is used for the daily nursery runs is a 2017 Vauxhall Astra diesel estate. It has done 60,000 miles and is worth around £4k to £4.2k

To cut a very long story short the hazard light button is not working. After being checked my Vaux and other garages, it needs a whole new unit(navi 900) and the repair is circa £2.5k

The car runs absolutely fine with full Vaux Service history. As it's the Hazard lights it's an MOT failure. I'm really struggling to justify spending £2,550 on a repair for a simple part that they don't make anymore and is very hard to get hold of.

Wife is keen to trade it in for something new (hide the fault as they rarely check).

Do I spend 2.5k to repair a 4k car?

Isthisforreal99

Personally I wouldn't pay that to repair it.

QrizB

Looking online there are various specialists offering to repair Nav 900 units.

Have you contacted any of these for a quote?

Goudy

Vauxhall Astra 2015-2020 Navi 900 Touchscreen Repair Service | eBay UK

A bit less than £2550.

Or even cheaper, just replace the switch. Once the unit is out the switch comes out of the frame.

OPEL ASTRA K 2018 13476060 WARNING LIGHT SWITCH | eBay UK

The button pushes out from the rear, where the cable is.

Medihv

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81990119#Comment_81990119

Sadly all screen repairs. Contacted one who advised that a circuit board issue would need to be a new unit.

Medihv

Yeah i've done a lot of research into this.

The first link is for a screen repair. My screen works. I have contacted one of these companies and the only way to repaid a board fault is a new system.

Your image is pre 2017 model. The new one only had 2 cables. The hazard is directly built into the motherboard with no separate cables.

Lastly, you cant buy these second hand. They are codded to the car to prevent theft. I have contacted 2 garages and a Auto electrician. All have said that only Vauxhall can wipe and recode them.

Goudy

There are companies that repair them like Cluster Repairs and Actronics that deal with more that screens but the circuit boards themselves.

As you don't mention any other problem with the head unit, just the button not working, I would guess there's a contact on the printed circuit ribbon/board behind the button that's broken, probably poor solder or the track has worn through.

So you might be able to find someone local that's handy with electronic components that might be able to help repair it.

Goudy

The only other alternative I can think of would be to just blank that switch off and wire in a new generic hazard switch and attach it to the dash.

You'd need another flasher relay and splice it into the existing loom for the indicators. As each side are connected, you'd only need to splice it into the two fronts or side repeaters.

EssexExile

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81990199#Comment_81990199

You'll probably find the in car computer says no!

GrumpyDil

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81990220#Comment_81990220

Hopefully not but who knows. That said worth a try for a cheap fix.

QrizB

Hopefully not but who knows. That said worth a try for a cheap fix.

Agreed, a competent auto electrician should be able to sort that out without it costing £2500!